I have been thinking this thought a little bit lately. I have been thinking about my friends. Many of the things that I've learned about life and myself were from my friends and from observing my friendships.
When I worked at as a camp counselor this summer I made friends with some of my co-workers. They were all very different. I observed them and how they treated me and other people. There were a lot of good things I saw in them, and I tried to understand the good traits in these people so that I could also develop those good traits in myself. For example, one friend I had was always very nice and positive. She was polite and friendly even when she was not having a good day. So I talked to her about it and she explained to me the reasons why she would be nice. She basically explained that she was looking through the perspective of other people, and she understood how other people were effected depending on whether or not she was nice to them. She said something like "If we are mean to somebody, they will see us as just another person that doesn't care." That really put it into perspective for me. I still am not nice to people all the time or friendly all the time, but just knowing that having that perspective can help me work towards that is helpful. I have noticed some difference in myself towards that though. It takes a lot of work to shift my way of thinking.
I usually observe my friendships more when I am closer with a person. I want to learn about myself and about them and to grow into a better person through the experiences and lessons I learn from them. I think it helps me to appreciate my friends more when I try to learn from them. One reason for that is because I look for the positive qualities in them as something that I can try to add to myself.
Another example is how I have been trying to learn from one of my other friends. Even before I began working at camp I knew that there were positive qualities about this person that I needed to develop in myself. In the beginning of my time working at camp, I wrote in my journal "I think I'm starting to take on some of the positive qualities of -my friend-. I can be friends with girls now."
This was 6 months ago. For some reason which I don't care to explain I was just very unwilling and reluctant to be friends with girls. But after that, I did make friends with a bunch of people of both genders, and it shattered a lot of the thought structures that I had developed in my mind that were keeping me from growing.
The beautiful thing about this is that it is one of those things where I can see God working in my life. I noticed it several months before I was a camp counselor, that God was teaching me to accept females as real people and stop being sexist and prejudice against girls.
So after I realized that, I just kept seeing it more and more how I was changing so much. Every friendship I have now, I can learn something about myself and there is potential for me to grow and be a better person. I think that my friendships are gifts that God gives me.
It has overwhelmed me at times, when I look at all the relationships that I have and I see how God is really intimately involved in my life through them. It amazes me more than anything to think of how deeply and how much God is thinking about me. The way I think about it, is that God works through people. When someone does something good that helps another person, it is because God in them was working through them or God was leading them to do the thing. After I realized that it changed the way I prayed for other people too. When I had the idea to pray for someone yesterday, I thought of it as God telling me to pray that thing. I know that God loves people, and I don't think it would be possible for me to love someone more or want more good than God already wants for them. So as I prayed for my friend, I did not think of it as me doing anyone any favors. I thought of it as God sharing His hopes and desires with me, as a way for Him to share the joy of blessing my friend that I was praying for with me. So at the same time I thanked God for putting the prayer in my heart.
Well those are a few things that God had me learn through having friends. I think that there are vital life lessons that are impossible to learn without friends.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
I Dreamed This
This is a story about a city of people. The lives of it's citizens were totally regimented by central planners. All the children were named by the government. Their first initial was determined by their class, and they were not allowed to move from the section of their city assigned to their class. The lower on the alphabet that their first initial was, the higher up they were on the class structure. The ruling class had numbers before their names. The people's humanity was forgotten and out of mind, and their level of existence was reduced to that of of machines. Efficiency and the survival of the present structure was the law of the land. People died when was most efficient, and they were born when was most efficient according to the central planners.
This city was shut off from the rest of the outside world. In fact by using highly advanced technology, they opened up a portal and settled their population in a hidden dimension in space. The city was the only reality in this dimension, with no sky and no planets, it was only the city on a circular area encased in void.
A man named Alexander was sent by a secret policing force to investigate this city and to help the people to overthrow the tyranny. So Alexander was sent through a highly advanced machine that warped him into the other dimension. He was there and was able to sneak in.
He started in the area of the lowest class of citizens. He was able to get connected with the people underground and they supported his mission. He was able to go undetected by the ruling power because they didn't feel it was important to pay close attention to the most outer class. These people were kept down by lack of education and were only there because it was more efficient to let them fend for themselves than to remove them. They were seen as totally valueless to the central power, but neither helped or threatened their order, so it was most efficient to not pay heed to their existence.
