Pastoral Reflections

Habits that could Increase Happiness

Happy is the person who keeps on learning.      Proverbs 3:18

Happiness looks different to everyone. Maybe it’s being at peace with who you are. Or perhaps it’s having a secure network of friends who accept you unconditionally. Or the freedom to pursue your deepest dreams.

Regardless of your version of true happiness, living a happier, more satisfied and fulfilled life is within reach. Just a few tweaks to your regular habits can help you get there.

Habits matter. If you have ever tried to break a bad habit, you know how engrained and difficult they are. But good habits are engrained also. Why not work at making positive habits a part of your routine?

Remember, everyone’s version of happiness is a little different, and so is their path to achieving it. If some of these habits create added stress or just don’t fit your lifestyle, ditch them. Figure out what does and does not work for YOU.

Daily Habits:

1. Smile – you tend to smile when you are happy, and smiling causes the brain to release dopamine, which makes us happier. So, the next time you are feeling low, crack a smile and see what happens.
2. Exercise – regular exercise can help to reduce stress, feelings of anxiety, and symptoms of depression while boosting self-esteem and happiness. Even a small amount of activity can make a difference. The trick is not to overexert. Walk around the block. Start the day with 5 minutes of stretches. Remember activities you used to do and enjoy and start again.
3. Get plenty of sleep – no matter how much modern society steers us toward less sleep, we know that adequate sleep is vital to good health, brain function, and emotional well-being. 7-8 hours per night, a quiet hour before going to bed, and your bedroom dark, cool and quiet are helps to a good night’s sleep.
4. Eat with mood in mind – carbohydrates release serotonin. A “feel good” hormone. Keep foods high in sugar and starch to a minimum and focus on eating complex carbs – vegetables, beans, and whole grains. Lean meats, poultry, and dairy are high in protein and these foods release dopamine and norepinephrine which boost energy and concentration.
5. Be grateful – a recent study found that practicing gratitude can have a significant impact on feelings of hope and happiness. Start each day acknowledging one thing that you are grateful for.
6. Give a compliment – performing acts of kindness can make you feel more satisfied. Do it with a smile and it is surprising how good it makes you feel.
7. Breathe deeply – you are tense, your shoulders are tight and you feel as if you might “lose it.” Close your eyes, take a slow deep breath through your nose, and slowly release it out through your mouth. Repeat several times until you start to feel yourself calm down.  
8. Acknowledge the unhappy moments – bad things happen to everyone. It is part of life. Acknowledge the feeling of unhappiness for a moment, then shift your focus toward what made you feel this way and what it might take to recover. Do a deep breathing exercise, take a long walk outside, perhaps talking it over with someone. Let the moment pass and take care of yourself. No one’s happy all the time.

These are suggestions for habits that you can do daily and there are many more suggestions for habits that you can work on weekly, monthly, and yearly to be happier, to feel more positive and fulfilled.

Weekly Habits

9. Declutter – what can you do in 20 minutes?
10. See Friends
11. Plan Your Week
12. Ditch the Phone
13. Get into Nature – 30 minutes in a greenspace can decrease both blood pressure and depression
14. Explore Meditation – sit with your thoughts for 5 minutes and deep breathe
15. Find a Self-care Ritual

Monthly Habits

16. Give Back
17. Take Yourself Out

Yearly Habits

18. Take time to Reflect and Re-evaluate your Goals
19. Take Care of Your Body
20. Let Go of Grudges

                                                          Resource :Healthline: Wellness Wire 

Grace and peace to you from our relational God!

I have been thinking a lot this week about the importance of connection and how good and meaningful relationship is so central to our mental health and total well-being.

Brené Brown defines connection, “as the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.”

Because of the challenge of making in-person connections over the last few years, too much energy has been depleted from us and between us. By God’s grace we did find ways to stay connected but for many of us the connections were not all that we hoped for and needed. We have struggled as a result.

We were created for relationship, for meaningful connection. Already in Genesis 2 God said, “It’s not good for man [or all adults, youth and children] to be alone; I’ll make him [them] a helper, a companion.” (2.18).  We were created for relationship, for connection!

We all need helpers and companions on our life journey, and on our journey of faith. We are made in the image of God, and God, as the story of Bible reveals so clearly, is a relational God. God is Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit— and trinity is a relationship of love, a flow of love being poured out and received. God invites us into that flow of love, with God and with each other.

Jesus modeled a life-giving way to be connected. He had a rhythm of life that included time alone and time in the company of others. He made room for many in his life but also had smaller more intimate circles of friends. He gave much and received much as he shared life in relationship with others. 

As more in-person connection is possible again, opportunity to be renewed through relationship is an invitation before us. Is there a relationship you need to initiate again? Or a friendship you need to catch up on? Or a peer/support group you need to start or re-start? Or a counseling relationship you need to begin? Is it time to get back to in-person worship? is it time for coffee and conversation at church again? (See announcement below about that possibility!)

³⁴ So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. (John 13.34)

To love as Jesus invites us to love is about meaningful connection and relationship where we gain sustenance and strength. May we both offer and receive this kind love and connection!

