#but how many opportunities do i get to exercise patience like this!

[past-j]

there is no practical reason for me to wait until november to upgrade my iphone 8, but i think it's spiritually healthier to sit on it for a few weeks

i need to exercise my "wait for it" muscle instead of impulse buying this (even though it's definitely time for it)

[bellestarot]

Pick a pile

July 2024 Predictions

♡ Take your time to choose.

✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩

Pile I

What do I need to know about the month of July?

Pile number 1, The month of July will be a time when you will be very focused on your work or a project you started and will finish during this month. You will learn more about working in a group and will also be making new friends.

You will be tested in dealing with your emotions and ambitions, as not everything you want will come when you desire. So, you will learn to wait and not make hasty decisions about various situations that may be related to work or personal life, but it will be a test of your patience.

How will my love life be this month?

"Dancing Queen" by ABBA started playing in my head when I asked about your love life in July. You might be going through a rejection or a relationship that didn't work out. Or you may still be hurt by what happened in the past after a breakup.

But I have good news: when you manage to move on and understand that you have many opportunities and possibilities to find love again, your life will work out. I see you happy, I see this song playing in the places you go. Pain and loneliness may be part of the process, but they cannot last too long. So, you will get through this and will be able to move on because I see that there are people and stories to be written about love in your life again.

What is the best path to financial success this month?

The best path to financial success is to have patience. I see that this pile is for people who sometimes don't handle frustration very well, and this could be a test so that better things can come and things can get right in your life.

Maybe you have gone through a difficult situation financially or in your career, something that hurt you, but the cards here ask that you do not lose hope, do not lose your dreams and ambitions—they are still there.

Perhaps you have lost people you were working with for a long time, and they are now distant or have been laid off. But I want you to understand that things will improve. I see that it is an acceptable pain, but you have to let go for new things to come, new opportunities are on the way.

What health precautions should I take this month?

You need to exercise more and take care of your entire body. You should go for walks, runs, and also drink more water. Eat healthy foods such as fruits like melon and banana. Improve your diet to enhance your health.

What spiritual or practical advice can I follow to grow during this period?

What I see here spiritually is that you should leave where you are and explore the world, getting to know new places and learn every day to balance your emotions and your logic without letting one outweigh the other.

⊲ Ⅱ ⊳

Pile II

What do I need to know about the month of July?

In pile number 2, July will be about this: You'll be speaking more, I mean saying exactly what you want to say. You'll work a lot on your throat chakra, and you'll manage to express what bothers you, what you want to change, and your feelings about a certain situation. So, the situation will be resolved.

Right now it might seem pending in your head, but it will be resolved, and you'll see that the effort you're putting into any situation will be very worthwhile, you'll mature and learn a lot during this month of July.

What will my love life be like this month?

Maybe some people won't identify with the romantic situation in pile 2 during July. But I see something ending here, I see ego clashes, I see narcissism being exposed, and I see that neither side is winning this battle; both are losing, and these two people will go their separate ways.

Perhaps this applies to a relationship that is already heading towards wear and tear or not. But I see that other people are also involved in this relationship's turbulence. I'm not sure of their exact role, maybe friends or relatives, but I think these people are there, and I see that with a broken heart for some reason that I can't identify, you'll prefer to be alone.

You'll want solitude, you won't want to seek out someone at this moment; it's not your focus, it's not what you want.

What is the best path to financial success this month?

I see that you have a very relevant position in your job. I see that during July, you'll be able to work well, balancing your tasks and projects; you'll be able to profit a lot from it. Maybe you have your own investment, so I see that you'll be working with other people, and you'll be able to achieve your goals. It might take a while in terms of waiting for results, but I see these results coming, and you and the people you trust in your work environment will achieve something very positive. I see celebration, I see you reclaiming your power.

What health precautions should I take this month?

I get a message to take care of your back. Maybe you have scoliosis or need more comfortable and adaptable beds for your back situation, so I see that you need to pay more attention to this area of your body.

What spiritual or practical advice can I follow to grow during this period?

Continue to empower yourself, be the woman you want to be and that you inspire. Be open to new relationships; there are people genuinely interested in you. Be open to meetings and going out with new people.

And it's okay to rest from time to time.

⊲ Ⅱ ⊳

Pile III

What do I need to know about the month of July?

During the month of July, it will be emphasized that you need to have fun and be yourself 100%. This will manifest in various ways in your life.

How will my love life be this month?

In July, you will be increasingly open to meeting new people. I see many romantic interests and relationships you might have with some people. You will be stepping out of your comfort zone and available to meet different people. One could be someone your age or younger, and another could be someone more responsible, with serious intentions of having a serious relationship with you.

What is the best path to financial success this month?

Pile 3 If you are looking for a job, I have to inform you that this opportunity will arrive during the month of July. I see you getting this job quite quickly, on a day you least expect it, and you will be very happy with this opportunity.

If you are already employed, I have to inform you that both your career and your finances will bring positive news. You will stand out more at work. You will get more attention for your projects, and I see many of the things you are planning being realized.

What precautions should I take with my health this month?

Maybe you have many insecurities regarding your appearance, or perhaps you have many fast thoughts and need to seek therapeutic help from a psychologist to work on this. I see that you might type a lot, maybe work with typing, and have many tasks to do. The tarot is asking you to pay attention to these areas, both mental and some physical, related to your daily life.

What spiritual or practical advice can I follow to grow during this period?

You should have fun. Pay attention to your emotions and mental health. If you feel it is affecting you, seek help to better work through some memories from the past.

⊲ Ⅱ ⊳

Pile IV

What do I need to know about the month of July?

The month of July will reveal much about your relationships, whether romantic, friendships, or professional connections, and how you handle them with strength.

How will my love life be this month?

If you intend to have a serious relationship with someone, it is likely to happen. I see that you think seriously about dating someone before deciding on a date, especially if the person is younger or appears very mature. Moving forward in this manner might lead you to someone quite different. This person could be your ideal partner, and it seems like you both will be completely in love. I see this as a lasting and happy relationship where this person will help you grow and mature together.

What is the best path to financial success this month?

In July, you will be surrounded by others in your career or while managing your finances. You have a sweet and emotional disposition, which can be positive for your career, but sometimes you need to be firm and speak more sternly to be heard. Your efforts will be rewarded in the end, although you might be distancing yourself from a colleague due to something they said that hurt you. However, this won't be a major issue in your career this month.

What health precautions should I take this month?

If you exercise and take care of your health, this will bring positive results in July. Continuing with your health routines will significantly improve your well-being. Overall, the advice is more about maintaining your current practices rather than making major changes, except perhaps moderating your alcohol intake. The outlook is generally positive.

What spiritual or practical advice should I follow to grow during this period?

You should assert yourself more. You may take a trip soon, and you will eventually have the family you dream of with your loved one. However, be cautious of people around you, especially at work, who may have bad intentions. They might withhold important information or propose partnerships that could result in financial losses. Pay attention to a male figure around you.

⋯

We made it to the end! Thanks for joining in on this tarot reading for July. Here's hoping it's all good vibes and we tackle any hurdles stress-free.😆☺️😘

[ataraxiaspainting]

Idol.

Yan Mahito x F Reader.

Synopsis: Mahito is a big fan of yours. Too bad you can’t see him yet.

Warnings: Yandere themes, stalking, some not SFW implications, Mahito as his own warning, and implied future kidnapping.

Word Count: 400.

*~*~*~*

Mahito skillfully maneuvered his way amidst the bustling masses, navigating through the throngs of individuals, past the vigilant guards stationed outside your dressing room, until he was standing right before you. This task proved effortless for him, considering that the majority of people are unable to perceive his presence, including yourself, much to his dismay.

If you had, he would have relished envisioning the expression on your face–wide doe eyes, a startled cry, tears streaming... The potential outcomes are boundless within the realms of his imagination, contemplating what could have transpired... or perhaps what lies ahead, in due time.

Mahito has never been the best when it comes to patience, but he will try for you. Only for you. He just has to wait until your national tour ends. If he remembers correctly, your last stop should be in Kyoto. When your performance is over, he will be able to snatch you up with ease. He thinks, no, knows it will be a breeze.

“I’m your biggest fan.” He murmurs, looking over to your messy vanity. “Tsk, you really should not be rushing like this.”

You can’t see him, as usual. He recognizes your inability to do so, as you continue to gracefully apply mascara to your stunning eyelashes, completely unconcerned.

His smile would be a horrifying sight to you, reflexed in the mirror, and would certainly make you scream like blondes from B-listed horror movies he steals sometimes. “I wonder… How many autographs do I have to steal this time? Certainly a lot, right?”

However, his smirk leaves his face when he sees all of the gifts in the corner on the table in the back corner of the room. Teddy bears, flowers, cards, certainly everything he could get you, even better ones if you ever asked him to do so!

But that’s for later. Because while Mahito has never been the best with patience, he will do anything for you. Even if that means waiting a few more weeks. It is only a matter of time; he tells himself every hour or so. It’s only a matter of time before he’ll snatch you up and take such good care of you with a pretty collar on your neck and a chain and his hand pressing the top of your head until you are on your knees and-

…Once more, he must remind himself to exercise patience. There will be ample opportunity to bring his fantasies to life at a later time. Because slow and steady wins the race, right?

[airas-story]

Autumn Wedding

“No.” “Absolutely not.”

The words mixed together and Tony glanced to the side to see that Stephen looked just as disturbed as Tony did.

Pepper crossed her arms. Tony could hear the menacing ‘tap, tap’ of the toe of her shoe against the tile of the floor that meant only bad things for Tony.

“It is your wedding, Tony,” she said. “Under no circumstances are the two of you running off to Vegas and getting married in some… drunken ceremony.”

Tony pouted. “I don’t see why we should be denied the opportunity to be as irresponsible as we like. And no one said it was going to be drunken.”

“Tony will be perfectly sober when he marries me,” Stephen agreed. “Too many jokes about drunken mistakes, if not. I refuse to put up with those. But Vegas is an excellent option.”

“No,” Pepper said firmly. “I have run your life for over a decade at this point, Tony. I reserve the right to run this. In fact, I claim running your wedding as my reward for all of my hard work.”

That made absolutely zero sense. “I’m pretty sure you had a nice salary as your reward,” Tony pointed out. “But also, why would you want more work as a reward for all of your work?”

“Because without me this will be a mess.” Pepper shook her head, she gathered up the documents she’d brought into the room with her when she’d overheard his and Stephen’s plans to just run off to Vegas the next weekend they both had free.

