Battlefield of the Mind Free Essays

â€Å"Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind† Author: Joyce Meyer Reviewer: Lisa Hutson I believe many times in the Christian and especially in the Pentecostal realm, we tend to do things in the name of Christ because we â€Å"felt† like it was from the Holy Spirit and instead of determining that by lining it up with the Bible, the living word of God, we tend to trust that our â€Å"feelings† are correct. But what happens when those feelings steam from negative, confused, judgemental or passive thinking?I never realized until I read this book that the majority of the bad decisions I have made in my life were decisions I made based on present feelings and that those feelings came from faulty or negative thinking. After I read this book, I understood that it is the things that I think about constantly that are the things that soak up my life. We will write a custom essay sample on Battlefield of the Mind or any similar topic only for you Order Now If those thoughts are positive, I will reap positive benefits. If those thoughts are negative, I will reap negativity but it is all in how I think. There are three life lessons that I have learned to incorporate into my daily life in order to live a Christ filled life.When I tend to go through those â€Å"wilderness mentalities†, I have learned to always do my best to be positive, to regularly meditate on the Word of God, and to be thankful at all times. Explaining the importance of being positive, Meyer tells us the mind is a battlefield. After reading 2 Corinthians 10;4,5, Meyer says that we are engaged in a war, our enemy is Satan and that our minds are the battlefield. The devil works diligently to set up strongholds in our mind and he does it through strategy and deceit and that he takes his time to work out his plan (16-17). In order to prevent the devil’s lies from penetrating our minds, we must defend them. You cannot have a positive life and a negative mind. Your life will not get straightened out until your mind does (27-28). Positive minds produce positive lives. Negative minds produce negative lives. Positive thoughts are always full of faith and hope. Negative thoughts are always full of fear and doubt (41). What really struck me about this concept is how Meyer tells us that thinking positive isn’t ignoring the negative, but it is believing that God is bigger than you and your situation and that all things will work together for good as His word promises.I am generally a happy person. I laugh at everything, I like making other people laugh and having good conversations. However, when negative things do arise, I tend to get angry or seclude myself. If I am having a disagreement with a co-worker or an argument with my parents, I will just refuse to talk to them. When the Holy Spirit brings them to my memory, I let negative thoughts produce even more feelings of strife and it takes a long time to get over it. I remember one time last semester when I was so upset with my mother that I refused to talk to her for almost four months!Learning to be positive does not mean that the negative situation did not happen but it simply means that we believe that God will heal it or bring good fro m it. It means forgiving even if we don’t forget but allowing the Holy Spirit to work in our attitudes so that we do not become weighed down by our situations. Meditating on God’s word is another huge lesson I have learned from this book. I believe that my biggest mistake early on in my walk with the Lord was not reading His word for myself. I became a christian at the age of fourteen and filled with the Holy Spirit by the age of sixteen.However, I would rather go on Wednesday nights and hear my youth pastor tell me what the Bible said instead of reading it myself. When I tried to read on my own, I often became very confused and frustrated and gave up. I let other people tell me how to live instead of searching it out myself. I continued this all through high school and finally during my senior year I had a very hurtful situation occur between myself and another family in the church. Since I wasn’t solid in my faith and relationship with the Lord, I let it tear me down significantly and I stayed out the church for about a year and a half.I let another’s faith become my own and when they failed me, I equated that with God failing me. â€Å"This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success. † Joshua 1:8 The Bible tells us that if we want to be a success and prosper in all of our dealings, we must meditate on the Word of God day and night.The Word of God teaches us what we should spend our time thinking about (57). Meditation in this context means to spend a lot of time pondering and thinking on the ways of God, His instructions and His teachings (57). In my situation, I had let sermons, Sunday school, and people in the church mold my faith and thought process instead of spending time myself thinking about the Word. I thought about the Word while I was sitting in church but outside of that, I had not really let it sink in. Now, I am making a significant effort to seek the scriptures myself.Of course, I am involved in church again but I am also making an effort during my own time to spend quality time with the Lord, in prayer and in His word, allowing Him to mold me into what He has created me to be. The last thing that â€Å"The Battlefield of the Mind† has taught me is to be thankful at all times. How can the devil control us if we are going to be joyful and thankful no matter what our circumstances are? â€Å"I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my m outh. † Psalm 34:1We can be a blessing to the Lord by letting His praise continually be in our thoughts and mouths (162). Be a grateful person, one filled with gratitude not only toward God, but also toward people (163). Expressing appreciation is not only good for the other person but it is good for us, because it releases joy in us. Meditate daily on all the things you have to be thankful for. Rehearse them to the Lord in prayer, and as you do you will find your heart filling up with life and light (163). During my teenage years, my family went through a financial crisis. We lost our home and our vehicles. I spent my junior year of high school with my parents living out of a garage that we made into a make-shift home. I remembered crying myself to sleep many nights in that garage. I was embarrassed about our situation, angry at my parents for getting us in this mess, and confused that the Lord could let this happen to us. After about fifteen months in that garage, things finally began to turn around. We were able to sell our property and the garage, move into a rental property and get decent vehicles to drive instead of the old sixties model truck my dad had bought for three hundred dollars during the crisis.I remember being so grateful for that new rental property. It was an old yellow brick home, but it was wonderful to me. I had a room with real walls! I spent all of my savings on making my own bedroom beautiful with new paint, picture frames and curtains. It was through that situation that I truly learned how to be grateful. My parents and I have come a long way from that old garage but I still have a picture of that old garage in a frame in my room at home. Sometimes even now, I find myself being selfish and ungrateful for my many blessings.I think everyone does. However, that memory always shows me how far the Lord has brought me and how much farther He can take me as long as I stay faithful. â€Å"Battlefield of the Mind† by Joyce Meyer has many solid lessons that have taught me a lot about how to live victorious in Christ. As a young Pentecostal believer, I always thought everything was spiritually supernatural. If God wanted me to think a certain way, He would just zap it into my head. However, as I grow in my relationship with Him, I realize He is not going to spoon feed me forever.He wants me to seek Him. If I put His lessons and teachings into practice, I will live victoriously. Being positive, meditating on His word and always being thankful to Him and to the people around me are just a few ways I can make my life a living sacrifice to Him. However, its really not even a sacrifice, for the blessings and benefits I receive from these practices far out weight the negatives. I learn more and more about myself and about my Heavenly father as I delve deeper into His word.His word is what empowers my positive attitude and reminds me to be grateful not only for His sacrifice but also for the many blessings He bestows on my life daily. I loved this book. I’m sure I will keep it around to read occasionally and remind myself to get my mind in order! Thinking produces feelings and feelings behaviors and if I’m not happy with any certain behaviors, I must stem it back to what I spend my time thinking about. My mind is the battlefield and when it is renewed in Christ, I will be able to battle the enemy with confidence, perseverance, and power. How to cite Battlefield of the Mind, Papers

