I love hearing what my friends enjoy reading. I learn so much that way.
Here are some articles that I have read recently and found to be interesting. Many of the links I have chosen this week are pretty serious and I am a little hesitant to share them with you, but they are ones that I have read and have resonated with me recently. Hopefully you’ll find something of interest here.
Legalism
This article on a “new” kind of legalism was very intriguing to me. I can see myself in that article, and I’ll tell you, this legalism isn’t the “new thing” that this article proposes.
As I read the article I remembered not only decisions that I made in college (“If I really love the Lord then I will do the most challenging mission projects available.”) and as an adult (“If I am really trusting God, I’ll allow Him to control how many children I have.” etc)
Now please don’t misunderstand me ~ I don’t regret having a large family at all, I am simply learning more about grace and the fact that I am loved, no matter how I can or can’t, do or don’t preform. Good stuff.
Radical for Jesus a New Kind of Legalism?
Journaling and Photography
Because, well I love journaling and photography. I found this article on keeping a photography journal as a tool for growth particularly interesting.
Characteristics of a Sexual Groomer
In light of the recent news (Josh Duggar, Bill Gothard, Doug Phillips, etc, etc) I found this to be excellent information. So many of the grooming tactics mentioned in the article apply also to an abusive relationship. Very sobering, really.
The Characteristics of a Sexual Groomer
For my Quilting Friends
Check out this free online quilt class at Craftsy: 2015 Summer Block of the Month Quilt class. Craftsy classes are highly recommended. Star quilts have always been my favorite. This one is beautiful and I think it would be an awesome scrap quilt to make from leftover fabric.
People Who Need Help
This. Because I am all about de-stigmatizing mental illness, and this hits way too close to home for me. (warning~ language) Also yes, I’m one of “those people” who not only need help, but am grateful to receive it. For different reasons, but still.
People Who Need Help Sometimes Look a Lot Like People Who Don’t Need Help
Codependency
After I escaped my abusive marriage, I read and read … trying to sort out what on earth had happened to me ~ to all of us. Sadly, many of the books that I began reading, I had to set aside because the tone implied that I had (yet again) done something wrong… something to cause the trauma that we had all lived through. This article gives a very good explanation for why it isn’t “codependency” to be the abused spouse.
Also… if you are interested in books that I *can* recommend, see this page, Domestic Violence/Abuse, for a list of books that I have read and can wholeheartedly recommend.
Are Abuse Victims Codependent?
On a lighter note… The Psychology of Emojis
This next article was simply interesting to me. I personally love it when friends use emojis in text messages to me. I think that it adds so much emotion to written words.
I have been amused at myself though because I have the hardest time choosing emojis to add to texts that I write. I will sit and stare and stare at all of the options. “Should I use the one that is how I “should” feel in this situation, or should I use the honest one (which many times right now is a sad face)? How do I actually feel anyway?” Is this a PTSD “thing” for me? Maybe. I spend the majority of my time right now feeling totally flat, interspersed by terror-filled moments of being flooded by every emotion known to man. #PTSDfuntimes
Maybe also because for so many years it wasn’t safe to have any emotions other than “good” ones, and even good emotions could have very negative consequences. Sometimes choosing emojis can be immobilizing for me. Husbands, don’t make your wives “emoji disabled”… let them experience their emotions! 😮
That isn’t what the article is about though, just thought I’d add that insight into my world right now. 🙂 The article addresses how emojis have changed the way we communicate, and how emojis have actually changed us.
Scientists have discovered that when we look at a smiley face online, the same parts of the brain are activated as when we look at a real human face. Our mood changes, and we might even alter our facial expressions to match the emotion of the emoticon.
What’s really interesting is that this is not something we’re born with as babies. It’s something our brains have developed in the last few years with the emergence of emoticons and emojis. Essentially, social media culture has created a new brain pattern within us.
One more on de-stigmatizing mental illness
And finally, another very good article about mental illness. An interview from the UROK (You Are OK) project.
