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The Healthy, Happy Perfectionist
Most people have a perfectionist living somewhere inside of them. Perfectionism manifests itself in different streams according to the values of the person. However, a true perfectionist knows immediately that this blog is about them, and is avidly reading this to make sure they are doing perfectionism perfectly. I am writing this in defense of perfectionism, though I don’t particularly consider myself a perfectionist. Just in certain areas. My husband says I am a type B+; I think he is a type A-. I think, however, that we settled pretty easily into the A and B types when we first married and I have upped my game while he has…
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#Triggered: Burden-Bearing without Bondage
Burden-bearing is a spiritual gifting which many possess but few know how to manage. Natural empaths, those of us who enter easily into the suffering of another, can become depressed and even cynical if we do not understand the nature of the gifting with which we were probably born. To first identify if you are a burden bearer, ask yourself the following questions: Do you feel what others are feeling? Can you accurately identify others’ emotions, sometimes to the point where they feel you can practically read their minds? Do you find yourself unable to face people sometimes because you have a hard time closing yourself off to other people’s…
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How to Have Gratitude without Faking It
My ability to have gratitude has grown with my capacity to tell myself the truth. I used to think that offering the sacrifice of praise that the book of James recommends meant I had to pretend to be thankful for some really awful things. In 1 Thessalonians 5:18 we read In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. So occasionally I would wind up my thanksgiving machine and thank God for things for which to this day I am not thankful. What I have since learned about the sovereign hand of God and gratefulness is life-changing, but really could only come at with the…