“But Pepper,” Tony started.

Pepper arched an eyebrow at him, daring him to finish his complaint. 

Tony decided it might be better not to. “Fine, but only if you can convince Stephen.” Hopefully Stephen held out longer than Tony had.

She turned her gaze to Stephen whose face was a picture of stubborn defiance. “Oh, that’ll be easy. All I have to do is promise not to tell Christine that he was planning on getting married without inviting her if he lets me run things.”

Stephen blanched. “You know what, now that I’m thinking about it, having you help us plan our wedding sounds like an excellent idea.”

Tony winced, because yeah, if he’d just been threatened with Christine’s wrath, he’d have changed his mind, too.

“Excellent.” Pepper’s smile was entirely too smug. And really, Tony was starting to think she got her way a little too often. Not that he was about to tell her that. “I’m thinking an autumn wedding.”

Autumn!? “That’s months away,” Tony complained.

Pepper looked unswayed by his protest. “That’s me rushing it. Do you know how much effort goes into preparing a wedding?”

“Absolutely none if you run away to Vegas,” Tony muttered under his breath.

Pepper narrowed her eyes at him, which meant that he had absolutely been heard. 

“Not that I’m going to do that,” he added. He sighed as long-sufferingly as he could manage. “I can wait until fall.”

“Exercising a bit of patience will be good for you,” Pepper said. She handed him the paperwork. “Now go through these, I need your signature on them by tomorrow.”

Tony made a face, but accepted the paperwork. “Fine. Can our wedding colors be red and gold?”

“Seriously?” Stephen asked, and this time he was the one who sounded unimpressed. Where was his loyalty? Tony had an image to maintain. “Red and gold?”

“No,” Pepper said. “This is going to be a tasteful wedding.”

The outrage. “Red and gold is tasteful.”

“Not your idea of red and gold,” Pepper said. “Which is why I’m in charge.” She turned toward the door. “Paperwork, tomorrow.”

Tony let out a mournful sigh as she left. “You know, I’m an expert at refusing to listen,” he said, turning to Stephen. “We can still run to Vegas.”

“Christine would kill me,” Stephen said, sounding bereft. “Then you. Then bring us back to life so she can kill us again. And Pepper will help her.”

Tony sighed. “Autumn wedding it is.”

[wammyhoe]

hii! i love ur blog! i was wondering…how do you think mello behaves around children? (not his)

haha funny!

Mello would be pretty neutral about kids as long as they aren't actively annoying him.

He's a focused guy with a lot going on, so children aren’t likely to be something he’s concerned with.

If they’re just around, he’d mostly ignore them.

But if he ended up around other Mafia members' families and they had kids, I see Mello giving off a ‘cool uncle’ vibe.

As he is intense and imposing, that might make him seem interesting and cool to the kids.

And let's not forget his outfits!! So many feathers and sparks would catch their attention, which might make him used to certain interactions or questions about what he's wearing

It's a good exercise of patience for Mello lol

With his natural charm, he'd probably get on the kids' side now and then to tease the parents—especially if the kid wanted something the parents didn’t want to give them.

Mello wouldn’t go out of his way to connect with kids, but if the opportunity showed, he’d bring a little mischief and rebelliousness to the table!

I think he might give them chocolate, as he did with Sidoh lol

[spnhunter4life]

Bullets and Ballgowns Chapter 2

Series Summary: In the summer of 1813, the arrival of a new family in Brighton causes much excitement for the townsfolk. Anna Foster is shocked to realize she has already met the elder of the two sons, Dean. As she gets to know the family better, she must fight her feelings for him. Though she finds herself drawn to him, it is impossible that they could ever be together.

Word Count: 3.8k

A/N: Sorry about the long wait for this! I had a fire in my house a month ago. As you can imagine, life got crazy and in the free time I've had I just wasn't motivated to write. I'm finally getting this chapter out there though! I really can't say how long it will be before chapter 3 comes out, but just know that I fully intend on continuing this. Thanks for the patience and I hope you enjoy!

Masterlist Series Masterlist

(header picture here eventually. was on my other computer, so I have to figure out how to get it back)

Two days passed before Anna saw the Winchesters again. Her family and Charlotte’s sat together in the park. Their parents sat together in the shade provided from the tent they had set up. Charlotte and Anna preferred the corner of the blanket, out of the shade where they could feel the warmth of the sun. Between them and their parents a picnic basket full of grapes, biscuits, bread, butter, and jam was laid out, as well as tea.

They were not the only families taking advantage of the beautiful weather. Tents were set up all around them and small groups promenaded together down the cobbled path around the small pond. The two girls had just decided to join them, thinking a bit of exercise would do them good, when the Winchester family arrived.

“We must go now,” Anna informed her friend. “If we have not left before my mother or Mrs. Winchester are aware of each other’s presence here, we shall not be allowed to leave at all.”

“You do not wish to speak to them?” Charlotte asked, but she was already complying with Anna’s request to hurry.

“I would be happy to speak to them, but I daresay there will be plenty of time for that today and I truly do wish to walk for a while.”

They reached the path and linked their arms together, settling into a leisurely pace.

“You never did tell me the story of your first meeting with Mr. Winchester,” Charlotte prompted. Anna looked away from her friend as she deliberated where to begin. “Oh, come now,” Charlotte insisted, mistaking her silence for refusal. “I’m sure it is not so dreadful as you believe it to be.”

“I assure you it is,” Anna disagreed. “Nevertheless, I did promise to tell you. So here it is.”

~~~~~

The sun was setting in the sky when Anna stepped out of the theater. If she wanted to be back to her aunt’s house before dark, she needed to hurry. It had been her aunt’s only demand when she gave her permission to attend a performance by Maria Dickons, something she would not have allowed at all had she known Anna’s claims of meeting a new acquaintance there were false. Anna felt bad for lying to her aunt, but not bad enough to persuade her not to do it. She dearly loved music and could not pass up the opportunity to see an incredible performer like Mrs. Dickons for herself. Her aunt’s house was a mere six blocks away, but she was feeling slightly unsteady on her feet due to a slight overindulgence in wine.

As she walked down the steps, she saw the man who had made her uncomfortable with his close watch on her all evening exiting the building behind her. 

“Excuse me, miss,” he said.

She ignored him. With so many people around it was easy enough to pretend not to hear him or to assume he was speaking to someone else. Undeterred by this, he hurried to move in front of her.

“Miss,” he tried again now that he knew he had her attention.

“I’m sorry, but I really must be going. I am to meet a friend, and he will not be happy if I’m late,” she lied. She scanned the faces of the people passing by, wondering if any noticed her distress. They didn’t seem to.

“Yes, of course, but-”

“Oh, there you are!” Anna cried out happily. She spotted a young, friendly looking gentleman standing by himself and hurried over, praying that he would play along. “I hope you weren’t waiting too long. I was held up by this gentleman here,” she said, indicating the man who had followed close behind. The stranger seemed to catch her meaning and immediately jumped to her rescue.

“Not long at all,” he assured her, moving to face her in a way that placed himself between her and the other man. “I hope the performance was as delightful as you anticipated.” 

The man who had followed her out seemed to take this as a sign that he was unwelcome and left with a huff. Anna let out a relieved breath.

“Thank you for that. I do not know who he was, but he was scaring me a little.”

“No thanks necessary,” the gentleman assured her. Looking closer now that she was safe, she realized how incredibly handsome he was. “That sort of behavior is inexcusable. A lady should never have to fear for her safety.”

“I should like to thank you just the same. I do not know what I would have done if you were not here.”

“Surely there must be someone with you who would have helped.”

“I’m afraid not,” she admitted. “I am visiting my aunt you see, and I simply could not miss the chance to hear Mrs. Dickons. I told her I was meeting a new acquaintance, but I do not know anyone here in London.” She knew she ought not to be telling him these things, but the alcohol loosened her tongue and she found she felt quite easy around the man who had been her means of rescue.

“Then you must allow me to escort you home. I would not want to help you avoid the unwanted attention of one man only for you to fall prey to another later tonight.”

“I wouldn’t wish to trouble you.”

“Ensuring a lady’s safety is no trouble at all.”

“Alright. I suppose I would appreciate the company.”

The walk home was quite pleasant. Anna and her escort spoke of nothing of consequence, but she was delighted to learn that he was happy to discuss this evening’s performance with her. She quite enjoyed hearing his opinions, even the ones she did not agree with. Before she knew it, they were a few doors down from her aunt’s house.

“We are nearly there. I should bid you goodbye here, lest my aunt see us out the window and think something scandalous has happened. I thank you for the company.”

“I thank you for your company as well. It is not often I have such a lively conversation with a beautiful young lady.”

Anna knew she should take her leave of him then, but a strange impulse struck her that she found she could not ignore. With alcohol fueling her bravery, she kissed him swiftly on the mouth before turning and darting towards the house.

~~~~~

“Well… I must admit I am shocked,” Charlotte said when Anna had finished telling the story. Anna felt a curl of fear in her gut that her friend might think less of her. She knew it was no less than she deserved. “But I still believe it is not so bad a situation.”

Anna turned her head to Charlotte, wondering if perhaps she heard wrong.

“After all, you did say he did not seem to recognize you at your parents’ ball the other night, did you not?”

“I did,” Anna agreed warily. “But, Charlotte-”

“Then I see no reason you need fear for your reputation. You know how gentlemen are, even the kind ones like Mr. Winchester. It was no doubt far from his first kiss and therefore, I’m sorry to say it, not particularly memorable to him. You can go on as if you had never set eyes on him before two nights ago. All will be well, I’m sure of it.”

Anna considered her friend’s words for several long moments. “But what of you?” She finally found the courage to ask. “You must have lowered your opinion of me now. I cannot blame you for it.” She could not bear the thought, but knew she must learn to. Actions had consequences after all, and this would be one of them. Or the only one, it seemed. She should consider herself lucky for that.

“Indeed, I have not.” The fierceness of Charlotte’s words surprised Anna. “It was only a mistake. And you will find, my dear Anna, that there is not a person alive who has not made mistakes. It is true that not all of them have quite such a potential for scandal as this, but that does not make you a bad person or mean that I should wish never to associate with you again.”

Was this it, then? Was she truly to suffer no consequences for her most improper actions? A relieved smile gently turned up the corners of Anna’s mouth.

“You are far too kind to me,” she told her friend. “You have no idea how grateful I am for it.”