After getting some support with the underground, Alexander tried to sneak into the next level. He snuck through the network and spoke to different people about the idea of breaking free from the order and reclaiming their humanity. As he got further in to the center of the city, people were less and less accepting of his idea of humanity. Eventually the people could not even grasp the concept of being more human than they were. This was all they knew, and all they had ever seen because they were not exposed to the outer level where the humanity of the people had not been totally programmed out of their minds and lives.
Then he got to the I class of people. He realized that the central power were aware of his presence and his actions. He tried to go under the radar but they found him. He was instantly transported suddenly to the Y area near the outside of the city. Alexander realized that this was his only chance to stop the machine. He tried to get as many people as he could to run with him towards the capital and attempt to get more people to march and people to join and break from the established order all at once. All of the people from the Y and Z district joined him. They marched on to the X district, but much to his disappointment the X citizens followed the prompt from the central command center to repel the people. Many of the people from the X district that were repelling the marchers were once supporting Alexander in his cause, but they had to do as the rest of the X citizens were doing for fear of the consequences for breaking the order. The borders between the X district and the Y district were equipped with energy force fields. As soon as the marchers were repelled behind the border, that section of the force field was activated and they could no longer push forward in that direction. Many X citizens were trapped on the other side. Eventually the Y district was totally cut off from the rest of the city, and the people were all crowded together looking. The commotion stopped and they all stared towards the center. A huge blast of red light came from the capital building into the sky. It arched up and started to come down, heading towards the Y and Z districts. As soon as the beam of light came close, it spread out and the entire district was saturated with the red light. In a moment of time, the light blinked off and only darkness was left. The Y and Z districts had been ejected from the dimension and into non existence, a long with all of the people that were there.
This city was shut off from the rest of the outside world. In fact by using highly advanced technology, they opened up a portal and settled their population in a hidden dimension in space. The city was the only reality in this dimension, with no sky and no planets, it was only the city on a circular area encased in void.
A man named Alexander was sent by a secret policing force to investigate this city and to help the people to overthrow the tyranny. So Alexander was sent through a highly advanced machine that warped him into the other dimension. He was there and was able to sneak in.
He started in the area of the lowest class of citizens. He was able to get connected with the people underground and they supported his mission. He was able to go undetected by the ruling power because they didn't feel it was important to pay close attention to the most outer class. These people were kept down by lack of education and were only there because it was more efficient to let them fend for themselves than to remove them. They were seen as totally valueless to the central power, but neither helped or threatened their order, so it was most efficient to not pay heed to their existence.
After getting some support with the underground, Alexander tried to sneak into the next level. He snuck through the network and spoke to different people about the idea of breaking free from the order and reclaiming their humanity. As he got further in to the center of the city, people were less and less accepting of his idea of humanity. Eventually the people could not even grasp the concept of being more human than they were. This was all they knew, and all they had ever seen because they were not exposed to the outer level where the humanity of the people had not been totally programmed out of their minds and lives.
Then he got to the I class of people. He realized that the central power were aware of his presence and his actions. He tried to go under the radar but they found him. He was instantly transported suddenly to the Y area near the outside of the city. Alexander realized that this was his only chance to stop the machine. He tried to get as many people as he could to run with him towards the capital and attempt to get more people to march and people to join and break from the established order all at once. All of the people from the Y and Z district joined him. They marched on to the X district, but much to his disappointment the X citizens followed the prompt from the central command center to repel the people. Many of the people from the X district that were repelling the marchers were once supporting Alexander in his cause, but they had to do as the rest of the X citizens were doing for fear of the consequences for breaking the order. The borders between the X district and the Y district were equipped with energy force fields. As soon as the marchers were repelled behind the border, that section of the force field was activated and they could no longer push forward in that direction. Many X citizens were trapped on the other side. Eventually the Y district was totally cut off from the rest of the city, and the people were all crowded together looking. The commotion stopped and they all stared towards the center. A huge blast of red light came from the capital building into the sky. It arched up and started to come down, heading towards the Y and Z districts. As soon as the beam of light came close, it spread out and the entire district was saturated with the red light. In a moment of time, the light blinked off and only darkness was left. The Y and Z districts had been ejected from the dimension and into non existence, a long with all of the people that were there.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Tongue
The tongue is a fire. It can start massive waves of destruction. But it can have a positive effect of the same magnitude if used properly. If a man has full control over what he says, he has full control over all of himself and he is a complete perfected man.
I've been thinking about how words effect people. I try to be conscious of the effects that my words are having and to be careful about what kind of things I say. I hate saying bad things about other people, and I especially hate hearing bad things about people. When people hear negative stuff about other people it gives them a preconception about them. It is really hard not to think about bad things that other people have said about a person later on. Even if I call out people who are talking trash about another people and say something good about them them instead, it still messes up my mind.