Pastor Ray

Greeters to all the believers!                                   

As I was growing up, I had a rather nuanced picture of what becoming a Christian was all about.  First, in my mind, came believing—in God, in Jesus, and in the Holy Spirit. Then behaving—believing required that you had to behave in a certain way (do this but don’t do that). Lastly came belonging—faith gave you a sense of belonging to family, to a faith community, and yes, even to God himself. I understood this could possibly happen rather simultaneously, but I had this idea that individuals should make sure they believed and behaved before they should be accepted as full members of the body of Christ. 

However, the last decade or so of my life, I have had to re-think this paradigm.  Jesus seemed to purposefully reach out to those the ‘religious’ looked down on.  For example, the woman at the well, the lepers, and the woman caught in adultery.  This is in stark contrast to the idea that people have to first ‘get it right’. Jesus first let people know they belonged, regardless of their behaviour or belief.  The rich young ruler of Mk 10:21 was looked on and loved, regardless of his choice.  This is also true in the story of Zacchaeus and the story of the wonderful father and prodigal son. 

What followed naturally from receiving the unconditional love of God is that people believed. They didn’t have to believe in Jesus before they were shown His love and compassion. Rather, they believed because of it. A natural response to having your sins forgiven—and being loved in a way that no person could ever get right—is placing your faith in Jesus and making a commitment to follow Him. 

And only after the belonging and the believing comes the third step—behaving. Because I belong, it leads me to believe. Because I believe, I am going to start behaving right. The Holy Spirit convicts me to clear up my act.  And this is exactly what James is on about in his short book.  If you belong to the community of faith, and truly believe, your beliefs, and the Holy Spirit, will change your attitudes and behaviour.   

So, for me, it is no longer believe, behave, belong, for me, but rather belong, believe, become.  Isn’t it wonderful, that our walk of faith is not static! 

Godspeed on your lifelong adventure with Him, 

Pastor Lloyd 

Greetings in the name of God who reveals self through all that God has made!

¹ The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the skies proclaims his handiwork.
² Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. ³ There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; ⁴ yet their voicegoes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. (Psalm 19)

²⁰ Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; (Romans 1)

These words of scripture remind us that the heavens and the earth are a significance means by which God speaks into the world and into our lives. When God spoke to Moses from the burning bush (Exodus 3) he instructed Moses, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” I wonder, is not all of creation “holy ground”? And the skies “holy space”? If God speaks through earth and sky and makes himself known through all that God has made, and if earth and sky proclaim and reveal God, then we must answer those questions with a “yes!”

This truth increases my awareness of how important it is to care for the earth and all that God has made. Earth Day is an important reminder that we are caretakes of God’s good creation every day. To care for creation, is a spiritual experience and is one way we help to awaken ourselves and our neighbours to the presence and reality of God!

Holy ground and holy space are all around us. God is speaking to us and reveal self. I offer a few suggestions as to how we open ourselves to receive God’s presence and listen for God.

• Slow down as you walk or sit in nature. Be attentive to all that is around you as you listen and watch for signs of God!
• Look closely at a flower, a bush, a tree, a sunrise or sunset, the day or nighttime sky.
• Feel the warm sun, the changing winds, the gentle and heavy rains.
• Watch the changing seasons and observe how they parallel the seasons of our lives.

As war rages in our world, as the presence of Covid continues, as health challenges confront us, as anxiety remains, and even grows for many, creation around us reminds us that God is still with us, and that God still cares. Invite God to make himself known and then slow down, watch, and listen through the earth and sky and all that God has made.

Pastor Ray

Greetings to the Easter People of God!

“Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.”  Pope John Paul II

This quote by the late Pope John Paul II reminds us that the hope of resurrection can dispel our despair. Jesus proclaimed that truth on the day of his resurrection as he sought out his fearful followers. The disciples were afraid of what the death of Jesus might mean for them. They were locked in their own tomb of fear, uncertainty, and despair. But the resurrected Jesus moved into their locked room, stood among them, and spoke words of peace and calling.

²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” ²² When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. (John 20).

To be an Easter people is to receive the Holy Spirit and live in the hope and power of resurrection. Jesus’ life, death and resurrection reminds us that we can live in hope even in the face of our own suffering, death, and despair. The events of the world, and our own life, might discourage us, cause us to fear, disillusion us, take away our joy of life, or even take our life. But the Spirit of God will carry us forward and raise us to new life. And the Spirit of God will empower us to extend God’s love, light and resurrection hope into every dark place where we are sent to go.

To be Easter people is to live with a wonderful hope. Christ destroyed death for all of us! What happened in Jesus, will happen for all of us… and for all the world. To be Easter people is to know that in the end all will be well and resurrection and new life will come!

²⁰ But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. ²² Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. (1 Corinthians 15)

In the end, God’s will, not ours, is done. In the end love and life is the victor. Death, despair fear, pain is not the end. The end is life!

The Brazilian writer and journalist Fernando Sabino (1923–2004) wrote, “In the end, everything will be [all right]. If it’s not [all right], it’s not the end.” 

That good news is worth a Hallelujah, and it is a song worth singing in and for the world!

Pastor Ray