“Or perhaps you are just too hard on yourself,” Charlotte disagreed. “Believe me, I understand why you are so distressed. I’m sure I would be too if I were in your place. And if it were public knowledge, of course you would have reason to worry. But I am the only one who knows and surely you could not think so little of me as to believe I would condemn you for being brave enough to confide in me.”

“Of course not,” Anna hurried to assure her. “You are too good and kind a friend to ever behave in such a way. I suppose it is less that I expected you to think that way and more that I believe you should.”

“Perhaps society would say that I should. But I find that I cannot. From what you say, it was so short a kiss that it can barely even be counted. And it was while you were under the influence of alcohol, no less.”

“I fear the fact that I was out on my own and not entirely sober does not paint me in a much better light. But I thank you for your understanding.”

They walked in companionable silence for a couple of minutes before Charlotte spoke up.

“There is one thing I would ask you.”

“What is that?”

“What are your feelings towards Mr. Winchester?” Anna’s immediate response was to brush this question off, considering it inconsequential. Anticipating this, Charlotte hurried to continue. “I know what you’re going to say. That your feelings are of no matter when you are already promised to someone. But I wish to understand the situation better. And besides, who can you talk to of any feelings you may have if not to your closest friend? I would imagine it a relief to be able to speak your true feelings aloud, whatever they may be.”

“Well,” Anna began after a few moments of deliberation. “I believe he is the handsomest man I have ever seen. He is kind and gentlemanly. He is very easy to talk to. And he has an appreciation and understanding of music that I have rarely seen.” Charlotte smiled, knowing how appealing this was to Anna. Anna sighed. “I believe if circumstances were different, I would like him very much,” she admitted.

“I believe what you mean to say is that you wish circumstances were different because you like him very much.”

Anna could not deny this, so she kept quiet. They were just completing their first full circle of the pond and about to start a second when they were approached by Sam and Dean Winchester. Bows and curtsies were exchanged before Sam spoke.

“Good afternoon. Would it be alright if we joined you?”

“Of course,” Charlotte agreed, unlinking her arm from Anna’s. “I daresay it would be most fortunate if you would. That way we can continue to enjoy our walk and have no need to return to our tent in order to enjoy your company.” She held her freed arm out to Sam, who was quick to offer his own to her. They began to walk together. Anna took the arm Dean offered to her and they followed a few steps behind Sam and Charlotte, who were already conversing. 

“I hope you and your family are settling in well,” Anna said.

“We are, thank you.”

“Do you plan to spend much of the day here?”

“I believe we will likely stay as long as everyone else does,” Dean answered. “My mother was quite pleased to see so many of the town’s families here today. She is eager to reacquaint herself with old friends.”

“Yes, I imagine she is,” Anna smiled. As they walked, they passed a group of gentlemen standing together in the grass, talking animatedly. 

“I must confess, I am surprised that you and your brother wanted to walk with us,” she said. “I would think you would rather join the other young gentlemen in their discussions and games.”

“I’m sure we will,” he replied. “But is it not also usual for a gentleman to walk with a young lady?”

“I suppose so,” she agreed. She didn’t bother pointing out that they usually only did so with young ladies they were courting, or ones they wished to court.

“Speaking of gentlemen, I do not believe I see Mr. Sanders here today,” he noted mildly.

“Oh,” Anna said, surprised at his choice of conversation. “I do not believe he is here. If he is, I have not seen him.”

“Will he be joining you later then?”

“Perhaps. We do not have any plans of the sort, but I imagine if he should arrive, we will spend at least some time together. Did you wish to speak to him?” Anna could think of no other reason for this line of questioning.

“No. I am merely trying to understand the two of you better.”

“What do you mean?”

Dean sighed. “You did not mention that you were engaged when we danced,” he said pointedly.

“Well, no, I suppose I didn’t. You’ll find I made no mention of it to your brother either. I don’t make a habit of mentioning such things to every man I dance with. I see no reason to unless I know the gentleman in question has a desire to court me.”

He seemed displeased by this response. “Perhaps you are right,” he frowned. “And yet, it does not make sense.”

It was Anna’s turn to frown. “What doesn’t make sense?” She rather thought her explanation was perfectly acceptable. And he had agreed. So what was bothering him?

“I have spent the past couple of days wondering how a man could neglect to ask the woman he is engaged to for a dance until the very end of the night,” he explained. “Or in the case of your Mr. Sanders, it appears he did not just neglect to, but forgot to entirely. I understand that ladies are not always entirely happy about the man they are to marry. It would make sense to me if you had avoided his attention whenever possible if that were the case. But a gentleman has a say in who he marries. Surely if the two of you are engaged, it is because he wishes it. So why was he so neglectful of you at the ball? Why is he not here now, taking advantage of the beautiful weather to proudly walk with you on his arm?”

“Perhaps you are not as wrong in your assessment as you think,” Anna said simply. “Mr. Sanders had no more to do with the engagement between us than I did. It was an arrangement between our fathers. One that he agreed to of course, but then so did I. That is why you do not detect any particular regard from him.”

“I suppose that does make some sense,” Dean agreed grudgingly. “But, still. Regardless of his feelings towards you, he agreed to the marriage and therefore he should treat you as any man would treat the woman he is engaged to. If he did not intend to do so, perhaps he should not have agreed.”

“I thank you for your concern, but I assure you it is unnecessary,” Anna told him. She couldn’t understand why he should care so much. They barely knew each other. And there was certainly no one else so worried about William’s treatment of her. “Firstly, this agreement between us is unofficial. Mr. Sanders still has one more year at university. It will be announced as a formal engagement once he has finished. Secondly, it is still somewhat new. He is still adjusting to the expectations that go along with it, but I do believe he is trying his best.”

Dean seemed to consider her words carefully before responding. “If that be the case, then I suppose you are right. All we can ask of someone is that they do their best. And you believe you will be happy with him?”

She chuckled. “My happiness has very little to do with it, as you well know.” He did not answer, only continued to look at her expectantly. She sighed. “I believe I am quite lucky. Mr. Sanders is kind. As for fortune and connections, we are quite well matched. And as silly a thing as it may be, I cannot help but be glad I shall not be married to an old man. I believe I will be content with him.”

“Then I shall say no more on the subject.”

“Perhaps instead you might tell me if you’ve had time to make any friends yet,” Anna suggested. “I did notice you seemed friendly with Mr. Young. Am I correct in assuming you know each other from school?”

“You are,” Dean answered. “I would not consider us close friends, but he is a decent fellow, and I admit it was a pleasant surprise to see a familiar face.”

“Yes, I imagine it was. What of other friends? There is no shortage of decent young gentlemen in this town. I don’t believe it should be difficult for you to find one or two whose company you enjoy.”

“Perhaps not, but it does not matter if I make any friends.”

“Because you are not going to be living here?” Anna guessed.

“Exactly.”

“I disagree,” Anna said. 

A small smile turned up one corner of Dean’s mouth. “Do you? May I ask why?”

Anna wasn’t sure if she should be frustrated at his obvious amusement or just glad to be getting along with him. She decided on being glad. After all, she had to admit that she was proud to be the source of his happiness. “You may not be living here,” she explained, “but your family is. I imagine you will want to visit them on occasion.”

“Of course,” he agreed.

“And as glad as they will be to see you, they will still have things they need to do. They will not be able to spend all of their time with you. Would it not then be wise to have a friend or two you may visit when your family is busy?”

“I suppose you are right,” he agreed easily. He was quiet for a moment as he scanned the faces around him, pretending to consider his options. “As you said, I already know Mr. Young, so there is one friend. Perhaps you would be my second friend?”

Anna tried to hide her smile. She could feel it pulling at her mouth, fighting to break free. “I think that is a possibility,” she said nonchalantly. She noticed his smile and could no longer contain her own. “Both of our mothers would be quite disappointed if we were not friends after all,” she continued, not wanting to become swept away in the moment. “And besides that, I find you are very easy to talk to. Yes, I think we could be friends.”

“Good. I think so too.”

“Winchester!” Someone called out. All four members of their little group stopped walking and turned to acknowledge the newcomer, George Young. “Sorry to interrupt. Could I borrow your companion Miss Foster? I was just trying to convince a couple of gentlemen of the merits of living in the city over the country, and I would appreciate having a Londoner to back me up. Your brother is welcome too, of course,” he added to Dean almost as an afterthought. “The more people arguing my case the better, I daresay.”

“As long as the ladies are ok with it, I believe we should be happy to join the discussion,” Dean answered, conveniently forgetting to mention that he favored the country himself, Anna noted. Sam nodded in agreement and all three gentlemen waited for a response from her and Charlotte.

“We were managing alright without you before. I think we shall be just fine on our own once again,” Charlotte told them. Anna chuckled.

“Until next time then,” Dean said.

The two ladies continued their walk in companionable silence, but it lasted for only a short time before Charlotte spoke up. “I apologize, my dear Anna. Perhaps it is not my place, but I feel I must say something.” Anna turned a puzzled gaze on her. “I did not mean to listen to your conversation, but walking as close as we were, it was hard not to overhear some of it. Surely you must have heard some of my conversation with the younger Mr. Winchester as well.”

She had, as a matter of fact, and had thought nothing of it. After all, they had been walking close as Charlotte said. Nothing could be expected to be entirely private at that distance. “Whatever are you talking about Charlotte?” Anna asked. It wasn’t like Charlotte to babble nervously.

“Well…” Charlotte hesitated, twisting her hands together. “It’s just that I heard you and Mr. Winchester agreeing that you could be friends,” she finally managed to say.

“Yes,” Anna agreed, drawing out the word a beat longer than necessary. “Should we not have? It is normal to make friends with people who move to the neighborhood you know.”

“Yes, yes, of course,” Charlotte agreed brusquely, “but is it wise for you to be friends with this particular neighbor? Feeling the way you do about him when you are engaged?”

“Oh,” Anna said. A furrow formed between her brows as she considered her friend’s words. “I see what you are saying. But I do not believe it will be an issue.”

“You don’t?”

“No,” she said confidently. “Just because I feel a certain way does not mean my feelings are reciprocated. And he knows I am engaged. He would not be foolish enough to spend time with a promised lady if he felt anything more than friendship for her. I can hardly avoid him without giving him – and anyone else who might notice and question it – a reason. But what reason could I possibly give? Besides, he is only here for a short time. He will be gone by the end of summer. We probably won’t even see each other that much. No, I’m quite certain your concerns are misplaced. I thank you all the same though. You do not know how much it means to me to know I have you looking out for me.”

