Personalities

God created every single one of us as individuals, with our own looks, our own strengths, and our own personalities.

Every single persons personality is so hugely different it's beyond our comprehension (bet you havn't heard that one very often). But these days there are so many personality tests and categories that group people together in different groups. I used to love personality tests, because they were always so true about me. Every single time I would think 'yeah, I am this and this type of person', and I would go around thinking that there are lots of other people like me out there. But then the other day I realised how much I don't like the thought of being the same as so many other people. So I started thinking about these peronality groupings and what the bible says about our individuality. It just didn't fit for me. Then today, I was thinking about how sometimes people find it so hard to understand me, and I said to myself 'If I'm supposedly grouped into a particular personality type, then why do people find it hard to understand me? I mean, the personality descriptions are so small and simple!'

Since then, after having thought about it rather a lot, I came to a conclusion of sorts. I realised that, even though I might fit some personality types perfectly, I'm not that at all! Because although I show most of those certain characteristics, I have so many hundreds more of them that correspond to other "personality types".

People's personalities cannot be grouped and understood by some characteristics that they show, because they are far, far more complex than that. If you want to learn about or understand a person and their personality, you're not going to be able to do it by reading a description of their personality type, or even some things you have seen them do. You will need to watch them, interact with them, and be as perceptive as possible into the way they act, move, talk, and respond to any kind of situation. You will never be able to understand everything about someone's personality unless you do ever single activity in this world and get into ever situation that could happen. That is, of course, impossible. But the point I'm trying to get across is the fact the more time you spend with a particular person, or watching a particular person in different situations, the more you will be able to understand about their personality.

NOTE: If my blogs are getting too confusing or hard to understand, please please let me know, so I can try and make them a bit less 'deep'.

Escaping Sin

My very good friend Karl mentioned this on his blog (to which I now have a link). He was talking about how it is really hard not to sin when thinking about not sinning. His example was this:

"Listen to me now: Don’t think of the number eight. Don’t think about it. Careful…don’t think about the number eight! What are you thinking about right now? That’s right - the number eight."

I'm in a rugby acadamy, and not long ago we had a few sessions on a topic similar to this one. What we learnt was a way to get your mind off something that is distracting you or impeding you from any task that your trying to complete. It is a little bit complicated and I can't remember it word for word so please bear with me.

The first thing that we got taught was that humans can have up to seven pieces of information going throught their head at the same time. And if for example someone is about to take a conversion in a rugby game, but one of those seven pieces of information is the thought "I must not miss, I must not miss" (in other words a negative thought) then there is a high chance that whoever is taking the kick WILL in fact miss.

We also got taught an interesting (though confusing) concept. Take the numbers one to ten. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10...These are your concentration numbers. Tell yourself that the numbers 1-4 are negative, and relate these to thoughts about the past (e.g. A player taking a conversion thinking about a past kick that he missed). Also, relate the numbers 7-10 to negative future thoughts (e.g. A player thinking about what might happen if he misses the conversion). Now the numbers 56 (in the middle), is the desirable concentraion numbers, it is the "now". When you are in the "now", you are only thinking about the task you are about to perform, not about what has happened, nor about what might happen, but what IS happening. The whole aim of this excercise is to put your concentration numbers into the "now", where you arn't under stress or plagued with temptations or distractions about what is going on around you - your mind is clear and open to other (possibly less harmful) thoughts.

The way that we got taught to do this, was to take a scene. ANY scene. But one that you will never forget, it could be anything - the best moment in your life, a moment that you dream of constantly, anything whatsoever that you will be able to remember on demand. Now what you do, is relate the number 56 with that scene. Keep putting that scene through your head, and when you do, bring that scene to life - make it as if you are there, as vivid as possible. Think of the sounds, the smells, the colours and textures of that scene.

That is the basic principle of the whole excercise. But it won't work unless you practice it. Find a quiet space where its just you, and keep practicing going into that scene, and try and concentrate JUST on that scene even for a milisecond. When you come out of it you should notice that your mind is clearer and you can focus on other things more easily.

As you practice more and more, you will need to start practicing in harder conditions. For example go into a park and practice going into that scene and concentrate entirely on that scene for as long as possible. If you're doing it properly, you shouldn't be able to hear any other sounds or be thinking about anything else.

Some of you may not be able to do this, and that's perfectly fine. But for those of you who can, it can be an awesome help when you're struggling with a temptation of simply struggling to concentrate on a specific task.

It's worked for me.

Conscience

Everyone has a different type of conscience. Some have a strong conscience that doesn't let them do anything risky for fear of a bad outcome, and then theres others who don't have much of a conscience at all and will do almost anything unless there's a definite chance of getting caught.

I personally have a reasonably good conscience. Although quite often I do struggle a lot with things that don't seem too bad and I think to myself that 'its not that important', or 'they won't notice'.

What I wonder about most though, is how do people with weaker consciences refrain from things that could potentially be sinful or dangerous to them and others?

As always I will say that you can ask God. Because he provides the answers to everything. But another simple solution is, when confronted by temptations to do something that could very possibly be wrong (even though it doesn't feel too bad), is to simply think about something else! Think about what you had for dinner and how it tasted or what your plans are for the day. If you manage to get your mind off whatever your struggling with then your sorted! It's just a way to try to prevent yourself from sinning.

Emphasis

I started thinking about this after reading one of my great friends blog's on the 'F' word and Faith. This got me thinking about how much people do swear these days and it reminded me of a conversation I had with my uncle and aunt over christmas.

