{"id":8300,"date":"2013-02-28T15:25:53","date_gmt":"2013-02-28T22:25:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/?p=8300"},"modified":"2018-11-10T22:56:29","modified_gmt":"2018-11-10T22:56:29","slug":"3-lies-that-keep-us-running-busyness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/featured\/3-lies-that-keep-us-running-busyness\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Lies That Keep Us Running: Chronic Busyness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">Talk to almost anyone these days, ask how they&#8217;re doing and one of the first couple of words will be:\u00a0<em><strong>busy!<\/strong><\/em> \u00a0Daily life in North America is lived at a blinding pace and being chronically busy seems to be the norm. \u00a0However many are desiring to take a <em>big step<\/em> off the &#8220;busy&#8221; treadmill to take some concrete steps to change! \u00a0Part of this is coming out of agreement with three lies that keep us chronically busy.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">Take a moment and reflect on the following questions:<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">Do you live at a pace that allows you to be available for others? To God? For yourself? \u00a0Don&#8217;t confuse activity (i.e. doing &#8216;God&#8217; things) with being available.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">Do you have the capacity to be truly present and attentive to others? \u00a0To what they are saying to you?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">How about the opportunity and the cultivated awareness to live life in such a way as to become aware of God in each moment of your day and find rest in this?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">Is it even a possibility that you could have a half-hour to yourself, for yourself? \u00a0To think, reflect and respond to what is really happening inside of you? \u00a0 If you hit the floor running first thing in the morning and don&#8217;t stop until you fall into bed at night, this may be a clue that you are over busy.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">Look, we all have seasons in our lives that are busy. Situations, circumstances that may be out of our control, but what I am talking about here is a\u00a0lifestyle\u00a0of chronic busyness. \u00a0If you would describe your life with a prevailing, general sense of weariness, anxiety, drivenness and being cranky, chances are the root may indeed be toxic busyness.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">Three lies that keep us crazy busy<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">1. \u00a0&#8220;<strong>Things will settle down soon!&#8221;<\/strong> \u00a0I used to say this, and you know what? \u00a0<strong>It&#8217;s a big fat lie!<\/strong> \u00a0There will always be plenty of things that will devour our time if we let it. \u00a0 It is important that we understand what is REALLY important to us and make choices to reject those activities that will erode those core values. \u00a0 The word &#8220;NO&#8221; can be the best tool in our arsenal against chronic busyness!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">2. &#8220;<strong>More will be enough<\/strong>.&#8221; \u00a0This is a huge carrot that our western worldview holds before us to keep us producing. \u00a0After a certain point more stuff, more money doesn&#8217;t have a\u00a0sizable\u00a0impact on your life. \u00a0Social\u00a0psychologists studying happiness and key indicators have discovered that after our base needs (food, shelter, clothing) are met, the measurable improvement in happiness and satisfaction begins to level out. \u00a0They suggest, for example, that the degree of measurable happiness between being homeless and $50,000 per year is very significant, but the difference between $50K and $250K is significantly less dramatic. \u00a0This is true and even more pronounced\u00a0between\u00a0those making $250k and $5 million! \u00a0 More is not always better &#8211; it doesn&#8217;t\u00a0guarantee\u00a0any more happiness!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">3. &#8220;<strong>Everybody lives like this<\/strong>.&#8221; \u00a0While lots of people do live with chronic busyness, many, many people are taking a hard look at their lives; what is truly important to them and making meaningful changes. \u00a0 They are getting free from the idea that the brand names they wear or the vehicle they drive define who they are as a person in any way, shape or form. \u00a0Many are turning their backs on the hype of a consumeristic culture gone mad with the epiphany that <strong>we work to live, not live to work!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><strong>Illustration:<\/strong><\/span> \u00a0A friend was talking about his mother-in-law. \u00a0A lovely talented woman who by many standards is very successful. \u00a0 When challenged about working through holidays, family events and not spending time with grandchildren her response is always the same &#8211; she wants to leave a legacy for the grand children she never sees! \u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">This example brings the saying: &#8220;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Mark+8%3A36&amp;version=MSG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for<\/a>?\u201d <\/em><span style=\"font-style: normal;\">to a very sharp point!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">Want off the hamster\u00a0wheel of chronic busyness?<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">List the top 5 things that are <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>most<\/strong><\/span> important to you.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">Look at your average week: evaluate it based upon the five things you listed above.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">How do these activities add or detract from your stated priorities?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">Re-Prioritize, un-clutter and choose to make space for what you have identified as most important.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;\">Learn to recognize and say &#8220;No&#8221; to the lies above without feeling guilty.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Talk to almost anyone these days, ask how they&#8217;re doing and one of the first couple of words will be:\u00a0busy! \u00a0Daily life in North America is lived at a blinding pace and being chronically busy seems to be the norm. \u00a0However many are desiring to take a big step off the &#8220;busy&#8221; treadmill to take&#8230;","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,8],"tags":[82,179,368,499],"class_list":["post-8300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sole-significance","category-featured","tag-busyness","tag-faith-in-real-life","tag-meaningful-success","tag-success"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}