“You have always been there for me. It is only fair that I do the same for you.”

They walked together for a while longer before returning to their tent. Mr. and Mrs. Winchester were there, and Anna was promptly invited to come along with her mother for tea at their house in two days’ time. She couldn’t ignore a voice in the back of her head that sounded suspiciously like Charlotte mocking her earlier assertion that she would not be around Dean very often.

Chapter 3

Tags:

@123passwort @buckybarnes-1917 @chicken-nuggs-and-cozy-hugs @globetrotter28 @deans-spinster-witch @aylacavebear

[thejackofalltrades42069]

Doing things you don’t want to do (a useful stoic approach).

Here's a stoicism picture I created with Midjourney (pretty awesome imo).

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Intro.

Stoicism has a lot of useful information and practices to do daily or often, there are many great habits to take from that philosophy, I’ll share just this one idea that can be very useful for doing things you must do in daily life and find exhausting, stressful or tedious to do.

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Explanation and examples.

These responsibilities or things we must do sometimes can be wearing or even traumatic if we have an approach of resistance to doing them. Here are some examples:

Having to go to work at the office some days instead of always doing home office.

Dentist or doctor appointments.

Cleaning and chores.

Exercise.

Legal obligations.

Studying or continuing education.

Home repairs or maintenance.

Etc.

If we think these activities as awful, we will have stressful experiences when doing them and take longer time to do them because of procrastination, if in our mind things are a lot worse than they really are, the end result might not be the best, and we will always be stressed and anxious when we need to do this stuff.

What’s a good mindset and approach to doing these?

The best way I’ve found to approach any activity you don’t want to do but must or should do is to first try and think of what are the positive outcomes from doing it, then, think how you can somehow take advantage or take something out of doing that activity. You should also always see it as an opportunity to become better at doing it, so that it’s easier to do in the future.

Usually when an activity is stressful, but we keep doing it over and over again, and have the correct mindset, it eventually stops being stressful because we get used to it, here are a few examples:

Public speaking. First time anyone does this, they feel anxious and stressed, they forget what they have to say, but with preparation and doing it over and over, it becomes piece of cake.

Driving. First few times driving can be really stressful. Then it becomes like walking.

Taking exams or interviews. We’ve all been there; it becomes very easy overtime (if we’re prepared of course).

Learning how to use new technology. It can be really tough and stressful to learn how to use new technology for many people, but with patience and practice, we can just get used to having to learn many new technologies all the time.

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Examples for using this approach.

I’ll give 2 examples to clarify how we can apply this in real situations.

I’ll mention the situation or activity, then, again, we must see everything as an opportunity for getting better at it, we must find positive outcomes, what we can learn, and how to take advantage of it.

When you find having to go work at an office stressful or weary (instead of doing home office daily).

How could we take advantage of this? Perhaps by doing the following:

A lot of people usually prepare breakfast and lunch, we might find it tedious, but we can take this as an opportunity to make healthy meals for every day we go to the office, there are many advantages of eating healthy, feeling better in general, living longer with greater health, etc. There are many resources online that teach to do easy and healthy meals.

Working on our soft/ social skills, and networking.

It’s always good to have the best possible soft and social skills when interacting with other people, when we go to our workplace, we must interact with other people, we can practice talking and dealing with others, and try to become a bit better every time. We can take that skill we are using at work for any time we have to talk or deal with other people, if we believe we’re not good at it, we can see some online videos about having better interactions and practice a bit at a time. We could transfer that skill to, for example, if someone wants to start dating people, they will have a lot of social interaction practice from work that they can use when talking to someone they are dating (and for example, avoiding having too many awkward moments, and avoiding saying something the other person could take the wrong way). We can also create a good network of acquaintances and perhaps a couple friends, it’s always good to know people, sometimes they can help us get promotions at work, or perhaps they can help meet someone we could date, or they can give you the phone of a good plumber.

Fulfilling our social interaction needs.

Almost all of us have social interaction needs, when we are alone for too long, we can feel stressed, sometimes this is not the ideal social interaction that people want to have, but we can try and using it to cover that need, then we can go and be alone at our homes and enjoy that moment of being alone more than we usually do.

Walking more.

Moving or exercising in any possible way daily is essential for having a good health in the long term, when we go to our workplace, we can walk more than we do when we work from home. We not only have to walk to get to our work spot, but we can take a few breaks to take extra steps, we could even take 15 minutes from our lunch to take a short walk and cover a bit more of that need that we have to exercise.

Getting more sunlight.

A lot of people don’t get enough sunlight exposure, even if the sun doesn’t hit us directly for long, seeing the sunlight early is great because it boosts our mood, it helps regulate our circadian rhythm (daily cycle of biological processes like sleep-wake patterns), taking some sun provides us with vitamin D and we also produce serotonin (which is good). When we go to our workplace we can try to take more advantage of being outside for seeing and taking some sun.

These are a few things I can think about; perhaps you can think of more.

2. Procrastination and stress from avoiding dentist/doctor appointments.

Here, we can think of the most obvious, if we go to the dentist when we need to, we can have better dental health and longer lasting teeth, if we avoid going, we might end up losing our teeth at a younger age, or dealing with pain that we could heal by visiting the dentist. If we simply think about this and realize it’s the best we can do by far, we can convince ourselves of going when we need to, if we don’t, we might end up having to invest more money in teeth prosthesis/ implants and other expensive treatments.

Many medical conditions and injuries can worsen overtime if we don’t treat them, this is non-negotiable. If we understand this and understand that if we don’t treat ourselves the way we should, we can end up having to spend a lot of money in urgency treatments, or we could even die at a young age for not treating some medical conditions early. Here, perhaps we can try and think that we should take care of ourselves as if we were someone else that we cared for, we can try and take a look at ourselves from the outside, or as if we were our own children, or perhaps, our own pets that we care so much about, we should treat ourselves with that perspective if it helps.

We can think of many more advantages like, overall feeling better daily, enhanced quality of life, better mental health, better sleep, less stress, improved longevity, etc. There’s nothing better in life than having all these.

We could also think about new useful information we’re learning from our doctors or dentists. In my case, I learned a lot of useful information about physical rehabilitation and a bunch of useful exercises from my physiotherapist; I even improved my posture a lot with some exercises thanks to taking that time to do the therapy to rehab my shoulder.

We could think of many more examples like how we can take advantage of going to therapy (with a psychologist) to learn more from ourselves and improve many aspects of our daily lives, how we can take advantage of exercising for a greater well-being, why eating healthy meals we don’t like is good for our dopamine system (our reward-energy-motivation system), how we can get some physical activity and a mind relaxing activity when doing cleaning and chores, and so on.  

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Conclusion.

Keep thinking about seeing opportunities where you didn’t see them before (always when there’s something you don’t want to do!), about getting better at things, and about how to take advantage of everything you have to do.

If all that’s good not enough, just think about how doing an activity more and more with the correct mindset will eventually make it be a lot less stressful, it will eventually be a piece of cake (or pie).

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: The Rabbit Hole

Published: Jan 11, 2024

I have observed that when confronted with the real ramifications of “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI), a common response is to flat-out deny these consequences. So far I have primarily observed three broad reasons for what we will dub “DEI Denialism”:

Lack of Familiarity with the Issue

Unable to Digest Arguments

Recognizing Reality, but Not Caring

Let’s dig into each one of these three variations of DEI Denialism.

1) Lack of Familiarity with the Issue

During a series of exchanges that occurred on 𝕏, Mark Cuban made a claim in regards to the nature of DEI:

The argument that DEI does not compromise merit-based selection is simply wrong. Along with the common sense understanding that being mindful of non-merit factors means we are being less mindful of merit itself, there are many cases where demographic preferences and soft quotas are present. However, people like Cuban might not be familiar with this information which presents an opportunity to change people’s minds through the sharing of knowledge.

Many people who support DEI are ignorant and unaware of what the ideology entails; these people often have trouble understanding that the advertised intentions often do not match the real practical outcomes. Of the various types of DEI Deniers, this group is perhaps the easiest to convince through nuanced conversations and sharing the real data showing the consequences of DEI policy. I've personally managed to convince a few people in my personal life by showing them the data; Americans do not like systemic racism so many are appalled when they realize Affirmative Action is, in reality, a euphemism for universities practicing racial preferences. Of course, like any religion, you have the casuals and the true believers - the latter of which are harder to convince and will be discussed in section three.

2) Unable to Digest Arguments

It will help to start this section by remembering Hanlon’s Razor:

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

Although it might be more fun to imagine people are genuinely out to get you, it is more often the case that they are simply stupid. How far does stupidity go? Quite far as anyone who has ever engaged in conversations regarding the concept of “per-capita” within the context of crime can attest.

It is harder to change the minds of these types of DEI Deniers because they struggle to follow the logic in arguments that critics of DEI make - often because they have become so used to thinking through the lens of DEI frameworks. Patience will be your friend here; learning how to walk these types of DEI Deniers through Anti-DEI arguments will be a good exercise in convincing people and polishing your arguments so that they are more palatable to broader audiences.

3) Recognizing Reality, but Not Caring

Lastly, we have the DEI Deniers who understand the demographic hierarchy that DEI puts in place but simply do not care or even support the paradigm; this is often driven by historical guilt (typically seen with Woke Whites) or by historical grievances (Woke Blacks).

“When people get used to preferential treatment, equal treatment seems like discrimination.” — Thomas Sowell

These people will often shave off information that does not align with their worldview and attempt to rationalize the worst parts of DEI such as the racial preferences we see in college admissions. Attempting to reason with people who have such a twisted sense of morality is a difficult task; the best way to approach these types of DEI Deniers is to use their words to convince those who might fall into the first two categories.

Conclusion

Are these the only types of DEI Denialism? Possibly not; this article was an attempt to summarize the trends that I have observed and give this phenomenon a specific label that describes the illogical defenses we see of DEI. Wokely Correct Comics was kind enough to help me visualize these variations of DEI Denialism in a comic format:

[ You can follow WokelyCorrect on 𝕏 or check out his Website ]

At the end of the day, DEI is just bigotry with better branding. Don't fall for it and reject this horrible ideology.

==

You can't have two (or more) #1 priorities. It's simply not possible. Either your priority is merit or your priority is something else.

"Your pilot looks like you," should not be a primary consideration or selling point when choosing which airline to fly.