We started talking about how often people swear these days, and then got onto the subject of emphasis. Swear words are generally for emphasis. But when someone uses them excessively (which seems to happen so often these days) they seem to lose their emphasis. Personally I don't swear. Instead of swearing in situations when most other people would, I use words like 'darn' or 'goodness'. It's my own preferance and it seems to carry just as much if not more emphasis than any swear word!

The other thing about it is that people have noticed the fact that I don't swear. It's an uplifting thing because people notice and see it as something different and good. I don't see myself as being any better than them at all, it's just the way I am. The reason that words like 'darn', 'ahhh', or 'flip' are more effective for putting emphasis on something is most likely to do with the amount of use. Since swear words are used so often these days, the other more tame words become rare. And therefore when they're used, they are noticed more and hence carry more emphasis.

The point I'm trying to make is that you don't need to swear to put any emphasis on a point your trying to make! Use other words that people arn't used to hearing much so that they notice it and your words can carry more emphasis.

The other bonus is that it's an easy alternative to sin, which I believe swearing is. And I'm sure God would appreciate that.

God's Forgiveness

I was thinking about this just now, and it occured to me that this was easily the best thing to be thinking about. Because there is so much power in this. I mean, every time we sin, we have done something that could potentially send us to hell. And then when we go and sincerely ask God for his forgiveness and he gives it to us (which he most certainly would), then he has just saved us from eternal damnation! How awesome is that!

The thing that got me though, was that he forgives us so easily! I just couldn't understand why. I mean I know the he loves us that much, but I still can't comprehend it. We sin again and again EVERY day, yet still he forgives us time and time we ask. I think thats just so amazing. I guess I don't really understand it at all because it's such a HUGE thing and like so many aspects of God it's beyond our imaginations.

One personal thing that I do struggle with on this topic though, is that God forgives me so many times a day, but a lot of the time I don't think I deserve it at all! God forgives me so easily but I find it so hard to forgive myself! I guess my question is how can I find a way to make it easier to forgive myself? The only answer I can think of is God, but how?

I have it! The only way that I can get God to help me, the way that always works.....Ask him! It's really so simple. If you want something from God, ask him. And keep asking him until you get it, because he will give it to you. I promise you it'll work every time! It has for me.

Strength- Mental and Physical

Being a rugby player, physical strength is something that is pretty high on my list of things I want and strive for. Every time I walk into a room I look around at everyone and locate all the strong looking people that could possibly be a threat or challenge to me if "something" happened. If there is no-one in the room who looks to be a threat, I walk around with a new self-confidence that I'm the strongest person in the room. And this gives me a sense of power and being in control. Sounds rather vain doesn't it....

The one thing that I don't consider very often when I walk into a room and study everyones physical strength looking for a rival, is their mental strength. If I walked into a room and analysed everyone for their mental strength (which can be done if you watch the way they act, sit, and interact with others) I would most likely find that I'm rather weak compared to others. What does this mean? This means that even though I may have big muscles and look buff, if I have to confront a mental block i.e. being down or confused about something in life, I'll most likely do a lot worse off than others who are more mentally fit than me.

Sometimes I get too caught up in being big and tough that I get weak in other areas of my life. This is bad, I've realised, because being mentally strong is far more important than being physically strong. This doesnt mean that you shouldn't be physically strong, I couldnt handle that! It simply means that if you realise that you are getting caught up in the physical side of things, you need to try and focus on the mental stuff for a while.

How? You may ask. There is only one real way to make you mentally strong. And that is God. If you go to God and ask him for help to deal with a mental problem or anything of that nature, he will. And you would be as strong mentally as you ever could be. The more you ask God for help, the more mentally fit you are going to get.

Does that sound so hard?

Faith, Pain, God, and Answers

I've always struggled with this particular topic. The times when all these things come together is usually when im feeling down and depressed, because then i start searching for answers as to why i am depressed and how i got there in the first place. Whenever i get down and am in pain and searching for answers, i always find it really hard. Because every time i look somewhere, it always seems to be a dead end! I also find it really hard to get myself out of the dark whole i've put myself in because i just seem to go round and round in circles going further and further down. The positive thing about it though, is that there always seems to be a bottom - no matter how far down.

Once i hit the bottom i always seem to get a reality check. Thats where god comes in. He shows me that there really isnt much of a reason for me being depressed and that, with a little faith, i'll be as good as gold in no time! I guess the real problem is the faith, its something i definitly need to work on. And the easiest way to work on that is constantly reminding yourself that God is there and that he loves you! "Sure" you might say to yourself, "but life sucks, and theres nothing to be happy about." (I say that to myself rather often.) Well thats the biggest load of smelly stuff i've ever heard! I mean, God's very own son DIED for you!! The only reason that you have a chance to have eternal life is because of him! Thats the biggest reason to be happy there is!

I guess i could go on for a very long time talking about this, but the truth of it all is that it's always going to come back to faith. If you have faith that there is a lot to be happy about (even though you may not know it at the time) then God is going to show you all this stuff that you can be happy about. And if you have faith that God IS going to show you a way out of your sadness or depression, then he will!
Matthew 9:29 -Jesus: "According to your faith will it be done to you"

My wonderings

Just a little note about all my future posts to come - I write things as they come into my head, and they might seem a little strange to you, but i hope you get something out of them anyway! They are a way of helping me understand some things for myself so please do bear with me.