Beautiful, Courageous You

Category Archives: Body


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‘Quietly Awake’ for Better Sleep

life-quote-go-sleep

So many people I talk with are sleep deprived and seldom get a sound nights sleep, if prolonged, lack of sleep can lead to anxiety, depression and many other poor health factors. For many years I suffered terribly with insomnia nowadays I sleep soundly with minimal waking. Here’s a few tips that work for me and I am sure they will work for you also ;-).

Generally getting to bed before 9pm is ideal, as the quality of sleep is greater; my mum has always said ‘every hour before midnight is equal to two hours sleep’… I use to think this was just her way of having a quite house by early evening but there is a science behind it. The “Sleep Health Foundation” concurs with mum’s advice:

Your best quality of sleep is obtained when your circadian rhythm is at its lowest point (usually between 10 pm – 5 am). Therefore even if you obtain a good amount of sleep (7-9 hours), going to bed late is likely to lead to a large amount of your sleep being highly inefficient. To take advantage of this plan your evening so that you have nothing to do but relax from 9 pm. Then go to bed when you feel the sleep wave: a period where you will feel highly drowsy (for most people this will occur between 9-10 pm).

*http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sleep-newzzz/201309/better-sleep-found-exercising-regular-basis-0

In this case, I must admit… mum really does know best!

On the topic of sleep, I cannot over emphasise the need for good quality & quantity of time in slumberland. While pulling an all-nighter completing work, up with sick kids etc. can bring a feeling of temporary euphoria, running on adrenalin the following day, long-term sleep deprivation is detrimental for the mind and body. On the other hand, balanced circadian rhythms can contribute to good mental health.

Throughout depression I tried many sleep enhancement techniques, herbal teas, deep breathing and listening to soft worship. All were very helpful but the most effective was ‘quite awake time’. Where we live, often we lose power, when this happens we have no artificial light, no screens (computer or television) and no loud disruptive noise (with the exception of a toddler tantrum) . In this quite wakefulness, we will read by candlelight or nightlight, play a board game, watch the storm (often why the power is out) and go to bed much earlier than usual. What would result by morning is a deep peace and calm in our home, somehow the combination of being fully caught up on sleep, as well as quite awake time the  previous evening, tilted our moods towards happiness. Give it a go… no screens, no bright lighting before bed and you’ll be counting zzz’s instead of sheep! x


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Now, Lord, take my life! or get aligned ;-)

He restores my soul

During my journey of recovery from depression, I would often reflect on the story of Elijah written in the book of 1 Kings. Here we read the how this great man of God was running away to hide from Jezebel:

 “ But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” (see 19: 3-5)

It is clear from the context that Elijah was exhausted – mentally and physically. I believe he had not been eating or resting, that he was running on a spiritual high (sound familiar?)

Elijah had great victories, revived a widow’s son, called down fire from heaven and then finds himself running scared from a girl! This irrational response is not too dissimilar to the first signs of depression, as his body was exhausted so to his mind became irrational, ‘Lord take my life’ is suicidal thinking!. He had already stood against greater odds than one woman and yet he was fearful and perceived the threat irrationally.

 How did God respond to Elijah? He cared for his natural needs: “Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.” Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again.  And the angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.”  So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.” (see 1 Kings 19:5-8)

The primary need that the Lord saw was the need for the body to recover strength: to sleep, to eat, to drink. Elijah had a nature – a human nature, just like our own. Therefore, if exhaustion and lack of nutrition can cause Elijah to have a flat day, then it can happen to us because we have the same nature, a human nature that requires adequate rest and nourishment.

When our body is depleted, our soul will follow with irrational thoughts, anger, irritability, insomnia etc., and of course depression which, by consequence, we will feel spiritually depleted. The same connection is true in a vice versa situation, for example what we allow our thought life to meditate on will determine our emotional condition and ultimately affect our physical bodies. Randy Clark writes; “When our will reflects His, our emotions receive the best medicine possible. An alignment takes place that gives permission for the body to experience health. A healthy spirit makes for a healthy soul. A healthy soul makes it much more likely that we will enjoy physical health too.” ”. (The Essential Guide to Healing pg, 179)