What’s it like living with mental illness? Ask Wil Wheaton
The Value of Exercising as we Age
And this one because, well you know… I need all of the justification I can find for my crazy endurance addiction. (see… I can use a happy emoji 🙂 )
Exercise Makes You Smarter as You Age | Runner’s World
Me, “getting smarter” the sweaty way, *and* chasing some sanity at a recent triathlon
What about you? Read any good articles recently? Please share in the comment section below.
Thank you, Susan.
I am glad to know that you are recovering, growing, healing. Truly, God has good in mind for you all.
Thank you as well for posting the links to such thought-provoking and encouraging articles. May they be a blessing to all who read them.
As for me, well… I had a stroke almost two years ago. The grace and mercy of God and the exercises suggested by my occupational therapist are (too slowly) restoring my working memory. Thank God for the plasticity of the brain, the kindness of my OT, and the resilience I heretofore never knew I possessed.
In March of this year, after 40 years of marriage, I asked my husband to leave. I also asked him to not return after our agreed-upon 6-months separation unless he has decided to make a marked change in his approach to me. If he returns unchanged, I will leave him. Do I feel disoriented? Rejected? Abandoned? Fearful? As if I have foolishly pulled down my own home? Do I feel… alone? Yes. I also feel relieved.
My life is peaceful now. Sweet bird song keeps me company during the day and the cacophony of frogs at night. Silent deer walk carefully through the dim light of evening to eat the oats I put in the battered pie tin on the porch. The simple pleasures of writing, housekeeping, OT, visiting with friends and neighbors, and corporate worship add grace notes to my days. I am grateful. The April-to-October weather here is typical for central Texas: hot and humid. Every now and then a thunder storm sweeps in. Brilliant light leaps from dark clouds to scorch the ground. Crashes of noise too loud to be called ‘sound’ shake the air. And the rain! Big wind drives it sideways in almost solid sheets from horizon to horizon. It fills the dry swale beside my apartment and becomes a mighty, angry torrent rushing away in search of the unwary. The storm leaves as swiftly as it arrives. And I am left to wonder at the fierce beauty of this land.
Thank you again, Susan, for sharing your blog with us. May God bless you in both the writing and the sharing of it.
Leslie, please know that I’m praying for you and all that you have going on. I think that it must be so overwhelming to recover (slowly!) from a stroke! I am not a patient patient, myself! 😮 And now you are adjusting to being separated as well. {{{{hug}}}} I really do understand that feeling of relief though at having a peaceful life. And Leslie? You are a wonderfully descriptive writer! When I read your description of the storm sweeping in, I was there. Thank you.
Thank you, Susan, for caring and for praying. May God bless you for it all. Thank you as well for your kind affirmation about my writing. I write every day. That is, I write whenever I do not allow the mocking of a blank monitor screen to drive me to find other, vastly more important things to do – like clean behind the ‘frige, count the number of grains in a pinch of salt, and find faces in the textured ceiling above me. Sigh. That said, I have asked God to give me a house in the piney woods. There I will write, garden and practice hospitality (and shovel snow in the winter and count the needles on the trees in the summer). Until then, I will write here in the beautiful hill country of Texas. *:) happy
I love the new blog, Susan! I’ll be back again and again, I’m sure.
Lesley, I love your story of resiliency. What a fantastic word! Also, your poetic descriptions make me shiver with grace. Godspeed on your new journey!
Virginia, thanks so much!
Thank you, Virginia, for your kindness. Yes, ‘resilience’ is a fantastic word. I am so very glad that it can be learned ( http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/road-resilience.aspx ). If such learning were not possible, I would still be sitting in the ashes of my dreams. But praise God, I am standing now. And walking. Oh, I am wobbly. And weak. And I often fall down. But I get back up again – and I keep moving toward whatever goodness God has prepared for me.
There is hope to be found here:
“Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.”
Isaiah 40:28-31