Latest / The Christian Homemaking Podcast: Simply Convivial with Mystie Winckler / The One Habit That Will Change Your Life

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The One Habit That Will Change Your Life · The Christian Homemaking Podcast: Simply Convivial with Mystie Winckler

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  If you are a grumpy mom, always irritated, easily frustrated, then
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  I have the quick attitude hack that you need, and all you do need is an
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  index card and a pen and your Bible
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  Lately, I've been asking ladies who are joining Convivial Circle how their
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  children or husband would describe them in the middle of an average day.
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  And so often they say scattered, irritated, frazzled, frustrated, upset,
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  and these are not the words that we want to come quickly to mind when
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  our children or husband think of us.
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  And that's why they're joining Convivial Circle, to get a little bit more
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  conviviality in their life, because convivial means enjoying life together.
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  It's living with joy with other people
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  And the atmosphere of a hospitable, convivial home does rely primarily on mom
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  We set the tone.
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  We are the atmosphere of our home.
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  So it matters immensely if we are generally grumpy.
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  It's not gonna be good for anyone in our homes.
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  It's not good for us.
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  And there is something that we can do about it
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  I'm Misty Winkler, and you've found the Christian homemaking podcast,
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  Simply Convivial, and you've found it during Organize October.
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  Throughout this month, I'm releasing extra episodes about busting our bad
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  attitudes and replacing them busting our bad attitudes with a quick kick
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  in the pants of encouraging truth
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  And so today I wanted to share one of the first steps that we love to have
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  women do when they join Convivial Circle and really want to change their tone
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  and change their attitude quickly.
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  We call it an alignment card.
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  Now, maybe you've heard about affirmations, affirmation statements, and
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  at first this might sound similar to that.
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  But when it comes to secular self-helpy affirmations, you're basically asked
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  to make up what you want to be and then write statements as if it were already
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  true, and then basically wish your way or name and claim your way into this
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  truth that you have stated for yourself.
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  It's very self-focused and self-generated An alignment card is
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  not some kind of manifestation tool.
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  It is a meditation tool, a Christian biblical kind of meditation where
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  we are repeating God's truth to ourselves throughout the day regularly,
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  repetitively, the same truth until it sinks in, is memorized, and able
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  to come to mind or even come out of our mouths when we need it most
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  It seems very simple
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  but it is incredibly effective because God's word is effective.
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  Even just one sentence that you write on an index card.
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  And so that's what you do to make an alignment card.
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  You find a verse that has jumped out at you that you would like to memorize, that
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  verse that helps you get back on track
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  For a full school year, I put an alignment card on my school checklist
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  that had Proverbs 15:1 on it.
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  "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger."
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  That was the conviction that I needed.
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  That was the truth that I needed to remind myself of on the regular, and
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  that I needed to shape my responses and my feelings so that I could
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  change the tone of our school days
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  On your homeschool checklist can be a great place for an alignment card.
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  But some of the go-to places that the ladies inside Convivial Circle usually
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  choose are the master bathroom mirror, especially right by your toothbrush and
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  toothpaste or right by the hand soap, some place that you turn to automatically.
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  The front of the microwave, the window in front of your kitchen
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  sink, the fridge right at eye level, right above your coffee maker.
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  We want these alignment cards to be in our face, to disrupt our patterns
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  and interrupt our thoughts with truth.
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  And then when we see and notice our cards, we pause, and it just takes 30
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  seconds, if that, to read those words, think about it for half a second,
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  maybe turn them in prayer or use them as a prompt to ask God for forgiveness
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  Maybe turn it to a prayer of thanksgiving.
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  But it totally changes the direction of our thoughts
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  and plugs in truth.
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  We're not making up statements about ourselves that we hope to make true.
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  This isn't wishful thinking or manifesting.
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  This is putting God's Word, God's objective truth in front of us and
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  repeating it to ourselves over and over multiple times a day so that our
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  thoughts are interrupted by God's truth and not our own ideas So I'll show you
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  some of my alignment cards right now
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  My current favorite spot is on the master bathroom mirror, and
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  I have a collection of about six, but I brought two out to show you.
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  I use washi tape to stick my index cards up top, and lately, I've been choosing
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  at least one verse to put on my little card collection that uses the word of the
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  year that I chose, and this year my word is confidence, and so I have Proverbs
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  fourteen twenty-six on my index card.
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  It says, "In the fear of the Lord, one has strong confidence, and
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  his children will have a refuge."
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  That's a truth that can interrupt whatever agendas and worries and
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  concerns I have going on in my head.
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  And I can remind myself of who God is and who I am in relationship to Him.
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  Thank Him that in Him my children have a refuge
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  Thank him that he is my confidence and my joy and my strength.
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  And this takes 30 seconds But now my attitude, my thoughts
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  are aligned with scripture, aligned with God's word.
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  And so that's why I call them alignment cards.
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  We are aligning ourselves to objective truth, objective
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  reality outside of ourselves.
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  We're conforming ourselves to God's word by stopping whatever we have
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  going on in our head regularly.
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  In my case, whenever I am getting ready, whenever I'm washing my hands after
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  using the bathroom, multiple times throughout the day, - reviewing truth.
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  One alignment card I kept up from last year.
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  Last year, my word of the year was integrity, and I just loved
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  this verse and this reminder on my mirror so much that I have kept it.
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  It is Proverbs 2:7, "He stores up sound wisdom for the upright.
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  He is a shield to those who walk in integrity."
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  Sometimes I pick quotes or mottos as well, but always scripture
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  Throughout the day, we do need a constant drip.
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  We need to have longer stretches.
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  We should have a Bible reading plan.
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  We should be in the Word daily, consuming multiple chapters at a time.
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  A Bible in a year reading program is completely doable
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  It does not take that long
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  You can even do it by choosing an audio Bible.
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  An alignment card is not a replacement for reading all of God's Word from
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  beginning to end on the regular.
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  Instead, this is an additional little drip throughout the day, a reminder, a
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  repetition of particular truths that we want to turn our attention toward, that
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  we wanna have shape not only our thoughts, but also our actions and our choices.
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  And just having it handwritten on a card that we stop and read, think about for
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  just a few seconds, pray about for a few seconds, will have an outsized effect
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  on our attitudes, on our demeanor, on the way we treat our family, and on the
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  way that we do our work as well So if you've been unhappy at home, if you've
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  been easily irritated and frustrated and you're just tired of it, you want to be
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  cheerful and you just don't know how Then find a verse about joy, write it on a card
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  and stick it somewhere where you will see it multiple times a day
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  God will use it to help you repent, rejoice, repeat
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  Speaker: Convivial Circle is here to help you not establish checklist
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  systems to get it all done, but rather handle the life that God is sending
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  you day by day with joy and clarity
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  and responsibility.
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  We'll help you tell a true story about your life and notice the small steps
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  of progress that you can make when you let go of your perfectionism and your
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  overwhelm, which we will help you do
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  If that sounds like the place you wanna be, we would love to have you.
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  You can go to convivialcircle.com
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  and enroll today
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  We have a bunch of extra stuff going on for organizing your
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  attitude inside Convivial Circle this month as our monthly topic.
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  Head on over to convivialcircle.com
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  to learn more.