Live More And Stress Less

Hey! Hey!

Live more and stress less is what I'd like to discuss this day!

How are you doing friend?

I'm faithing, hoping, and praying you are connecting to God, lifting yourself, and on the mend.

The other day I was standing in line to check into a facility, and the gentleman in front of me, within five minutes, said to me, "You're so happy, and it must be nice to be so ignorant to all the bad that is going on in the world."

He was sooo cute! I love people like that! And I am not being sarcastic whatsoever, because I know and I understand what chronic stress and/or devastation can do to a person. This is how people act and speak when they misunderstand.

I am compelled to tell this story because people who criticize others for ignoring the horrible things in life are unaware that they are ignoring all that is good... In other words, God's blessings upon them.

Ignorance is not bliss... Is a post I wrote about people who are ignorant to the good in life and obsessively focused on the bad.

Did you read it? Take a gander if you'd like.

Anywho...

Ignorance is such a harsh word, I like to use the word misunderstanding.

This is the misunderstanding on the part of the gentleman I speak of above.

There are more good things in this world than bad, particularly people.

There are people who do kind things all the day long.

There are more good things in this gentleman's life than there are bad, he just happens to be focused on the bad, by default.

He has a voice to speak his opinion, as he did. Could he imagine standing in line with me, unable to speak at all?

He had eyes to see me. Could he imagine standing in line unable to see at all?

He had legs to stand on. Could he imagine sitting in a wheelchair waiting in line?

He had arms and hands to use to carry things. Could he imagine asking others to reach for his identification, and sign his name for him?

What I am trying to articulate in this ramble is, we are not meant to focus on the bad that happened yesterday, or what might happen in the future. We are meant to appreciate and be grateful for what we have, including the safety and security of the very moment, right here, and right now.

What this gentleman was doing, first of all, was kind of mocking me, which doesn't really bother me one way or the other. The thing is a person that ridicules others is adding to the unkindness in this world. In nearly every act we offer kindness or unkindness, and we have a choice.

Another thing this gentleman was doing was bringing the environment down. We are either lifting or lowering any environment we are in, and the people we are around. And, we have a choice.

Lastly, what this gentleman was also doing was practicing his fear, which is at the foundation of nearly all mental illnesses. Think about paranoid schizophrenia! It's being paranoid, and although we are all a little paranoid in some way or another, anyone of us could practice it into permanent perfection. That permanent perfection of paranoid is diagnosable.

Crazy!!! I know!!!

Now, contrast that incident with less than a week later, I met a man who lost his right leg. He has a really cool black prosthetic with red flames. This man was so kind, and so loving to me. 

What is the difference between these two gentlemen? One is focus on the bad by default, and the other has exquisite focus on the good, i.e., benefits and blessings, by desire.

The difference between these two gentlemen is one has misery and the other has love.

Bitterness and misery loves company just as kindness and love does too. Meaning, a miserable person brings misery to others, and makes people feel bad. Moreover, a loving person brings others love, and makes people feel good. 

We lift or lower others by who we are and what we do.

Another difference between these two gentlemen is the more loving man has knowledge and wisdom.

Some say there is power in knowledge. I say there is only power in knowledge if we access the wisdom to use that knowledge! Knowledge is the information one has, and wisdom is putting that information into practice.

What often keeps a person from absorbing knowledge is the needing to be right, which comes from insecurity of being wrong, aka fear of being wrong. The illusion of the human experience shows us that being wrong makes us dumb therefore, some need to be right so they won't be dumb. 

The first gentleman most likely would not see the misunderstanding of his obsessive compulsive focus on the horrible things in this world because his insecurity may have given him a mental wall not only to the knowledge, but to the wisdom to put the knowledge into effect in his favor. 

Not that I said anything to him, because I didn't. I just listened and smiled at him from a place of love. His paranoia about how horrible this world is... is his path. My purpose is to lift and love, and so I did. It is not my job to fix him, it is my job to love him, so I did.

The second man had the knowledge and wisdom of gratitude. It is my opinion that gratitude is the opposite of taking things for granted. Some people are very grateful beings and some people take things for granted.

I really believe that confidence comes from a place of appreciation and love for self and life. And I know that complete confidence comes from a connection to God. Insecurity comes from fear.

So...

To live more and stress less...

We could choose to be focused on our benefits and blessings in this life.

We have authority over our intelligence to choose our behaviors and beliefs, and that is our free agency. That is freedom!

Living more and stressing less is done by focusing on benefits and blessings in our life because there are so much more wonderful things than there are bad.

