Delight is a Destresser

You know what I have noticed this past year?

I have stopped taking photos. 

And if I DO take photos, they are dark and grainy and usually out of focus.

To anybody else, this may just be a sign of a new or busy season. But to me, it is almost worrisome.

Taking photos, to me, is almost an act of worship.   It has always been a way to stop the clutter and noise and busyness of life- even just for split second- and to focus in on the details of this beautiful life.  To take notice.  To savor.  To slow.  To appreciate. To give thanks.  To admire a Creator who thought to make stripes in petals or purple-skinned vegetables or freckled noses or dimpled smiles or the smell of roasting garlic or sound of rain on a metal roof; who gave these things to me to delight in.

That's why I have always found that I take as many pictures of food and flowers and sunsets and THINGS as I do people.  (Well, almost.)  Because in the act of slowing down enough to savor that bite of deliciousness sizzling on the stove or admiring the dewdrops dangling from a blade of grass, I am seeing with eyes wide open, the gifts all around me.  And thanking the Giver of such gifts.

It seems like I have been wandering around blindly for quite some time.  And I would like to put a stop to that.

<   abrupt subject change.  Or so it seems.   >

In my efforts to do hard things with my health this year, I am following the recommendations of the book Hashimoto's Protocol.  These next two weeks, continuing with the many unpleasant (and hard!) diet changes and supplementation regimens, the author has an additional focus on the adrenals; on rest, stress reduction and cortisol responses to stress/anxiety.  She recommends 12 hours of sleep each night (ha!), reducing the needs people have placed upon you (haha!), taking a vacation (HA!) and self affirmations in the mirror.  

"I am beautiful!"

"I am worthy!"

"I am succeeding in taking control of my health!"

Only problem is, I am not beautiful... or worthy... and I am completely incapable of making myself healthy apart from God's good grace. 

How can someone tell a total stranger to say they are beautiful and worthy?  What if they are UGLY?  What if they are total losers?  What if they need some serious attitude adjustments?  (If they are affirming themselves in the mirror, there is a good chance that they probably do.)

I despise self- affirmations.  They are stupid.  

Unless they are affirmations that are true:

I am an image bearer of God.  

Jesus is worthy and died so that God could see past our own unworthiness.

God is in control of my health and has provided me with an opportunity to use this gift well and with wisdom and discretion.  The Lord can give or take away and blessed be the name of the Lord.

(I have not yet read the book You Who by Rachel Jankovic but I have read things that she has said on the matter and know that the book must be an absolute gem.  If you want to understand the poison of self-affirmation, read it!)

So..... how is a girl supposed to address her stress and cortisol levels when I have many needy people requiring things of me every day, I can't sleep for 12 hours at a stretch until I am dead, the only vacation I ever get is in my dreams and I loathe the idea of lying to myself in the mirror?

Well.

I plan to take more pictures!

And in doing so, I hope to open my eyes, my mind, my heart to the wonderful gifts that God has given me... to the things that have gone unnoticed for far too long.  To take the focus off of myself, the world, the ugly, the pain, the suffering, the struggle and to focus in on the amazing, the beauty, the abundance, the goodness, the wealth, the GOODNESS of God.

There is nothing more stress reducing than contentedness and gratitude.  

That's gotta be good for the adrenals.  ;-)