Here are three small suggestions that can help you have a peace in 2007:
*Be Punctual
*Clear your clutter
*Push out worry thoughts

1. Be Punctual (15 minutes early)
When my husband was growing up his dad had a saying, “We either arrive 15 minutes early or we won’t go.” Leaving 10 to 15 minutes early keeps you from being on edge while you’re getting there. You’re not watching as each minute passes by on your radio clock and your car is not going unnecessarily fast. These two things cause edginess and nervousness.
On the other hand, if you leave several minutes early (set a specific time for every time) you have peace of mind and can enjoy the song or talk on the radio better and you will not constantly watch the clock.
2. Clear the Clutter
God has blessed America with so much. I can easily imagine that most Americans have alot of material goods piling up in closets, on shelves and everywhere else. And if you’re like me everytime you come home from work or pass by something that’s starting to pile up, you say in your mind, “That needs to be cleaned up.” And you keep saying it so much in your head that it becomes a little worry sentence that’s constantly bouncing around reminding you while you’re home. When this happens alot, your home becomes less peaceful. Everybody needs tranquility after a frustrating work day.
Get rid of the stuff causing the clutter. If you want to keep your stuff, make lists of what you want to straighten up and then divide yours lists into small projects that only take about 30 minutes to complete and then go buy all kinds of tubs, containers, baskets and organize all your stuff. And when you organize your stuff keep a good attitude because the task doesn’t need to be unnecessarily strenuous. Be determined to enjoy your work.
3. Push worry thoughts out of your head.
I’ve been a terrible worrier for most of my life, even as a child. Now I practice compartmentalizing. And I link it to the way a doctor would think. When doctors go home at night they do not worry and fret about several patients they saw during the day or constantly dwell on the details of the day discovering all the mistakes and offenses they made with their patients. Of course, a doctor will do this from time to time but not constantly. He can’t, he needs to rest and enjoy his family.
So like a doctor, I compartmentalize worry thoughts that pop up. I just think, “That’s petty I don’t need to waste my time on that thought.” Then I separate it from what I’m thinking and just push it out of my head. Usually it comes right back and I’ll go through the process again. And then even a third time sometimes. Then it usually goes away. Later I’ll try to think about it and since I didn’t build up a big ball of worry the thought doesn’t mean alot.
This is something important to remember: The thoughts you think right after an occurance will greatly impact your attititude, whether positive or negative, about it.
After pushing the thought out of my head sometimes I say a Bible verse. This is the one that has been helping me lately. “Seek peace and pursue it.” It really does help me 🙂
I just wanted to tell you all these things because I plan to use them to help me have a peaceful calm new year.