I don't think people realize how much of a negative impact they have when they spread negative things about people. It hurts everyone who hears it or says it, not just the person who is getting talked about negatively.
In certain company I won't even bring up other people if I have something nice to say about them because I know that some kind of negative talk will probably follow. That is depressing.
Positive words effect people too. I've found that when people call me awesome or a genius it boosts my ego to insane degrees. Especially when girls do it. I'm sure there is a reason for that. Getting compliments from the opposite sex is way better than getting compliments from other dudes. Like I still like it when anyone says I'm a genius but for some reason when girls say nice things about it me it is like a whole different level. I rarely forget a compliment that I got from a girl. I'm probably insecure or something. That is one of the things I try not to hold back to much. If I come up with something good to say about someone that I genuinely think is true, I will try to say it. I would feel guilty if I made a compliment to someone that I didn't really feel confident about even if it made them feel good.
I just want to say that people should really think about everything they say. They should be asking questions like:
Why do I want to say this?
What effect will this have on me and others if I say this in this way?
Why do I need to say this?
There are a bunch of other questions to ask. Knowing the answer to those questions would probably help a lot of people.
This is an example. Why do I want to say what I'm saying in this blog? Because I think it is important for me to practice forming my ideas in a way that other people can comprehend them, and I feel strongly the issue of people being responsible with their gift of speech.
What effects will this have on people? Well I think that some people like to hear what I have to say. I wrote it into a blog that only a few people know about because that way only people who are really interested in reading it will see it. That way people who can't handle disagreeing with my ideas won't use it as an excuse to get angry. This will effect me by clearing my mind a little bit, and will allow me to further develop my thought as I go over what I wrote in my mind.
Why do I need to say what I'm saying in this blog? So that I can get better at putting my thoughts on to paper and I can have a little more experience writing while keeping an audience in mind instead of just for myself. That is important to me because I want to provide other people the opportunity to benefit from my way of thinking and awareness of reality by writing.
I really do ask myself some of these questions when I get second thoughts about saying certain things and it always helps.
I've been thinking about how words effect people. I try to be conscious of the effects that my words are having and to be careful about what kind of things I say. I hate saying bad things about other people, and I especially hate hearing bad things about people. When people hear negative stuff about other people it gives them a preconception about them. It is really hard not to think about bad things that other people have said about a person later on. Even if I call out people who are talking trash about another people and say something good about them them instead, it still messes up my mind.
I don't think people realize how much of a negative impact they have when they spread negative things about people. It hurts everyone who hears it or says it, not just the person who is getting talked about negatively.
In certain company I won't even bring up other people if I have something nice to say about them because I know that some kind of negative talk will probably follow. That is depressing.
Positive words effect people too. I've found that when people call me awesome or a genius it boosts my ego to insane degrees. Especially when girls do it. I'm sure there is a reason for that. Getting compliments from the opposite sex is way better than getting compliments from other dudes. Like I still like it when anyone says I'm a genius but for some reason when girls say nice things about it me it is like a whole different level. I rarely forget a compliment that I got from a girl. I'm probably insecure or something. That is one of the things I try not to hold back to much. If I come up with something good to say about someone that I genuinely think is true, I will try to say it. I would feel guilty if I made a compliment to someone that I didn't really feel confident about even if it made them feel good.
I just want to say that people should really think about everything they say. They should be asking questions like:
Why do I want to say this?
What effect will this have on me and others if I say this in this way?
Why do I need to say this?
There are a bunch of other questions to ask. Knowing the answer to those questions would probably help a lot of people.
This is an example. Why do I want to say what I'm saying in this blog? Because I think it is important for me to practice forming my ideas in a way that other people can comprehend them, and I feel strongly the issue of people being responsible with their gift of speech.
What effects will this have on people? Well I think that some people like to hear what I have to say. I wrote it into a blog that only a few people know about because that way only people who are really interested in reading it will see it. That way people who can't handle disagreeing with my ideas won't use it as an excuse to get angry. This will effect me by clearing my mind a little bit, and will allow me to further develop my thought as I go over what I wrote in my mind.
Why do I need to say what I'm saying in this blog? So that I can get better at putting my thoughts on to paper and I can have a little more experience writing while keeping an audience in mind instead of just for myself. That is important to me because I want to provide other people the opportunity to benefit from my way of thinking and awareness of reality by writing.
I really do ask myself some of these questions when I get second thoughts about saying certain things and it always helps.
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