Building Lifestyle by Divine Design

Successful lifestyle building begins with taking a good long hard look at your own time, how you use it, and taking control of it as much as possible. That might sound a bit daunting or even impossible, but if it does, the real problem is probably a need for change of mind.

For my own part, effective lifestyle change started when I finally found a really great church. After many changes of address and churches too, we were finally able to stay put. I was sitting in the rows when one of the pastors spoke about the lifestyle we ought to have. He emphasized taking at least 15 minutes in the morning for prayer and Bible reading. I craved that kind of time and certainly did not have it. At that point, I didn’t know how to go about getting it either, but I tried. I also struggled with depression wasting valuable hours that I knew were worth a whole lot more.

I tackled it with journaling. Many previous attempts to journal collapsed before too long for reasons like lack of consistency, being overly busy, and general chaos. I looked first for that all important time with Yeshua, which likely made the difference but for whatever reason, it worked. I used the computer to create my own customized stationery instead of trying to use a book designed for journaling. I think that helped with the consistency part because I didn’t have any trouble then finding a matching journal when one was filled. Mismatched journals added to chaos. I used a fresh sheet for each day and then kept them in a binder. It’s easy to find matching binders, so regular lined paper could work well for this too, but I wanted to customize.

With my first successfully sustained journaling I chose to notice on purpose, when I caught myself sitting and depressed. I made a point to jot down the time, also sometimes what I was thinking about, and then getting up to do something constructive instead of allowing the time to be squandered. I soon began to notice that most of those negative thoughts were rooted in things past that could not be changed and learned to pull those roots up and re-root my thoughts into the here and now, or things I look forward to or hope for in the future.

It was not long before that effort lead to an idea that was revolutionary for me; there is very little difference between me and my time. Where I spend my time is where I am. Meaning that my body might be in one place, while my mind (or at least part of it) and heart were in very different place and time. I chose not to have any time to be depressed. Of course some activities do not require much thought, so depression tried to sneak into those times. Again, when I noticed it, I would jot down the time and for sure, what I thought about. I soon found I could decide more and more often where and how I spent my time as well as my thoughts.

I used journaling to recapture my time a second way by analyzing how I spent my time. A second profound revelation took place. Other people spent a great deal of my time for me. I do like to be generous and helpful, but others will take excessive advantage if I allow it. Occasionally controlling types of people will boldly try to tell me how to spend it, i.e. “I told you to call me!” Did you catch the time involved in that friendly command? I learned to politely inform them that they could ask, but not tell me to do this or that. I learned to establish healthy boundaries around my time.

Finally, I began to spend my own time for myself, as if it were dollars. I only get 24 hours in each day, like everyone else. Staying healthy means, a good amount of that time has to be spent on meeting my own needs. Again I used journaling to assess how much time I realistically need for this and that. That discovery soon gave me the thing I wanted most of all, that precious time in the morning with Yeshua. Now I get it almost always, though sometimes reality sets in first thing. On those days I try to make sure that I still take it at some point before the day is out.

One pastor said that when his students complained they had a bad day, he would ask, “Did you read your Bible this morning?” He indicated that the answer was almost invariably “No.” I can validate his finding with my own experience. Bad days are increasingly rare for me.

The habit of journaling and time tracking opened the door to create other healthy habits, form sensible boundaries and eliminate chaos, overly ambitious plans and inconsistency. Steady improvement in those areas empowered the lifestyle changes I so greatly desired.

This is the introductory blog for our Lifestyles by Divine Design Community. I hope my experiences will inspire you so that together we become a growing and vibrant force for healthy change. Future pieces will cover more in depth topics such as: Habit building, creating healthy boundaries, time management, food choices and recipes, home organization, essential oils, supplements and most importantly, walking with Yeshua. Please join with us in finding your own uniquely Divine Design.

Customized Stationery

Interested in your own customized stationery? Let me help you find the Divine Design for yours to assist in your lifestyle building journey, contact me at:

byDivineDesign@isabout.ca

Healthy Boundaries in Time

1Co 6:19 -- Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

2Co 3:17

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

The Bible quotes above found in the books of First and Second Corinthians speak of your body as the temple of the Holy Spirit and Freedom. If you are not aware of the Holy Spirit, or have never made a connection with Yeshua through His Holy Spirit, you really ought to think about doing so. He will come and dwell in you, but only at your request.

No matter what, your body should be treated as a temple. While religions treat temples as places of worship generally, when Yeshua comes to live in you through His Holy Spirit your body becomes the place where you serve and worship Him 24/7. Time and temples often go hand in hand with regulations about how and when to worship. In many ways, this is true as well for your own body. Good healthy personal care takes time, and it takes your time. If you find that your health and life are in sad condition, it is probably in large part due to failure on your part to take the time for proper temple care.

That can be a frustrating thing to hear if you are working too many hours for too little pay to give your body the time it needs, because your time isn't really your time at all. You may be giving your time away, managing it poorly, allowing it to be bought, or even stolen and by allowing that to go on your life and health are in shambles. So what is a body to do? That is where the second verse about freedom comes in. There are many potential answers which we will explore in future blogs. For now, think about it and think about doing something to take back ownership of your own time.