[razieltwelve]

Repetition (Final Rose x MCU)

Hela had expected many reactions from Thor when she had arrived. Indeed, she was quite looking forward to them. What she had not expected from him was to not only dodge all the swords she flung at him but from him to also smile as if he was genuinely enjoying himself. Was he even more bloodthirsty than she had expected, or was he simply insane?

Even more baffling was that rather than simply fling his hammer at her at the first opportunity he got, he hung back, watching her movements and paying close attention to the flow of power within her. When had he learned to do that? When had he developed such patience?

And why was he so much more powerful than she had expected.

“You know,” Thor said, grinning from ear to ear like a little boy who had been told he would be receiving a present for good behaviour. “I really must thank Averia.”

The clouds above them began to darken, and Thor’s eyes lit up. His power began to rise, not with the wild, frantic bursts she would expect of a young god who stilled relied on an object to control his might. Instead, it was measured and calm, a storm gathering on the horizon, its wrath reserved for the perfect moment to strike.

“All of her... how did Tony put it? Yes, I must confess I doubted that anyone would engage in as much sword spamming as she does, but it seems she was right again.” He took a fighting stance at last. “And all those other training exercises... I do wonder if she knew this would happen.”

Averia?

Hela blinked.

Sword spam?

Who was he talking about?

X     X     X

Earlier...

“I am not sure this qualifies as training!” Thor growled as he dodged another hail of swords.

Averia continued to munch on an apple. “Thor, one of the biggest problems that fighters as powerful as you develop is a fondness for simply wading through attacks. This will absolutely end up with you getting seriously injured if you ever meet someone strong enough to hurt you at long range. Who knows? You might even lose an eye or something.”

Thor hissed as one of the swords hit him. Rather than pierce right through him - which he knew it could have done - it exploded, sending a painful jolt of energy through him and tossing him across the training ground with enough force to leave a furrow in the ground and a sizeable crack in the wall at the edge.

He tugged himself back to his feet as his friends began to cackle.

“Oh. shut up!” Thor hissed, jabbing a finger in their direction. Those traitors were handing Averia another apple! “It’s not like you did any better! You all died in the first ten seconds of her doing... whatever you call this.”

“Tony likes to call it spamming swords. Pepper prefers to call it ‘motivation to dodge’.” Averia shrugged as several dozen blades formed in the air around her. “They’re not wrong.”

It took Thor days... days of constant training and agonising pain to finally learn how to dodge the way Averia wanted him to. He would have been resentful, but he’d asked for this... and he could already feel the difference. Her training methods were bizarre, brutal, and sometimes completely ridiculous, but he could not argue their effectiveness.

He could now instantly identify a projectile’s trajectory and then move to avoid it. Better still, his movements were just faster, smoother, and more graceful. As his mother had put it with a smile, he was no blundering oaf anymore. He was a dancer who left bodies in his wake. The words had been strange, true, but his mother’s genuine delight in his improvement had been deeply gratifying. Why, his father had even given him an awkward pat on the back, along with some praise!

Today, he would do the impossible! He would get through the hail of swords and land a blow!

And so Thor moved, dodging, ducking, diving, and dancing through the storm of swords. The observers - and they’d picked up quite a few because who didn’t want to see the Prince of Asgard get knocked around by flying swords - were suitably impressed, and he could sense their anticipation build as he closed the gap, took one final step, and then lunged forward to finally - finally - land a blow.

And then Averia dodged, and he found himself swinging at thin air... only for a blade to come to rest at his throat.

“What?” Thor bellowed. “That’s... that’s... you dodged?”

“I never said I wouldn’t.” Averia’s lips twitched into what his mother had come to described as her ‘delightfully malevolent’ smile. “And now we fight.”

Thor readied himself as she pulled her sword away. “Very well.”

“Oh,” Averia said. “Also, I’ll be shooting swords at you too.”

Thor just barely managed to contain a most unheroic yelp as Averia lunged forward, her melee attack accompanied by more swords.

Later, after Thor had dragged himself onto his feet again, bathed, and readied himself for the evening meal, his mother approached him.

“Mother.” He inclined his head. “Will my brother be joining us.”

For all of Loki’s mistakes, he was still his brother. And Averia had decided to use the favour his father owed her for her aid to ask him to mend things with Loki. A heated discussion had ensued behind closed doors, but his father had emerged with a scowl before announcing that he would at least try to make things better.

Loki had, needless to say, been shocked to the point that he’d actually agreed to make it work, if only because their mother’s constant visits to his cell had actually left him feeling guilty. It was almost amusing. His clever, cunning, scheming brother, utterly undone by their mother’s love.

“He will. He has been trying,” his mother said. “Even your father can see that. I suppose the development of a proper intelligence service is a long time coming, and your brother is ideally suited to the task. Your father even praised him for his efforts. Your brother almost collapsed, he was so surprised.”

“Hah! I should have liked to see that.”

“Anyway,” his mother said, leaning in conspiratorially. “I must say that you have taken quite a liking to your newest comrade.”

Thor nodded. “Aye. A man could not ask for a better comrade.” Thor considered all of the Avengers his friends, but Averia was perhaps the one who understood him the best. She knew what it meant to be a warrior, to protect those weaker and wipe out those that threatened them. She possessed overwhelming might, yet she was perfectly happy to help other improve and grow. Indeed, she seemed happier about helping people improve than she did about her own accomplishments. Of course, she was also frequently grumpy, her glare was the stuff of legends already, and there was a certain... solitude to her at times that made him worry. Those were not the eyes of a teenager, not matter how experienced in battle she might be.

“I know you and Jane have been having problems, but perhaps...”

“Ah.” Thor began to chuckle until he shook, almost falling over.

“Thor?” His mother stared. “Did I say something funny.”

He steadied himself. Averia had informed him of something important before visiting, most likely predicting precisely this sort of thing. “My apologies, mother. But Averia is not interested in men.”

His mother blinked. “Oh. So...?”

“Aye. It is the ladies that catch her fancy.” Thor grinned. “I believe she once told me that her ideal women would be a blonde ice princess and a blonde dragon woman.” He paused. “I assume she meant dragon rhetorically, but I could be wrong.”

“Well, that is interesting.”

Thor made a mental note to warn Averia. The gleam in his mother’s eyes was positively disturbing. “We do have many blondes in Asgard that might meet those descriptions...”

X     X     X

Author’s Notes

Thor’s biggest problem is that he has no one to spar with regularly that can truly push him. He is so much more powerful than his friends that training with them does little to improve his skills. He also didn’t devote himself to true mastery of his power until he got his ass kicked.

Averia being around solves those problems, and it’s a good way for her to keep sharp as well. Also, all those bizarre and crazy training exercises she went through and came up with? It’s great to have someone else to subject them to.

As for Loki, despite his actions, Averia is very sympathetic to him. She sees a lot of Victoria in him because if Victoria didn’t have such a great family and support system, it’s easy to imagine her turning evil. What Averia did was provide Odin with a prediction based on a great many number of things about what would happen if things persisted as they were. She bothers him a lot because she is immune to scrying and other forms of magical prediction. She’s like... either just not there or a hole in the world when people use scrying techniques.

Also, Frigga plotting is to be expected. When she sees what Averia is capable of, she wants her to be tied to Asgard in some way. However, she grasps that her husband and Averia probably aren’t going to get along too well whereas she has already established a rapport.

Also, we now know exactly which Averia this is.

[oraclekleo]

Hello, how are you? Hope you're doing well. Can I ask for a free reading please? I wanted to know if marriage is on the cards for me? I'm older and even though I do want to get married and have kids and have that domesticated life but I'm doubting my chances now. If yes, is it possible to know when will we meet? If no, no worries, I'll try to make my peace with it. Thanks a lot for this opportunity. Hugely appreciated 🙏. I'm C. 🙏🙏

Hello!

Please take this reading with a big grain of salt. The cards make sense to me but I'm truly not so sure they will resonate with you this time. 😊

Marriage possibility and time frame

Cards: Kite, Yoke, Purse (Tea Leaf Fortune Cards), Mercury in Virgo, Jupiter in Capricorn (Oracle of the Radiant Sun), 4 Courtship, 3 Marriage (Kipper), IX The Hermit, 9 of Wands (The Guardian of the Night Tarot), 9 of Swords, 8 of Cups (The Slavic Legends Tarot)

Interpretation:

Lol! Do you see the Kipper cards? What are the odds you get these two for a question like yours?

Anyway! I also see a lot of struggle in your cards so let’s get down to business.

It’s pretty clear you’re more of a solitary creature. The 9 of Wands and 9 of Swords suggest you might even put on a protective shield, maybe as a result of disappointment in the past. It can be your deliberate decision or just a subconscious instinct to protect yourself against heartbreak or any other possible danger coming with close relationships. You simply give the ��don’t come any closer’ vibe at the moment.

It’s also likely your standards are high for a possible partner. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advising you to lower your bar, that would only lead to further disappointment. It’s likely you hold a very responsible position, either you have a high status at work or you have your own business or you’re just a pillar of your community or family, you simply carry a lot of weight on your shoulders and maybe you don’t even have the time or patience for all the dating fuss. You might have sort of given up on finding someone good for yourself, at least on the subconscious level.

And all this is frustrating for you because as you said, you would like to get married and create a home for yourself, your spouse and children.

Don’t worry, though! You see those Kipper cards, they clearly suggest that marriage is possible for you. You might need to drop those shields of yours down a little bit. Healthy boundaries are good and keep those on. However, you might come off as a bit spikey to other people and you might want to change that, simply to allow the potential person to approach you. Both the Mercury in Virgo and Jupiter in Capricorn suggest you are a perfectionist and come as a strict person to other people. They might feel a little intimidated by you. I personally admire such qualities but in this day and age, many people find it really difficult to overcome their own worries and approach someone with such clearly high demands.

The Kite card is advising you to lose up a little bit, to ease your posture and attitude to people. They will come with imperfections but you’re really competent and with time you can train them to drop their bad habits, the first step is to attract them to you, though. If you’re planning a vacation, you might meet your special person there. Don’t underestimate the opportunities to meet new people. If your friends invite you somewhere, and your first instinct is to reject them, try to think about it a little longer and maybe go there. Don’t pressure it and socialise with people in a more lighthearted way. Not all of your new acquaintances have prospects to stay in your life but they will serve as a good exercise for you.

I see a lot of nines in the reading so maybe your month for love is September.

