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Living Life Poetically: The Way of the World
A few days ago, I was reminded of exactly how much of my student loan debt I’ve already paid, how much of that has been interest, and how much I still owe. Suddenly, it hit me: Based on the amount still owed and the high interest rates, it is practically…
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How to Combat Anxiety at Work By Refocusing Your Attention on God
Unless your job is doing absolutely nothing, you are sure to experience some level of anxiety from time to time. Maybe you have a presentation, work meeting, a tight deadline, unending emails, toxic boss or coworkers, uncertain outcomes, or uncertain job security. Whatever the case may be, anxiety originating from…
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The Silver Linings: How Depression Can Mean the Start to a Brighter Future
What does J.K. Rowling, Brad Pitt, and Dwayne Johnson have in common? Yes, they’re all famous. But that’s not the answer we’re going for. Answer: They’ve all previously battled with severe depression. What is Depression? There are tons of self-assessment tools out there were you answer a series of questions…
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Living Life Poetically: The Road
“The Road” chronicles my journey to where I am today. But it’s not all about me. It chronicles all of our journeys through life in general. The first half of the poem was actually written a few years ago–right up to the word “blue.” However, I couldn’t figure out how…
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Why the Serenity Prayer Should be a Part of Your Every Day
Life can bring a lot of worries and concerns that interfere with our peace of mind. E. Ballay This is a no-brainer statement that even our very first ancestors would have to agree with. However, they probably wouldn’t agree that the level and nature of our worries and concerns are…
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Self-Esteem Part 3: How to Develop and Maintain a Sound Self-Esteem
There are three basic steps to solving a problem. Self-Esteem Part 1 and 2 tackled the first two steps: 1. Understanding the problem and 2. Knowing how it’s caused. Now, it’s time for step 3: Using that knowledge to create a plan of action to resolve the problem. In order…
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Self-Esteem Part 2: How Does Our Self-Esteem Develop? A Roadmap to Increasing Self-Acceptance and Reducing Guilt, Shame, and Regret
“Self-esteem is usually a subtle feeling that begins in childhood and is continually reinforced by cultural conditioning…Changing our feelings about ourselves entails a major revision of our awareness.” Building Self Esteem, 6 There are two major ideas in this excerpt: 1. Awareness and 2. Cultural Conditioning. So what are they?…
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Self-Esteem Part 1: Understanding the Foundation of it All
Saying that self-esteem can mean life or death might seem a bit melodramatic. However, it’s stated quite plainly in Barksdale’s Building Self-Esteem. And he does make a good point. Self-esteem is not just how we see ourselves. It plays a critical role in things like our emotions, reactions, life decisions,…
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Walking By Faith
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (NIV, Hebrews 11:1) For we live by faith, not by sight. (NIV, 2 Corinthians 5:7) If you noticed the lack of sight in both of these verses, then you might understand why having…
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The “Happier” Alternative to Pursuing Happiness
Do you want to be happy? If you pose this question to anyone, the response will most likely be a “yes” accompanied by an expression that reads: Duh, who doesn’t? Why are you even asking? The truth is, we are all pursuing happiness in almost everything we do, from the…
