ENGAGING THOUGHT
I promise that the Engaging Thought for today isn't going to devolve into a diatribe against Hollywood; I have no intentions of bashing the entertainment industry. With that said, I think the TV and movie industry have negatively impacted our culture by creating in us an expectation that life must move very fast. Two ways stand out specifically in my mind: how we communicate and how we make decisions.
Think about this: how many times have you had a conversation with someone and couldn't think of a response until much later? That's never what we see on TV though, is it? TV sit-coms have trained us that "real" communication involves witty, mildly-sarcastic responses delivered instantly. Air-time is never spent showing a character on the show pondering what their best response should be and how that might move things forward (or backward) in the relationship or scenario. Consider, too, how problems are handled: the entire situation or conflict is introduced, explained, experienced, mis-handled, fixed, and wrapped up successfully...all in 1 hour, with commercial-breaks. How convenient and efficient!
Real life doesn't move that fast - nor does it need to. There are no rules stating that we must deliver stunning repartee in conversation (pausing only for dramatic effect). Rarely do situations require instantaneous reaction from us at all. I would also contend that if a problem can be solved that quickly - it isn't a real concern, anyway. Don't miss this fact: those TV shows have entire teams of professional writers working hours and hours and hours trying to come up with that 45 minutes of brilliant dialogue and drama. The last thing they are portraying is real life.
As you continue in this phase of the 60 Days of Dreaming challenge - considering the alterations you need to make - let me encourage you to relax and spend some time really thinking about them first. Ponder them; weigh them against one another; think deeply about them. You might be amazed how quickly you start to see some changes you could make to your changes that will make them even better.
Truthfully, God is entirely different than a television producer - He isn't impatient or demanding (or egotistical). He would much rather that you fully engage in considering the changes than you hurry through them. Oh, and there aren't any annoying commercials to fit in.
Think about this: how many times have you had a conversation with someone and couldn't think of a response until much later? That's never what we see on TV though, is it? TV sit-coms have trained us that "real" communication involves witty, mildly-sarcastic responses delivered instantly. Air-time is never spent showing a character on the show pondering what their best response should be and how that might move things forward (or backward) in the relationship or scenario. Consider, too, how problems are handled: the entire situation or conflict is introduced, explained, experienced, mis-handled, fixed, and wrapped up successfully...all in 1 hour, with commercial-breaks. How convenient and efficient!
Real life doesn't move that fast - nor does it need to. There are no rules stating that we must deliver stunning repartee in conversation (pausing only for dramatic effect). Rarely do situations require instantaneous reaction from us at all. I would also contend that if a problem can be solved that quickly - it isn't a real concern, anyway. Don't miss this fact: those TV shows have entire teams of professional writers working hours and hours and hours trying to come up with that 45 minutes of brilliant dialogue and drama. The last thing they are portraying is real life.
As you continue in this phase of the 60 Days of Dreaming challenge - considering the alterations you need to make - let me encourage you to relax and spend some time really thinking about them first. Ponder them; weigh them against one another; think deeply about them. You might be amazed how quickly you start to see some changes you could make to your changes that will make them even better.
Truthfully, God is entirely different than a television producer - He isn't impatient or demanding (or egotistical). He would much rather that you fully engage in considering the changes than you hurry through them. Oh, and there aren't any annoying commercials to fit in.
ACTION STEP
Today's ACTION STEP is more of an intellectual and emotional exercise - though vitally important!
Take your revised Written Plans from yesterday's ACTION STEP and spend several moments with each, truly pondering the implications and giving your imagination a chance to visualize how these changes will alter your pursuit.
You'll probably find it helpful to do this same exercise a few times throughout the day so that you can approach it with a fresh perspective - it also gives your sub-conscious mind a chance to ruminate on it.
Take your revised Written Plans from yesterday's ACTION STEP and spend several moments with each, truly pondering the implications and giving your imagination a chance to visualize how these changes will alter your pursuit.
You'll probably find it helpful to do this same exercise a few times throughout the day so that you can approach it with a fresh perspective - it also gives your sub-conscious mind a chance to ruminate on it.
Tomorrow we'll nail down some of the proposed changes to our Written Plans.
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