I hope this helps you in some way. I wish you all the best of luck finding the person of your dreams.

Thank you so much for putting your trust in me.

Kleo 🦄

[writer-dipsundarkanjilal]

Why Improving Thoughts?

There are thousands of motivational books around, talk about how to improve your thoughts. Now a days many YouTubers have started sharing lectures about thought leadership. Even I heard that in India, many motivational speakers are conducting seminars just to talk about Time management, Startups etc. and citizens are investing good money to attend them. But, why?

Why Improving Thoughts is so important? What's wrong with your existing thoughts and believes? Are they not true?

Then how our parents and ancestors were surviving without hearing these lectures??

Don’t misunderstand my arguments, they are not mine. I know improvement is inevitable. These are the questions from my audiences.

First of all, your mind is the kitchen of all your Thoughts. You derive thoughts when you observe something from your surroundings. Later your constant observations on something in a particular way, creates you believe that approach. After this we all know. Your belief system controls your mind for subsequent action and your action returns your result. This is a known psychology.

What is not so common here is why do you think in a certain way without evaluating that positive and negative aspect of it? Or, even if you see all positive aspects in a negative thought, why do you see all positive only?

Your observation is sometimes diluted by distractors. We are distracted by our own lifestyles. Unknowingly, we convert our Wants into Needs and pay hefty Credit card bill every month. We are distracted by so many advertisements, channels, media, newspapers, social media, our business, our office, our families and so on. They are not bad but they provide so much of information that instead of focusing on our intelligence and discover new ideas or opportunities, you burn all your energies daily in processing the available information. You forget to pull the husk to draw the seeds. You forget to go depth in one topic and become master of that instead.

In order to grow in today’s world having “T” shaped mentality is important. Breadth and Depth. Only widening your knowledge about many things can confuse your decision-making power.

As a result, you will become short lived, low patience, lack of control on your thoughts because you don’t have time in the race of processing all information.

The real problem is – Lack of mindfulness. We are suffering from this disease and we realize it more often when we face some challenges and don’t get any answer from our mind to solve them.

Mind fogging is a problem and hence mind works abnormally. It wants everything at one go. In order to avoid mind fogging, motivational speakers spread this slogan – improve your thoughts! Like in some families in India, they believe that if someone calls you from behind while you are starting your journey for a good work– that day can turn into evil for you and you might fail to achieve your desired result from your work. This believe has become so widespread that no one questions the rationale behind it.

A negative thought can generate wrong believe and the result would be further negative. Some people make this further down. When they fail, they make this supersition as a rule in their families. They create more negative thoughts and frustrations. Finally, this process of thinking becomes a Fictitious Cycle.

In older days, our ancestors never used to get so much of information so easily due lack of globalization. They used to follow motivational guidance from the Holy books. Therefore, the urgency of improving mindfulness was met at that time through their spiritual masters.

At present, some people take Holy books as religious fanatism.  Therefore, you need to work on your consciousness as a daily ritual. Consider this as mind exercise by following the motivational speakers and this is an investment in your career.

Using intelligence in the place of mind is a better option. If someone believes in spirituality, he will say – "Do not listen to your mind at all. Focus on your soul – which is your true sense of AWARENESS". That is pure and eternal. Your Inner-You is transcendental. If you start following your intelligence more, you can restore your positive energy, improve your thoughts as a result and you will get positive answers from within during all your obstacles in life.

Believe that mind has answers to all questions but those reside within your subconsciousness. If you learn to extract the right information at the right time, you can create better impact in your life.

Now, another important question is – Improving Thoughts towards where?? Upwards, downwards?

How do I know which direction is right for me?

You need to ask these questions to your awareness. Only your Inner-You is completely aware of what is right and wrong for you. Having less dependency on your mind and more on your consciousness and finding the true purpose of your life can help you to answer where your thoughts should be directed to.

Happy Reading…

[rosedmuse]

impromptus; for harusoie 700 days

The tension veiling upon the crowd around us is somehow intoxicating, every present soul curious as to how this love story's meant to end. Will it be a happily ever after? Or does an epic tragedy await those who step beyond boundaries? They ought to pay their closest attention, if they want to find out.

Today, I finally come home. Finally, I tell myself. Finally free from the many, grueling hours of work and responsibilities and just facing reality head on. To say I feel relieved now, sounds more of an understatement. I can't believe half the year flew by just like that. "Oh, where have you gone, my love?" But before anything else, a street act. I find myself captivated by one. Despite my initial plan of heading straight home to rest and ultimately surprise a certain somebody, that certain somebody in question is instead out here, basking underneath broad daylight, reciting what seemed like a poem created from the very depths his heart. I shake my head, seemingly in response. A voice so sweet yet so filled with patience and longing that all those who hear his plea are bound to succumb to such an honest affection, one way or another. I'm right here, I mentally say; tempted to yell my heart out because of how much I miss everything about him. But I must exercise restrain. There is absolutely no way I'm interrupting him from his moment with, well, his first love. Haruto Asuka's stunning, utterly fabulous as always, rocking any role he so chooses at any time of the day with the raw skills he acquired after overcoming countless breakdowns and self doubts all throughout his acting career. That's my actor right there! Blended subtly within the sea of fan girls and boys and everything in between and not surrounding him, he hasn't noticed my presence. I didn't tell him today's my arrival day back home to him as part of a little surprise. I wonder what he's going to say once he does, or what I'm supposed to do to make him see me. "My heart breaks when you go." Haruto gestures to his chest, his eyes carefully scanning the audience scattered before him, perhaps seeking for a particular person in mind. "My soul aches from being apart, my mind yearns of no other than your name." He learned how to channel his personal sentiments entirely into own his acting without feeling negative anymore, after Twin Kingdoms. You've grown so beautiful, Gen-chan. As I continue watching him throw out more and more romantic lines alongside integrating the few mimes I taught him a while back, I realize once again just how much I'm too in love with this person. His passion is one thing; his personality is another. So are his looks, but even that is a huge bonus. His growth is just one of the many aspects the people around him look up to the most. I say this all the time, I know, but it's the kind of truth I'll never get tired of repeating over and over again. I've quite enjoyed being a spectator and admirer by the sidelines, a rare opportunity I'm willing to grab from time to time, when a new character abruptly enters the scene from out of nowhere. "Behold!" It's Citronia. She certainly just stepped in as if she had grown sick of standing by for her cue, backstage (wherever that is). "Who... Who?" Haruto's reaction accurately captures and embodies everyone else's shock and confusion. "Oh, me? Your fairy godmother!" Citron gracefully waves an invisible wand, taking his wrists and twirls him around in tiny circles. "Now, what you desire, follow me~" Using her hands to gracefully guide his eyes toward my direction, Haruto freezes the moment our gazes lock physically for the first time in many, many months. "No protein~," Citron whispers quietly, her voice ever as calming as a mother's lullaby, before vanishing into the crowd in an eye's blink. As much as any of us silently wish to first comprehend what had just transpired in a mere matter of seconds, all I could think of was how easily Citronia made today even more special for me, at the very least. Speechless is what I am, yes, but truly I love her deeply, and all that she does for meーfor the people she loves ーeven in the simplest of ways, will always be cherished and held dear. Thank you, Your Majesty. Cheeks flushing, eyes tearing up, hearts beating together as one rhythm; I'm sure Haruto thinks the same. I promise we'll treat her out someday, soon. Eventually realizing he still has a performance he needs to conclude, and perhaps, not wanting Her Majesty's efforts be disregarded in vain, Haruto wastes not a moment in rushing towards me, his round eyes growing as round as they can be in a messy mix of shock, anticipation, and excitement. "My... my love," he stammers, his voice faltering so softly, it's almost impossible to figure out the line between all this still being an act or his truest emotions already seeping out, "you, being here, does that mean..." He doesn't hesitate getting down on one knee and offering his hand; the hopeful glint in his face providing a hopeful acceptance of his hopeful intentions. The tension veiling upon the crowd around us is somehow intoxicating, every present soul curious as to how this love story's meant to end. Will it be a happily ever after? Or does an epic tragedy await those who step beyond boundaries? They ought to pay their closest attention, if they want to find out. "I'm never letting you go anymore," Haruto declares, "so from the bottom of my heart, please stay... if you'll have me." But, of course, we aren't going down without a fight. Taking a step forward and swinging my other leg behind me in a tendu, raising my arms into a port de bras, I pretend to give him the answer he so seeks. Just as we practiced, I internally command, keeping my eyes glued onto his, a hint of mischief lingering within them, Swan lake Act III. The Black swan Adage Pas de deux. Haruto breaks into a smile; a smile that many would assume is that of delight, a smile that only a select few would recognize as if to say, I know  what to do, silly. Taking my fingers gently in his, Haruto leans forward to try planting a kiss upon the back of my palm. But just as his lips were about to brush my skin, perfectly in sync with the script, I quickly whip my hand away from him in a playful tease. A series of faint gasps are heard. Now it's my turn to smirk at you, silly. I walk a few steps away from him, ending with a croisé. While I have my back towards him, I allow him a small angle to see the triumphant grin I cannot, try as I might, remove from my face, as I look at him from the side of my head. Mission accomplished. The crowd erupts into a chorus of cheers and multiple rounds of applauses, all the while requesting for some kind of an encore? Is that even possible? Haruto dusts himself a bit once he stands, before we finally, officially, personally meet with a tight hug. Now this is what I call a refreshing way to start the reunion. "Nice impromptu you've done there," Haruto praises into my ear. "More like, an imprompt-two?" I randomly kid. "Or would it actually be an imprompt-three? Considering there were three of us who did one..." He lets out a satisfied laugh before giving our audience the final curtsy they deserve, hand in hand. Forgetting not to highlight as well the significance of our special guestーmore commonly known as Haruto's fairy godmother from now onーand promoting both theater troupes for everyone's never-ending support essential to keeping the future of theater and the arts in general, alive. The sun then shining brighter and warmer than ever, high above the skies.

[pamelamillican9]

Mastering Your Golf Game: Unlock Peak Performance with Mindset Coaching

Learn how to elevate your golf game through mental strategies just like the greatest golf players we have ever seen. All use mental rehearsal, visualisation, meditation and hypnosis. Others also use Life Coaching, and mindfulness along with it. If you want to have the edge in your social game and competition then this blog is for you … with services available to help you achieve just that in Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, and worldwide.

Golf is a game of precision, skill, and patience. But ask any professional golfer, and they’ll tell you that the secret to mastering the game isn’t just about perfecting your swing—it’s about mastering your mind especially when it comes to setbacks and miss-hits. Your mental game is just as important, if not more, as your physical game when it comes to improving your performance on the green. Whether you’re teeing off at your local course in Brisbane, or visiting other courses on the Sunshine Coast, the Gold Coast, or anywhere else in the world, mastering your golf game begins in the mind.

In this blog, I will share powerful and proven mindset strategies, mental exercises, and performance hacks that will help you achieve the edge and elevate your golf game. With the right tools, including coaching, guided meditation, and focused practice, you can become the golfer you’ve always wanted to be.

Why Your Mindset is Crucial to Mastering Golf

Many golfers focus on physical training—perfecting their swing, improving their stance, and working on their accuracy. But what often gets overlooked is the importance of mental conditioning. Your thoughts, emotions, and ability to stay focused can make or break your game.

Several top golfers have a strategic plan in place to help them stay focused and in the zone no matter what is going on around them.

Here’s why your mindset matters and having a plan in place is crucial in golf:

Focus and Concentration:

Staying present and focused during a round of golf is crucial. A wandering mind can lead to mistakes, missed opportunities, and eventually frustration – making the game a chore rather than something you enjoy doing.

Emotional Control:

Golf can be a frustrating game, especially when things aren’t going your way hole after hole.. Being able to manage your emotions, RESET and stay calm under pressure is an absolute game-changer.

Resilience:

Every golfer faces setbacks, that’s inevitable, whether it’s a missed shot, a ball in the pond or bunker … or just a challenging hole per se. How you bounce back from those setbacks will determine your level of success (and enjoyment).

The good news? Just like your swing, your mental game can be trained and improved. By incorporating mindset coaching and mental strategies, you can very easily take your golf game to the next level.

5 Mindset Strategies to Master Your Golf Game

1. Visualisation: See the Shot Before You Hit It

Top golfers like Tiger Woods use visualisation to do exactly that. It is such a powerful and effective tool that it is used by elite athletes across all sports, including golf. Try this: before you take a shot, close your eyes for a moment and visualise the ball travelling exactly where you want it to go. Picture the perfect trajectory, the roll of the ball on the green, and the final outcome.

WHY? Because visualisation helps prime your brain for success ahead of time. By mentally rehearsing the shot, you’re increasing the likelihood that your body will follow through with the correct movements.

Tip: Incorporate visualisation into your pre-shot routine. Take a few seconds to visualise each shot before you swing.

2. Develop a Pre-Shot Routine to Stay Focused

Consistency is key in golf, and having a solid pre-shot routine can help you stay grounded and focused. This routine should include elements like deep breathing, visualising the shot, and using positive self-talk to reinforce confidence.

Try using Switch Words.

Switch words are specific words or phrases that you can use to shift your energy, mindset, or emotions so you can RESET and to bring about the outcome you are striving for. Switch words are based on the principle that words carry vibrational frequencies and are thought to bypass the conscious mind, directly affect the subconscious, where habits, emotions, and beliefs are stored. The idea is that these words can “switch on” certain mental or emotional states to align you with your goals.

I repeat my switch words in the cart on the way to the next shot – TOGETHER FOCUS CONFIDENT – which helps bring unity to the mind and body while boosting my level of concentration and self-assurance.

And then I use MOVE ACTIVATE CONFIDENT – To bring physical agility and mental sharpness during my play.

A pre-shot routine is a must because it helps you:

Settle your nerves and calm your system

RESET your mindset

Shift your focus to the shot at hand

Enter a calm flow state, where your mind and body work together

Tip: Create a simple, repeatable pre-shot routine and use it before every swing. This consistency will help you stay calm and focused, even under pressure.

3. Manage Your Emotions on the Course

Golf is a game that I am sure you are aware challenges your patience. One bad shot can throw off your entire round—but only if you let it. Emotional control is crucial for a complete RESET and maintaining performance, no matter what happens on the course.

If you find yourself getting frustrated or anxious, take a moment to pause. Use Switch words – I use – CLEAR ADJUST RESET to clear my mind – that hole is in the past now and no amount of frustration is going to change anything. You can also do deep breathing or other mindfulness techniques to bring yourself back to the present moment. Remember, one bad shot doesn’t define your round or your abilities.

Tip: Practice box breathing (inhale for 4 counts, hold for 4, exhale for 4, wait for 4 … repeat as needed) a brilliant technique to calm your mind during high-pressure situations.

4. Focus on the Process, Not the Outcome

One of the biggest mistakes golfers make is focusing too much on the outcome of their shots, rather than the process. Worrying about the score or the final result can distract you from executing your shot with the clarity and precision you want.

Shift your mindset to focus on the process—your stance, your grip, and your swing mechanics. When you focus on the process, the results will naturally follow.

Tip: After each shot, take a moment to evaluate your process rather than your score. For example you can ask yourself, “Did I execute that swing as well as I could?” and then adjust it for next time if the answer was NO.

5. Practise Mental Resilience

Golf can be unforgiving, and every golfer, including the Pros, face setbacks. I am sure you have seen videos of top professionals absolutely stuffing up a shot – I know I have. And they practise more intensely and frequently than the average social golfer – so we should not be surprised when we do too. How you respond to those setbacks is another story — whether it’s a bad hole, an off day, or a losing streak—determines your long-term success and keeping love for the game alive.

Mental resilience then is about bouncing back from mistakes and maintaining a positive attitude. By practising mental toughness, you’ll be able to handle challenges with grace and focus, keeping your confidence intact even when things go wrong.

Tip: Keep a mindset journal where you take the time to reflect on your mental game after each round. Write down what went well, what didn’t, and how you managed your emotions – without judgement. Then create a plan to change it next time. I keep my score cards and try to better each hole every time I play.

Unlocking Peak Performance with Hypnosis and Meditation

Incorporating hypnosis and meditation (just like a lot of the top pros do) into your golf practice can significantly boost your mental game. These tools help you manage stress, recover from setbacks, enhance focus, and build mental clarity—all essential qualities for mastering golf.

Hypnosis bypasses that conscious inner critic and helps reprogram your subconscious mind to believe in your abilities and stay calm under pressure. By listening to hypnosis audios, you can overcome mental blocks, reduce performance or competition anxiety, and increase your confidence when feeling under pressure.

Meditation helps you cultivate mindfulness, which improves focus and concentration. By practising daily meditation, you’ll find it easier to stay present during your round, making each shot more intentional and precise.

I offer customised hypnosis and meditation audios designed specifically for golfers who want to enhance their mental game. These guided sessions are perfect for quieting your mind, getting past self doubt, boosting your confidence, and preparing you mentally before a game.

FYI, Even the best golfers can experience mental blocks, inconsistent performance, or missed opportunities due to overconfidence or pressure. By integrating the tried and tested by other golfers, the use of hypnosis and switch words like FOCUS, DIVINE, FLUSH, THE EDGE, and CONFIDENT, you will gradually sharpen your mental clarity, align your focus, and consistently strike the ball with precision and power.

These proven and powerful techniques help clear any of your deep subconscious barriers, so you can maintain peak performance under pressure, and attract new opportunities for growth—elevating your game beyond talent alone and unlocking full potential, even in high-stakes moments.

Working with a Life Coach to Elevate Your Golf Game

Working with an award winning high performance Life Coach like myself can and will accelerate your progress. You will receive personalised strategies to improve your mindset, give you more control over your game and amplify your performance on the course. As your coach I can help you:

Develop a consistent pre-shot routine

Build emotional resilience and help you effectively manage frustration

Set and achieve meaningful goals in your golf game – both big and small

Overcome any mental barriers that hold you back from playing your best

Whether you’re based in Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, or anywhere else in the world, I offer life coaching sessions tailored specifically to golfers. Together, we’ll work on strengthening your mental game, building your confidence, and creating an unshakeable mindset that supports the peak performance you are wanting to achieve.

Final Thoughts: Master Your Golf Game from the Inside Out

Mastering your golf game is about more than just improving your swing. It���s about mastering your mindset, staying focused, and building the mental resilience needed to perform under pressure. With the right mental strategies, including visualisation, emotional control, and meditation, you can elevate your golf game and consistently play at your highest potential.

Let’s do this: Commitment: lets take your golf game to the next level? Explore my golf-focused hypnosis and meditation audios, or book a personal life coaching session so you can start improving your mental game today.

Coaching packages: https://pamelamillican.com/packages/

Hypnosis and Meditation Audios: https://bit.ly/resetwithpamelastorefront

SOURCE LINK : https://pamelamillican.com/mastering-your-golf-game-unlock-peak-performance-with-mindset-coaching/

[theyogshala46]

5 Ways Yoga Instills the Value of Acceptance in Your Life

Since its development thousands of years ago, the practice of yoga has definitely evolved into numerous forms.

From Bikram hot yoga and a Vinyasa flow sequence to classes like Yogalates and Aerial Yoga, you’re bound to find a type of yoga practice that aligns with your lifestyle.

People who don’t regularly practice yoga will argue it’s not for them since they’re not flexible, or they don’t consider it a real workout.

Still, I always urge others to try it.

Whether you’ve practiced yoga for 20 years or two weeks, your continued practice can teach you the exercise class you’re attending isn’t purely physical.

While yoga is a form of physical activity, one can learn an abundance of lessons from a yoga class that actually don’t have anything to do with yoga at all.

1. Your personal best can change from day to day.

Since your body is always changing, so is your practice and your personal best.

Anything from what you ate to the amount of sleep you got the night before can affect your performance, so it’s important not to get down on yourself if your practice one day isn’t as great as it was the day before.

That being said, it’s also important to stay humble if you have a great day, as things might not be as great tomorrow.

2. It’s okay to fall.

In yoga, just like in life, you’re going to fall a lot.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve toppled over my mat after trying to get inversions right.

It’s probably just about as many times as I’ve screwed something up in real life.

People fall, and people mess up constantly. It’s part of being human.

If you have a goal set for yourself — in yoga or in life — you might not reach it without first failing.

But, the fact you had to work toward it will make it that much better when you do reach it.

3. Practice pays off.

No one ever walked into his or her first yoga class as the most advanced person in the room (not that I know of).

If you want something, you have to work for it and understand you might not become a pro on your first day.

Something like yoga takes time to master, and the patience you learn in your practice can easily be applied to other areas of life.