Often, we fail to recognise a ‘misalignment’ between our body, soul and spirit, as life gets busier we can fall into the trap of neglecting our physical needs, as Elijah did, we fall into an emotional demise and then find ourselves asking ‘how did I get here’? Today, take a moment to consider areas that are misaligned in your life… maybe it’s a check on your thoughts? What are you meditating on? How’s your nutrition? Do you have healthy boundaries in place with regards to negative influences? Self care is not selfish… it is essential, so, like Elijah, you may go ” in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights…” x


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Sometimes the Most Spiritual Thing You Can Do is Rest

still waters

In my experience with healing from depression, I met many well-meaning Christians that were intent on spiritualising every aspect of my condition… everything was a stronghold or a soul tie, and yet most days I clearly heard the Lord say ‘rest is the most spiritual thing you can do today’.

It is true our battle is not against flesh and blood, there is a spiritual realm in which we must contend for healing (see Ephesians 6:12).

However if we are to contend for healing, I believe it is not to give the enemy so much ‘air time’ that we become paranoid and look for a demon under every rock. Rather I suggest we must embrace what needs to be addressed for spiritual health (prayer, deliverance, repentance etc.) alongside applying some practical steps towards healing our physical bodies.

Recently I read a daily devotion penned by L.B Cowman Streams In The Desert, she writes on the issue of confounding physical weariness with spiritual weakness:

And what did God do with His tired servant? Gave him something good to eat and put him to sleep. Elijah had done splendid work and had run alongside of the chariot in his excitement, and it had been too much for his physical strength, and the reaction had come on and he was depressed. The physical needed to be cared for. What many people want is sleep and the physical ailment attended to. There are grand men and women who get where Elijah was- under a juniper tree! And it comes very soothingly to such to hear the words of the Master: “The journey is too great for thee, and I am going to refresh you.”

Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is rest, along with spiritual laws we also must address the natural laws of ‘something good to eat and a good sleep’… today, give yourself permission to rest and have something good to eat 😉 X


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I Forgive Him… I Forgive Him NOT!

SteadfastForgiveness… undeserved, unearned, you might say:  ‘well no one understands what they did to me, what was said about me’. From the Gospels’ accounts,  Jesus had every reason to be bitter, angry and unforgiving. Amidst brutal circumstances, He said, “Forgive them…”  betrayed, falsely accused, whipped, beaten and spat on he was then nailed to a cross by them.  As the crowd continued to taunt and curse him and His life slowly fading away He did not seek justice or vengeance.

Forgiveness, or I like to call it ‘absorbing the debt’,  refusing to make them pay for what they did, I believe, is the hardest and most courageous step towards healing and complete peace. On the subject of forgiveness Timothy Keller explains how by wanting to make the perpetrators suffer for what they have done will not give you peace “Cycles of reaction and retaliation can go on for years. Evil has been done to you – yes. But when you try to get payment through revenge the evil does not disappear. Instead it spreads, and it spreads most tragically of all into you and your own character”.

 It was only a few months ago when I sat in prayer and asked God, “Why am I not completely peaceful and why have you not given me joy like you promise in your word?, I am not moving from this chair until you heal me… completely!” I waited for an answer and started to reflect on all the steps I had taken towards getting well, countless counselling sessions, prayer, exercise, etc. As my mind wandered (still waiting for God to answer) I recalled the most hurtful moments of my past and thanked God for healing me from the emotional pain. Upon examining my feelings I realised the memories still affected me, not in a hurtful, saddening manner as they had for so many years. What was rising up in my spirit was anger, bitterness and  unforgiveness.

Needless to say, God had answered my demanding prayer by showing me that my final healing was to be found in letting go of the unforgiveness I held so tightly. Holding onto unforgiveness seemed to be my last chance at vengeance and justice to those that had wronged me. They didn’t deserve my forgiveness!

Crazy thing about a ‘payback’ mindset is the paying back seldom affects those who have wronged you. The unforgiving heart doesn’t heal, in fact bitterness and anger controlled me more and more as the years went by. Ask yourself, how does your holding onto unforgiveness work to hurt the other person? Does it really make you feel peace, joy…  a sense of true happiness?

