a blog.
Maybe this year’s resolution is to design, build, and implement your dream life to the best of your ability with what you have right now, so that this time next year, all you really need to say to yourself is “I just need and want to do more of the same.” (h/t Cultural Offering)
When designing your life keep in mind six things that are necessary for EVERYONE: Physicality (movement), Fruit & Vegetables, Water, Silence, Relationships, Fresh Air.
Do hard things.
If you can barely walk up a flight of stairs without breathing heavy, sign up for a beginner marathon or walk and commit to training for it and completing it.
Watch the stairs get easier, Watch all activity get easier, Watch problems get easier to deal with.
If you have a hard time telling the truth, commit to always telling the truth no matter how small and if there’s a situation where it would not be wise or you think it would be better not to tell the truth, don’t lie, commit to keeping your mouth closed.
Watch relationships get easier, Watch problems get easier to deal with, Watch dead weight be removed from your life, Watch life get better.
Decide to take up rock climbing, and see how it affects the rest of your life. Decide to truly make an effort with your family, and see the net positive effect it has on your life.
There’s only one caveat: They must be wise things.
Uprooting your life and moving all the way across the country away from all your friends & family may be hard (depending on how you look at it—sometimes no attachment is easier than attachment), but it’s not necessarily wise.
Things that are generally wise: improving physicality/movement (the body is one—physicality not only helps physically, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually), tackling your bad habits (I don’t mean your diet or biting your nails, though those also could help—I mean the ones you don’t want people to know about: lying, jealousy, need for social approval, etc.), improving important relationships.
That’s the trick: for an easier life, do hard things (but wisely).
Psalms 29-32
Verse of note:
The Lord sat enthroned at the Flood; the Lord sits enthroned, king forever.
Evening edit:
Verse of note:
Let me enlighten you and show you which way to go; let me offer counsel; my eye is on you. Be not like a senseless horse or mule whose movement must be curbed by bit and bridle; far be it from you!
Psalms 25-28
Verse of note:
The counsel of the Lord is for those who fear Him;
Liner notes are absolutely ridiculous on this album.
These are the last two albums from the collection that my aunt sent. Also finished a series of paintings that I’m working on (coming soon). Didn’t spend a lot of time outdoors today because it was so cold.
Psalms 17-20
Verse of note:
I determined that my mouth should not transgress.
Evening edit:
Verse of note*:
The teaching of the Lord is perfect, renewing life; the decrees of the Lord are enduring, making the simple wise; The precepts of the Lord are just, rejoicing the heart; the instruction of the Lord is lucid, making the eyes light up. The fear of the Lord is pure, abiding forever; the judgments of the Lord are true, righteous altogether,
*another one of my favorite verses
Psalms 13-16
Evening edit:
Verse of note:
Lord, who may sojourn in Your tent, who may dwell on Your holy mountain? He who lives without blame, who does what is right, and in his heart acknowledges the truth; whose tongue is not given to evil; who has never done harm to his fellow, or borne reproach for [his acts toward] his neighbor; for whom a contemptible man is abhorrent, but who honors those who fear the Lord; who stands by his oath even to his hurt; who has never lent money at interest, or accepted a bribe against the innocent. The man who acts thus shall never be shaken.
Verse of note:
You will teach me the path of life.
Psalms 5-8
Verse of note:
For You are not a God who desires wickedness; evil cannot abide with You; wanton men cannot endure in Your sight. You detest all evildoers; You doom those who speak lies; murderous, deceitful men the Lord abhors.
Evening edit:
Verse of note:
If one does not turn back, but whets his sword, bends his bow and aims it, then against himself he readies deadly weapons, and makes his arrows sharp.
Verse of note:
what is man that You have been mindful of him, mortal man that You have taken note of him, that You have made him little less than divine, and adorned him with glory and majesty; You have made him master over Your handiwork, laying the world at his feet, sheep and oxen, all of them, and wild beasts, too; the birds of the heavens, the fish of the sea, whatever travels the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name throughout the earth!