Moving into the holiday season can sometimes feel like a blur. There’s so much more going on, on top of all the regular things we do daily. These tips and tricks are from one of my favorite people to listen to – Joyce Meyer. I’ll link her video here, but for those of you that enjoy reading instead of listening/watching a video, I’ve got the cliff notes below. ;)
1 Take a Moment to Pause Before Reacting
Stop getting angry about things you can’t do anything about. Don’t let the devil steal your peace. Keep your peace, so you can keep your power.
There’s a character in a show called Friends that gets into a pickle. She sits down at a table in her friend’s kitchen and says, “I could so easily freak out right now.” It’s one of my favorite moments of the show. I love that she was able to find a moment in between the catastrophe and her reaction. She created space to allow herself to think before she reacted. Everyday I strive to be more like that. My reactions won’t always be perfect, but when I take the time to think before I react, it’s always much less dramatic then acting on my emotions instantly.
2 Stop complaining – Focus on What You Do Have
The more we focus on our problems, the bigger they seem to get and the more frustrated and angry we get. Spend the time you normally spend complaining, giving thanks and see what God does in your life.
3 Prioritize Rest – Don’t try to buy time, by getting less sleep.
Here’s what happens when you don't prioritize sleep... you lose more time the next day because you’re tired mentally and physically, so you make mistakes you wouldn’t have made if you would have gotten the proper rest. If you get good rest, you’ll be sharp tomorrow and make less mistakes. Every mistake we make, costs us time. So the time you thought you were saving, by not getting enough sleep, you end up wasting the next day.
4 Stop Hurrying - Take Your Time
Hurrying always leads to mistakes. I can’t tell you the number of times that I’ve lost something I have to have before leaving the house, all because I was in a rush. By the time I have to leave the house, I’ve made myself late looking for my keys, my phone or something else. I’ve found some of my stuff in the weirdest place. For example, I found my phone in my make up bag in a drawer. Or even better, I’ve walked around the house looking for my phone and I’m talking on it! Have you ever had your sunglasses on your head and spent a half hour looking for them – come to find out they’ve been on your head the whole time? I’ve done this more times than I can count and it’s all because I was stuck in a rush! There’s a reason slow and steady wins the race. ;)
5 Stop Craving What You Don’t Have
A good way to waste time is to spend your life craving things that you don’t have while you don’t enjoy what you do have.
“Better is the sight of the eyes [the enjoyment of what is available to one] than the craving of wandering desire.” -Ecclesiastes 6:9
You’re so much better off to take the time to enjoy what you have than to keep trying to get something else you don’t have. The rest of that scripture says, “it’s like striving after the wind and feeding on it!” Enjoy what you have while working towards what you want! If comparison is something you've ever struggled with the book Love Your Life Not Theirs by Rachel Cruze is a great read.
6 Leave the Past in the Past
If you want to waste your time, just keep living in the past. Hanging onto the past is a waste of time, you can’t go back and redo anything. Let it go and focus on what you can do today to create a better tomorrow. It’s never too late to begin again. Take time to deal with little problems and you won’t have to spend more time dealing with big ones.
Here’s a few extras that made me smile :)
Take time to read the instructions when you’re trying to assemble something that you’ve purchased. I always skip this. I can’t stand reading instructions. I disregard them, then I call my mom or my boyfriend who then reads the instructions and helps me put it together later. SMH.
Joyce says in her video, “When your wife/girlfriend says, “I don’t feel like you listen to me or understand me.” Be smart. Tell her, “Well sit down, honey and tell me everything that’s on your heart.” This part made me smile, because the wife/girlfriend needs to do this with her husband/boyfriend too. Take the time to listen to each other, it will take less time and be a lot less expensive if we allow ourselves to be open with each other.
Check all your pants pockets before doing the laundry, because it takes a long time to clean chewing gum out of the dryer. (I personally haven’t had this one happen to me, but hearing Joyce tell the audience about the time Dave’s gum got stuck in the dryer made me laugh.)
There’s so much more to Joyce’s video than just this part, but I hope you enjoy some of my favorites. Honestly, listening and reading through this, I realize that a lot of this is obvious… but often times I rush through... skipping the obvious – and here we are. Haha.
I hope and pray that these help remind you of the obvious and move into the next fews months with a restful heart and a quiet spirit. Relax your shoulders, take a deep breath, and end this day with intentionality and grace. Little tweaks over time can make a huge difference.
Here’s Joyce’s full video:
