Embracing Change: Cultivating Zest and Joy in Life

a remarkable thing is going to happen today you are going to change For Better or For Worse so why not better on purpose or by accident so why not on purpose change starts today because you'll never get this day again we're looking at character strengths and we begin the Journey of specific character strengths today I want to start with this beautiful prayer from the Anglican book of common prayer [00:00:20]

now the phrase that screams out of here is Shield the joyous I get the rest of them those who work or watch her weep those who sleep tend to sick give rest to the weary the dying the suffering but why the joyous and I think it's because we need Joy so badly and there's not enough joyous ones in our midst and joy in this world is a fragile thing it is a Candle in the Wind [00:01:09]

we all suffer from What's called the negativity bias that um bad news impacts us much more stronger emotionally in a negative Direction the good news does in a positive direction there's a social psychologist Roy Baumeister and he wrote an article years ago has been cited a ton of times simply called the bad is stronger than the good and he looks from one area in our lives to another one [00:01:54]

one of the discoveries is that when we look at character strengths when we focus on those qualities that God will help us to grow to become the persons that we want to be to develop moral fiber it leads us into positive emotions love joy peace gratitude and so on and that when we don't live with a focus on our character strengths we don't exercise them then we spend more time in negative emotions [00:03:11]

we need negative emotions if you've seen the movie Inside Out you know we need sadness we need anger we need guilt we need fear however they are basically short-term emotions that are are designed to alarm us to take action and the problem for many of us is the we are living with long-term depletion in emotions that are meant for short-term alertness [00:03:46]

Teddy Roosevelt Teddy is a great example of this quality born in 1958 into one of New York's wealthiest families Theodore Roosevelt seems to have burst into the world a full-throated exuberance from the earliest days of his life he exulted in life at age 10 he wrote to his mother with breathless enthusiasm what an excitement to have received your letter my mouth opened wide with astonishment when I heard how many flowers were sent to you [00:04:47]

Roosevelt years later was still jumping one debutante said he did not so much dance as hop when he became the president at the age of 42 he was the youngest and liveliest president in American history one reported from The New York Times wrote the president goes from one person to another always speaking with great animation gesturing freely in fact talking with his whole being mouth eyes forehead cheeks neck all taken their mobile Parts [00:05:22]

it's not the critic who counts not the man who points out where the strong man stumbled or the doer of Deeds could have done better rather the credit belongs to the man who actually is in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood who airs and comes short because there is no effort without error and shortcoming but who knows the great enthusiasm the great devotion who spends his life in a worthy cause [00:06:50]

David attracts attention by his Vigor his energy his wholeheartedness his god-heartedness in the middle of his wonderful Psalm 18 He shouts yes by Thee I can crush a troop and by my God I can leap over a wall the image of David vaulting the wall catches and holds my attention David running coming to a stone wall without hesitation leaping the wall continuing on his way running toward Goliath running from Seoul pursuing God meeting Jonathan rounding up stray sheep whatever but always running and leaping [00:08:26]

enthusiasm is a word that's given to us by the Greeks entheos God in us the reason that I'm outside right now is according to research one of the things that you can do to increase your zest for life today is just go outside there is something about being in creation because it was made by our creator and it is full of life and we are meant to be full of life [00:09:46]

there is a man who came to be the great life-giver and life was in him he was the light of the world he was the life of the world and for this they hung him on the cross now there's a lot that's written about trauma in our day that was the most traumatic event in the history of the world the Romans intended it to be so the Romans intended to traumatize their enemies [00:10:29]

there was an event that has permanently impacted for extreme good all the rest of human history and it is called Resurrection the opposite of trauma is resurrection and Jesus followers women first and then men experienced not PTSD but prsd post-resurrection strength discovery that's zest for life that is wholehearted living get outside get to the arena change starts today [00:11:53]