Patience is definitely a virtue, and it’s one we could all benefit from having more of.

Good things come to those who wait, right?

4. Sometimes, the best thing to do is rest.

There comes a point in one of my classes when our teacher takes us through a routine of wheel and bridge.

When the second set comes around, he notes, “Sometimes, the best thing you can do is rest.”

You need to be able to know when to take a break and when not to push yourself.

You have worked hard the whole class, and there’s nothing wrong with letting yourself regroup.

This notion is really helpful to think about in your day-to-day life, as it reminds you to stop and take a breath when you’re running around.

5. All challenges are temporary.

This is probably the most important thing to remember, both in yoga and in life.

You might be struggling through a pose in class or through a challenge in your life, but this lesson resonates either way.

Whatever challenge you’re going through, it won’t last forever.

So, it’s just about doing your best to get through it.

Next time you find yourself in a bind, just remember it’s temporary and you’ll move on eventually.

If you’re one who sees yoga as just another exercise class, try to look out for these and other lessons in your next class.

Your practice and your day-to-day life will definitely improve.

In conclusion

Embracing yoga can profoundly instill the value of acceptance in your life, fostering inner peace and resilience. For those in Delhi, numerous opportunities exist to explore this transformative practice. Whether you join Yoga Classes in Ghaziabad, visit a reputable Yoga Centre in Ghaziabad, or seek holistic healing at an Ayurvedic Clinic in Ghaziabad, you will find ample support to enhance your journey towards acceptance. Let yoga be your guide in cultivating a harmonious and balanced life.

Company Name:- The Yogshala Clinic

Address:- KK-1, Surdas Marg, K Block, Sector 18, Kavi Nagar, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh 201002, India

Phone no:- +91 98119 79106

Website:- http://www.theyogshala.com/

Original Source

[burnsintherye]

Is God Testing Me? How To Recognize and Pass Spiritual Tests

SPIRITUAL WARFARE

There’s a reason the Israelites went around the same mountain for almost 40 years. It’s the same reason many of us are stuck in repetitive cycles and battles year after year. We’re failing the same test with no idea why.

Why God Tests Our Faith

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:6-7

Tests expose what is in you and where your trust truly lies. They aren’t meant to harm you, but to sanctify you so that you’ll become more like Jesus Christ.

Even after you put your faith in Jesus there is still a lot of work to be done. Thankfully, God is gracious and refines us little by little. He doesn’t expect us to exhibit all the fruit of the Spirit immediately. He knows that it takes time. Unfortunately, there is no magic formula. The primary way God helps us grow in love, patience, kindness, etc…is by placing us in situations that require us to develop and exercise those characteristics. I recently read a quote on Instagram that sums this up beautifully:

“It’s the people that frustrate you that God will use to grow you. You won’t learn how to love well if you only love lovable people.”

Miles McPherson

Have you ever found yourself in a new situation that was weirdly similar to a previous one? For example, your last three bosses treated you harshly and unfairly, or the last three men you dated tried to persuade you to compromise your purity. A sign that you’re failing the same test repeated is found in the pattern you’re seeing in your life. What is the pattern that you can’t seem to break free from?

Related Post - Faith Under Fire: Why Our Faith Must Be Tested

If you’re not learning the lesson God is trying to teach you, He’ll allow you to re-take the test. If you don’t pass it the first time, you’ll get another chance…and another, and another, until you do. God doesn’t do this to punish you. He’s trying to reveal your weakness and sin so that you seek Him to learn how to overcome it. We don’t pass spiritual tests in our own strength. We pass them by relying on God’s strength and walking in obedience to His instruction.

How God Tests Us

It’s likely that God is testing you if the situation you’re in is 1) trying or difficult and 2) gives you the opportunity to put into practice what God has been recently teaching you.

When God wants to develop joy and/or peace in you He’ll allow you to go through things that are stressful, overwhelming, and frankly not fun at all. But you’ll never know biblical peace and joy if your life is always “perfect”. Happiness is based on what’s external, what’s happening around you. Biblical joy and peace can exist regardless of your circumstance because it’s rooted in Christ and a godly perspective.

God helped me grow in biblical peace by allowing me to endure stressful financial situations. The anxiety I had was evidence that my faith was not in my bank account, not God. I struggled to have true peace because deep down, I believed it all relied on me. Back then I believed my job was the source of my security. So when God told me to empty my savings account and give it as an offering, it shook me. At that moment I had a choice. I could worry about all of the “what if’s” or I could shift my focus to God and pray. He’d provided for me financially before, so why wouldn’t He do it again? I stopped worrying and started trusting God. Let me tell you, He made a way. No emergencies came up AND five months later I had more in my savings account than I gave in the offering! I passed that test by letting go in faith instead of holding on in fear.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:2-4

When God places you in a difficult situation do you run back to old habits and mindsets or do you run to God for guidance? Any characteristic we possess that isn’t Christ-like needs to be removed, and anything that is, needs to be pruned and further developed. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself being tested on the same characteristic years later, but in a tougher way. We won’t reach perfection on this side of heaven. There will always be more to learn and develop in Christ.

How to Pass Spiritual Tests

The short answer - trust God and be obedient to His Word. I know that it’s not always easy, and thankfully, God knows that too. He’s gracious and gives us the resources and wisdom we need to pass these tests. However, it’s up to us to apply what we’ve learned and received. Foremost, you have to spend time with God daily, read the Bible, practice the spiritual disciplines, be obedient to His commands, and follow the Holy Spirit’s leading. You can’t follow His will if you don’t know it, and you won’t trust Him if you don’t know His character.

If you do those things then you’ll be better equipped to pass every test that comes your way. When God instructs you to let go of that relationship, it’ll be easier to trust Him because although you don’t understand His plan, you know that His will is what’s best for you.

Give what He tells you to give instead of holding on out of fear. Move where He’s calling you to move and trust that He’s gone ahead of you. When your coworkers are gossiping, don’t partake. When your boss treats you unfairly, pray for them. When situations are difficult, learn to stay instead of quit. Running won’t solve the issue, the issue will just follow you to the next place.

You can pass these tests. Remaining stuck in toxic cycles, bound by sin, and defeated are not your portion in Christ. You are an overcomer. No longer a slave to sin, but set free in Christ Jesus.

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

Romans 6:22

[alamin99sheikh]

Book Name: "Becoming a Legacy Leader" Writer: Zana Kenjar Location: USA Benefits of reading the book

A 10-Step Manager’s Guide to Unlocking Limitless Opportunities is a dynamic new book by Zana Kenjar, who has spent years leading teams in various roles. The book devotes a chapter to each of the ten steps, which include Building Your Champion Mindset, Developing a Risk-Management Culture, and Becoming a Profit-Driven Leader. At the heart of the book is how to cultivate a strong relationship with those you lead by getting to know your team members individually and inspiring them to do more than they may believe they can. A bonus chapter is targeted to immigrants, helping them to adapt to working in the United States and providing tools to leaders for how to help them in the process. Kenjar is herself an immigrant who came to the United States as a teenager and is now a proud US citizen.

Kenjar begins by addressing how many people want to be promoted to their first or next leadership position but often wait years and feel stuck because they don’t actively try to help themselves. Kenjar shares her own story of being overlooked for a leadership position only to learn from the leader who took the position how she could best help herself advance in her career. Ultimately, Kenjar learned that moving up the ladder doesn’t have to be so challenging. She now wants to share what she learned, which is all about uncovering your potential so you can become the leader you always wanted to be. She has now been in leadership roles since 1996, including seventeen years in the banking industry. She has even been recognized as in the top 2 percent of the country’s highest-performing managers. Today, Kenjar is a self-employed consultant, author, and speaker who teaches others to accomplish what she has achieved.

As Kenjar walks readers through the steps to becoming leaders, she shares inspiring quotes, practical advice, and thought-provoking exercises that allow them to apply what they have learned in each chapter. Most importantly, she focuses on the importance of not letting fear stop us, being willing to change, and not letting negative thoughts overpower us. Perhaps most inspiring of all are her personal stories about people who worked for her whom she was delighted to see advance in their careers. Kenjar seriously cares about her team members, as evidenced by her repeated emphasis on the need to celebrate others’ achievements.

The book’s chapters are largely arranged into lists or steps related to how to achieve the goal of the chapter’s topic. For example, when discussing the importance of communication, Kenjar reminds us that we must learn how to speak effectively to our team, our manager, our peers, our business partners, our family, and ourselves. She discusses in detail each of the following tips for how to be an effective communicator: speak with sincerity and humility; lead with empathy, influence, and patience in your voice; do not use nonverbal communication like slamming a door that says the opposite of what is helpful; and respect your body language by making sure it says to your team members, “I am here, happy and willing to teach you and help you every day!”

Kenjar offers a lot of practical advice for leading teams through change. She knows the boss has to be the change leader. They cannot be negative about the change or try to blame those higher-up for it. They must be positive about it, explaining how it will be a good thing for everyone involved. Communication is also important during change, even if you sound like a broken record, to ensure everyone knows what to expect and is clear on how to implement the change successfully.

One chapter discusses the importance of becoming a customer experience expert. Kenjar teaches her team members how to greet customers properly, making them feel special. She recommends having coffee chats with customers. She suggests making a list of your top twenty clients and learning their stories so you know what they need and can develop a lasting relationship with them. In the end, it is clear Kenjar cares about her customers as much as she does about her team members.

Everything in Becoming a Legacy Leader is valuable and worth discussing, but what really jumped out at me was Kenjar’s appreciation for what she has had the opportunity to achieve by immigrating to the United States. Too many of us born in this country take things for granted and focus on the negative rather than the wonderful freedom and opportunities we have here. Kenjar’s positivity is refreshing. She states:

“I love the United States of America. It’s the best country in the world because it is full of opportunities, and I will continue to create opportunities for myself, my family, and my employees until my dying day. Get to know your team, create endless opportunities, help them find options, and there will be no limit to who and what you and your people can become.”

Being an immigrant, Kenjar focuses a lot on the importance and value of diversity. She has led many diverse teams with different dynamics and of different sizes and realizes everyone has different talents to offer and can be of value. She encourages leaders to take diversity training and educate themselves on the countries and cultures their team members are from. This activity will help team members feel cared about and help leaders understand where their team members are coming from.

Becoming a Legacy Leader is a book that will benefit anyone who reads it. It offers both an inside perspective on leadership and a refreshing voice that will inspire its readers to become inspired leaders.

Thank you💝

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