FREE

If I made a book that had a clear cover you wouldn’t be able to judge the book by its cover.

If I live my life like a book I’m not going to rip my face off, but I could do the next best thing. I could be honest, genuine, and real with you.

When you get to the meat of a human being what do you see?

Probably something quite different than who we sometimes pretend to be.

I’m experimenting right now. Working on something. Something very different than other things I’ve worked on. It encompasses everything. The very base of how I see and do life.

Most projects would be categorized as happening inside of life. They have a name. And a purpose. But they’re more specific.

This thing I’m doing, which we don’t really need to call a project. It’s more of a dance really. A flow.

The way I’m approaching it, it has roots in Jesus, improv, and mindfulness.

Jesus, because he is kindness, love, peace, patience, goodness — — all that and more — — personified.

Improv, because for me that is something applicable to life and it has taught me a lot about fun, creativity, confidence, teamwork, imagination, details, and listening.

Mindfulness has taught me about living in the moment.

What happens when we mix these?

We get kindness, playfulness, and we’re in the now.

We’re here.

We’re here and we’re at peace.

So how am I cultivating that in my own life? Or better phrased, how am I experiencing God’s grace?

It’s through freedom.

It’s an unforced dance.

Whenever I start to feel fearful or anxious I slide away from it.

Since I’m more attune to each moment it’s easier to feel my body tense up or feel my emotions get clouded or confused.

Have you noticed that you don’t get angry in a second? It builds. What if we were able to step away from the anger early on instead of waiting until it was too powerful?

Anger in and of itself isn’t wrong.

God gets angry sometimes.

But He’s slow to anger.

I want more patience in my life.

The more the better.

This doesn’t mean I’m a door mat for people to walk all over.

But it does mean I can use tools and tactics to remain calm when getting irritated is counter-productive. (And I’d say much of the time irritation is not helpful).

At least, we want to have self-control. Needing to have control of the whole world is wrong, but control over our thoughts and actions is a godly thing.

Here are some things that historically, have bothered me.

-others chewing gum (the mint smell, the loud snapping)

-snoring (even heavy breathing)

-how boring a conversation is

-flies buzzing around

-traffic

-internet not working

The list could go on and on.

But you have your own list. Some things may overlap, but you have your own pet peeves.

What if you were able to overcome them?

I’m not saying they completely go away magically. And maybe it takes time. But what if you could significantly reduce the frustration you feel? Wouldn’t you be interested?

I think we talk a lot about love, kindness, and patience but we don’t talk as much about how to apply them.

So here’s what has helped me with fear, anxiety, and frustration in general.

(I believe this can be applied to any situation.)

Knowing Jesus loves us unconditionally is the first part and I was nurtured with that truth.

Playing is something a kid does naturally. Have wonder, laugh, live life lightly.

Living in the moment has been the clincher, the key to piecing it together for me.

If the lightness is with me throughout the day, through each moment, it’s going to be a good day.

This is a lightness that comes with me and stays with me regardless of the circumstances.

Of course I generally prefer a massage at the spa to doing dishes.

But if you’re joyfully singing while you’re doing the dishes, you’re enjoying it more than the person complaining that the masseuse’s hands are too cold.

Life happens in moments.

If you watch a movie, it’s considered one event but every snapshot of the movie was a moment. You might have cried and laughed during it just like you’ll cry and laugh during the course of your life.

But in that crying is there hope? There is.

Living in the moment includes planning. It just means, when planning, be fully into the planning. And hold the plans loosely since the future isn’t promised.

For me, I prefer not to have a plan most of the time. If one is helpful, one without too many details is nice. Life will fill in the details.

(However, I wouldn’t want a surgeon operating on me without knowing what he’s doing step by step.)

Step by step is a mantra I have.

You won’t get confused or frustrated as easily if you go step by step.

You can only truly do one thing a time.

It’s easier to get frustrated if 10 things are on your mind than if 1 thing is on your mind.

Step by step is clear.

When steps are skipped in a manual, it can be a heck of a lot harder to put together what you’re building.

We live linearly.

Yet we get so excited about Step number 19 when we’re on Step 5. What if Step 6 never happens? Let alone Steps 7–18?

Maybe our dreams should be like balloons. Fun to look at, but they might pop without warning.

I want flexible to be my middle name. (But I also want to keep Hovland).

Slowing Down or Speeding Up

We can pour our imagination into a moment.

Imagine…The energy. Life infused, rushing around, swirling in a single moment.

Or maybe it’s a slow, peaceful moment. But it all has life.

Shifting gives variety.

Sometimes we want loud, sometimes quiet

Sometimes big, sometimes small

Sometimes fast, sometimes slow.

But why not shift more within the positive side?

POSITIVE

Joy (fast or slow)

Fun (fast)

Excitement (fast)

Play (fast or slow)

Patience (slow)

Peace (slow)

NEGATIVE

Fear (fast)

Anger (fast)

Depression (slow)

If we want variety we can still have it within positive emotions.

Here are some examples when I’ve had fun (fast) in my mind when things were boring (slow).

Problem: I wasn’t particularly interested in the conversation but I wanted to show interest and listen.

Solution: I created background music to give the words life. I made funny asides that tied into what was being said.

Since all the happened in my mind, no one could stop me.

Our minds are our own personal playground.

You can lose stuff in the physical world, but you have your freedom in the spiritual one.

I believe the mind intersects the spiritual and the physical world.

You may get fears in your mind, but you can say, “Shoo! Get out of here!”

Or you can say, “Mwahaha, not today dumb thought!”

And those bad thoughts aren’t even yours. You don’t own thoughts.

Quit taking credit for good or for bad.

They’re just showing up on your radar.

You choose to follow good or bad thoughts.

You choose which ones to dance with.