Find us on Google+
balance, Anxiety, Encouraging, Stress
Gretchen Flores
COVID-19 Are You in Your Emotional Window of ...

Life has thrown us all some unexpected turns recently with the rise of COVID-19. The question to ask yourself is how do you stay within your emotional window of tolerance? When you are in your window of tolerance you feel secure or safe. You feel that you can handle your emotions as they surface, and you can find your sense of direction. Your responses are congruent with the situation at hand and you feel open, curious, and present. Feelings of empathy remain intact and you are able to maintain healthy boundaries. However, a stressful event can lead to movement out of your window of tolerance.

COVID-19 Are You in Your Emotional Window of Tolerance?
Nutrition, Health
Gretchen Flores
How to Stay Healthy During Flu and Virus Season

Some years ago I noticed a higher number of cancellations due to the flu than other seasons. This year the Corona Virus is putting fear in many hearts. People are stockpiling toilet paper and essentials to have around the house and some offices are preparing to have their employees work from home. Vacation plans are being canceled as fear rises like the tide. Around 7 years ago I started on a quest for natural health

How to Stay Healthy During Flu and Virus Season
Parenting, Stress
Gretchen Flores
Guest Article: Physical and Financial ...

Once you’ve experienced the shock and euphoria that accompanies the news that you’re having a baby, your thoughts move on to the physical and financial preparations that need to be made. There’s a nursery to be assembled as well as equipment and supplies to be acquired so you’re ready to go when the big day arrives.

For parents who find they’re expecting a child with a physical or mental disability, the shock they experience is of a slightly different nature.

Guest Article: Physical and Financial Preparations for a Disabled Child
Gretchen Flores
The Holiday's Stink!

Tis the season for intensified feelings of grief, despair, and loneliness. The feelings of sadness of the loss of a loved one increases exponentially during the holidays. The memories of past holidays together can flood the mind and intensify the feelings of loss. When our lives aren’t perfect and we look around at everyone else’s seemingly perfect lives, despair sets in with feelings of inadequacy. The feelings can spin around in our minds like a tossed salad with too much dressing, “They have an intact family, they have money to go skiing, they don’t have financial problems, their kids have good grades…

The Holiday's Stink!
Encouraging
Gretchen Flores
Patience

I have learned that it takes around 3 years for a bamboo plant to be fully established once it is planted. It will have long periods in which the plant doesn’t appear to be making any growth progress.  It is during this time that growth is occurring underground within the root system.  The roots are actively growing and pushing water up to the plant above ground.

Patience

Love

,

What I Learned From Adrenal Fatigue; A Faith Perspective (part 2)

,


Overachiever
Before I experienced burn out 10 years ago, I thought I was super spiritual.  I never ever missed church.  Even a Chicago blizzard couldn't keep me away from Sunday am church. I arose early to shovel my way out and brave the snow covered streets to get to church on time.  Truth was, I loved going to church.  I rarely missed my small group bible study and I always kept my commitments.  If I said yes to something (and I said yes to most things) I showed up.  I showed up even if I had a splitting headache, a stomach ache, or little sleep.

I never said it, but I looked down on people who only showed up to church occasionally thinking they were lazy.  I took great pride in my faith and my works oriented approach.  Very dutifully I went above and beyond what was expected of me and I thrived on it.   Sometimes, I got a rush out of it.  Little did I know I was soon headed for a downfall.  God was going to allow me to experience severe burnout (see also previous post on Adrenal Fatigue). 

After I burned out, I could no longer keep up with my own pace even if I tried.  Exhausted and depleted, I was forced to become what I had looked down upon.   I was forced to be the person who missed church, who stopped going to bible study, who said no to everyone who asked me to do something.  Or worse, just didn't show.  The life I had thrived on was gone. 

The Shift
Something important shifted in me and I became a more gracious person toward those I had failed to understand.  Pride was replaced with understanding, and arrogance with compassion.  Where I had  failed to comprehend what kept people out of church I now understood.  I became less judgmental toward the occasional church goer...shoot, I became one.

God had taught me an important spiritual lesson that his love and acceptance doesn't come from works.  It truly is his free gift.  He had allowed me to come to the end of myself to find him there ready to hold my weary body in his loving arms.   In his arms, just resting, I found relief and restoration.  The biggest surprise was acceptance and love from the one I thought would tell me to get up and do more.  I gained a new perspective and learned how to receive God's grace.

Verses for Consideration
Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  Lamentations 3:22

Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.  Matthew 11:28

Be still, and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10a

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast.  Ephesians 2:4-9 (from http://www.biblegateway.com)

by Gretchen Flores
, ,

Purging Judgmental Attitudes

, ,


“You then, why do you judge your brother? Why do you look down on your brother?”
Romans 14: 10a


As I cleaned out the refrigerator the other day, I realized I hadn’t done it in a while. I pulled out several Tupperware tubs full of stuff. The recent tubs weren’t so bad. It was effortless to toss the leftover food down the disposal. I held my breath as I opened some of the other tubs to protect my nose from the smell. I quickly dumped them out. Hairy mold developments existed in the corners. I thought, “Certainly it hasn’t been that long since I cleaned out the fridge.” Clearly it had, because there was a lot of gunk in there from old veggies to leftover stew.

 

When we judge others who are loved by God it is as smelly as old stew in the fridge. God asks us to love one another and to not judge. Yet, so many of us still are full of judgmental attitudes. Many of us “tend to judge from a self centered perspective rather than from God’s perspective. If we don’t like high heels, we may judge someone who does, if we don’t wear saggy pants, then we may think negatively about someone who does. If we do wear saggy pants we may judge someone who doesn’t dress this way and think they are old fashioned and obsolete. If we read the Bible everyday, we may judge someone who doesn’t. There are as many examples as there are people. The point is that we mustn’t judge from our own eyes, tastes, or preferences. Those are not essential. What matters to God is the heart, and we are not to judge that either” (P. 85 The Journey Out).

What God asks us to do is to love one an-other. “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4: 8). We must love people regardless of ethnicity, background, socio-economic status, or skin color. When we love others we are passing along God’s grace. “If we are quick to judge others, we undermine the central component of God's grace and His compassion toward those to whom He longs to reveal His love” (P. 77 The Journey Out).

I have been disgusted by some of the judgmental attitudes I have observed recently on news, radio, and on bumper stickers. Why are some so free to share negative thoughts? How can we do a better job of showing God’s love? Even something as simple as good eye contact and a smile can go a long way.

Have you cleaned out your judgmental attitudes lately? They are as smelly and retched as rotting food in the fridge. Are you aware that they exist in your soul? Maybe they are hidden behind the yogurt you just bought. Maybe you haven’t checked lately. Have you become accustomed to their presence? Are you used to the smell? They may still be in there. Ask God to show you what they are. Repent, and say you are sorry for holding negative attitudes toward people that God loves. You may find that you feel more freedom in your own spirit.

by Gretchen Flores