When we practice focusing on our benefits and blessings, we not only put things in true perspective, we eliminate our misunderstanding.

Misery is misunderstanding from the human experience.

Happiness, joy, and vitality is from the spiritual experience of being connected to God, and others by love.

Happiness is success!

Happiness allows us to live more and stress less!!!

Living more and stressing less is all about the focus!!!

Trust me on this! 

The truth is confidence, not fear!

The truth is connection to God, not negative emotion!

The truth is cooperating with God, being thankful, focusing on and looking for the good, i.e., benefits and blessings from God.

"In every thing give thanks: For this is the will of God..." ~1 Thessalonians 5:18, The New Testament, The Holy Bible, KJV

That is all...

Ha!

Oh, except...

I love you!!!

~BIG HUGS~

Elizabeth

Ignorance is NOT Bliss!

Hello! Hello! 

How are you doing? 

I pray I pray you are having a wonderful day!

Have you ever heard the phrase, "Ignorance is bliss?"

Do you know that people have actually said that to me, indicating I am ignorant? Isn't that ignorant? Just kidding, or maybe not! Ignorant is such a harsh word and it is unkind when you say it to someone. It's like calling someone stupid. I do not have any desire to be unkind, so I certainly wouldn't say that to anyone; I prefer the word naive.

It's alright that people have called me ignorant in their naivete because I understand that people don't know they are being unkind or uneducated. 

In my experience, when people say ignorance is bliss to me, it's because of my outlook on life. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt and have compassion for their circumstances. Some people believe my perspective is ignorant because they think the world is so horrible, but let's look at it a little bit and see who's ignorant.

It is a fact that we are all imperfect, yes? Except for Jesus.

It is a fact that we all make mistakes, yes? Except for Jesus.

It is a fact that we all would like to be given the benefit of the doubt, yes?

If we understand that we are all imperfect, we all make mistakes, and we all have been given different struggles, and if we give others the benefit of the doubt, we can focus on being kind to ourselves and others by focusing on what's right, and what's good in life.

It is naive to focus on what is wrong because we unknowingly do it by habit, it makes us feel bad about life, and it is being unkind to ourselves and others.

Focusing on what's wrong in life makes us feel bad, and focusing on what's right makes us feel good. It's all about habitual behavior. 

Successful people are confident and optimistic. They are focused on what's right, and they are about the business of enjoying life.

Insecure people are uncertain because they are focused on what's wrong, and you know it because they are always complaining and criticizing others and themselves. You will feel bad if you are focused solely on what's wrong.

Brilliance is knowing that we have the authority, power, and responsibility to our own state of confidence, i.e., faith and happiness in life. 

It is brilliant to desire happiness!

It is brilliant to focus on creating habits of happiness by desire!

It is naive to continue to focus on what is wrong by complaining, criticizing, dramatizing, and gossiping so that one creates misery in his or her own mind, in other people's lives, and in the environment in which he or she stands. That is not normal; it's adolescent behavior when we should be about adult behavior.

There are so many great people in this world, and this world is functioning beautifully. If it wasn't, people would be living in chaos, and nobody would be following laws or going to work daily to help this world oprate as well as it does. 

If the world wasn't working correctly, we'd be living like one of the apocalyptic movies where people are eating people. (insert me lol here)

What I'm trying to say in all of this ramble is that if you are primarily complaining about and criticizing others and life, it may be a stressful life for you. Our thoughts and what we think about develop feelings of safety and happiness or insecurity and misery. It's a choice whether you'd like it to be or not.

We are creators of our reality. We are either lifting others, ourselves, and the environment by what we do and say, or we are lowering it.

To be unkind to others, yourself, and the environment is misunderstanding. 

To be kind by focusing on the good, giving people the benefit of the doubt, and understanding we all have struggles, and that's why we do what we unknowingly or knowingly do, is brilliant understanding. 

It's brilliant because it's God's work! 

One last thing. That person or thing that you may be focusing on what is wrong in them, or it, has so much more good than the one or two things you are solely focused on that is terrible. You can choose to focus on the many things that are good and right rather than on the one or two things that are wrong.

Love one another! 

Love is kind!

Just something to think about. Just something to destress your behaviors, beliefs, and life a little bit.

If you want relief from feeling bad, focus on good more. All good things are from God, and when we focus on the good, we focus on God. This is not only understanding and wisdom it's true bliss and brilliance.

That is all...

Except... I love you! 

Elizabeth Stanfill 

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