The issue isn’t whether the person who hurt you deserves to be forgiven, forgiveness is a gift you give yourself.  In my experience the hurting one is the unforgiving soul, much like a snake bite if you were to be bitten (hurt by someone) the snake takes off into the bush and your left with the venom (un forgiveness) do you get the picture? The snake isn’t concerned about how much venom you have pumping through your veins, he’s gone about his life as if not much has changed. On the other hand if the anti-venom (forgiveness) is not administered to the victim of a snake bite her health will deteriorate rapidly and possibly become fatal.

The importance of forgiveness toward others is a matter which must be addressed if we are to experience peace, joy and happiness. Just as your spirit and soul will flourish when you offer forgiveness, so to your physical being will begin complete healing. Go ahead… just like the Psalmist cried out “Create in me a pure heart…” allow God to purify your heart towards others and in the words of our Saviour “Forgive them”. X


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Choosing to Love = Return to Joy

There are random moments throughout each day… a burst of laughter from my children, gazing out the kitchen window and looking out at the Rainbow Lorikeets dancing from branch to branch in the wattle trees, a saucepan of chai tea brewing on the stove top,… when I feel the spirit of Joy flow through the caverns of my being. It is in this moment that I am grateful for the gift of life. I have come to realise that a life without Joy is a life that never reaches its full potential, if anything, the absence of Joy from one’s life is like a fresh blossom devoid of water and sunlight. Before long the blossom soon begins to wilt and lose its vibrant colour and eventually fade and die long before it reaches the beautiful, majestic flower it was created to be.

Perhaps you are in place devoid of life, much like I was when my life was in the pit of depression, I want to encourage you, there is hope and you will return to joy!  Today if you will choose love, take your eyes off  yourself and your problems and ask God ‘who can I love today’? When you do this, your mind cannot be meditating on how bad you feel, but instead is consumed with how you can be a blessing.

This morning I awoke feeling a little flat, hormonal and emotional  😦 but, as I do every morning, I asked God to ‘show me someone who needs love today’… as I did this I felt joy begin to bubble up in my spirit. You see the happiest people in this world are not the takers no-no, the happiest people in this world are the givers! By choosing to think about giving/showing love to someone, you are harnessing the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of love and it is in this act that you increase the ‘feel good’ chemicals in the brain, your heart starts to feel alive again and you feel a return to joy!

 Jesus’ life and death is the perfect representation of love leading to joy whereby He chose to love us by laying down His life for all mankind, He endured the cross and He returned to joy. In John 10:18 (NKJV) Jesus said of His life,

“No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again…” here He is ‘choosing’ to love for the joy that awaited Him, “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” Hebrews 12:2 (NKJV)

Choose today to ‘love on purpose’… and watch as the spirit of Joy apprehends you x

“Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God.”
―    Pierre Teilhard de Chardin


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Healing on the Horizon

In my journey through depression I discovered three key areas that made a difference to my outcome. Quiet literally the outcome was either life or death. Depression is seldom discussed openly, it is a taboo subject one of which is not fully understood and when brought up in conversation it is often quickly shelved with a ‘snap out if it’ response. However, there is great purpose in depression, a purpose that acts as a signal to a deeper problem. Depression is more than just a low mood. From time to time we all feel sad, moody or just flat, in depression these feelings are experienced more intensely, more frequently and most often without reason. Daily function is difficult, just to complete simple everyday tasks is a challenge. Activities that once brought joy become a thing of the past as every breath is burdensome and every thought, deed or action is precede with the phrase ‘what’s the point’?. Symptoms of depression are to be observed as the tip of an iceberg, with the cause for depression hidden deep beneath the surface.

 With this in mind, we cannot simply treat the symptoms without exploring the root cause for depression. The concept of depression as an iceberg underscores the importance of addressing the deeper issues in three key areas; spirit, soul & body in order to be completely healed.  In my experience, depression requires healing on all levels. God has created us as a triune being, we are spirit which has a soul and lives in a body. I could not simply address the physical aspect by taking medication and hope to get on with life, in like manner just seeking good counselling, or just receiving prayer or just exercising daily was not the answer. The journey for healing can become quite overwhelming so I suggest you start small… but at least start! Do something today that will nourish you spirit, soul and body…  get out for a walk, shoulders back and head held high (healing for the body), chat to God along the way, tell Him all your cares (healing for the spirit) and stop to notice the song of a bird or the beauty of a flower unfolding (healing for the soul). When you lay your head down tonight quite your mind, turn your heart towards God and thank Him for the journey… this journey called ‘life’. x