Bibliog Monk Cantebury Tales Essay Research free essay sample

Bibliog Monk Cantebury Tales Essay, Research Paper Geoffrey Chaucer s, The Canterbury Tales was written in the late 14th century. It is a digest of short narratives, set in the Medieval Period England, told by travellers who are traveling on a pilgrims journey to the Cathedral at Canterbury. Among the going set, a Monk of likely Franciscan ties was a pilgrim of high rank and aristocracy. The Monk in The Canterbury Tales, ranks among the highest compared to the other pilgrims. The Monk belonged to the ecclesiastical estate, which was one relating to a church. The church he belongs to is of Catholic beginning and is hinted at by this line, The Rule of good St.Benet or St.Maur He is likely a member of the order founded by Saint Francis of Assisi in 1209, an order that had concrete connexions with the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church at that clip assumed much influence and power in England. We will write a custom essay sample on Bibliog Monk Cantebury Tales Essay Research or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Even though the Monk is rich, he does allow his money pervert his religion or character. The Monk was fat and a personable priest who did non transport himself as a prig of the higher category. He was fundamentally respectful to the old and sort to the immature. The Monk besides was more unfastened to thoughts and did non follow his religion where he found incorrectly. For illustration, he did non rate that text at a plucked biddy Which says that huntsmans are non holy work forces. He was besides considered brave and righteous by Chaucer s sentiment, And I agreed and said his positions were sound The Monk is a affluent adult male as shown by his visual aspect, and greatly enjoys hunting, reading books and deeply appreciates the finer things in life. Was he to analyze till his caput went unit of ammunition describes his long-run committedness to larning. His many dainty a Equus caballuss, all right Grey pelt and shaped gold cutely fashioned pin leads the reader to believe that he enjoys populating a comfy life. As old and rigorous he tended to disregard ; He let travel by the things of yesterday And took the modern universe s more broad manner describes how he does non let the problems of the twenty-four hours throw him off his felicity. In add-on, his favourite repast, a fat swan best, and roasted whole and his Equus caballus in all right status [ was ] tantrum for exhibition supports that he enjoys populating a high profile life style. Chaucer s sentiment on the Monk is one of positive congratulations and small unfavorable judgment. He describes the monastic as a brave adult male, who is fit plenty to function God due to his relaxation and undefiled patterns. The sentiments of the Monk, says Chaucer, displays that he his good versed on many subjects and demonstrates rightful judgements.

What Is The Nature And Substance Of Organisational Culture To What Ex

What Is The Nature And Substance Of Organisational Culture? To What Extent Can It Be Changed? Culture, the acquired knowledge that people use to interpret experience and generate social behaviour (Spradley, 1979, p. 5), provides people with a way of seeing the world. It categorizes, encodes, and otherwise defines the world in which they live. Whenever people learn a culture, they are to some extent imprisoned without knowing it. Anthropologists talk of this as being culture bound--i.e., living inside a particular reality. References to culture have long abounded in professional literature. However, it is only fairly recently that the literature shows references to culture as a lens through which to interpret and understand organizations, their customers, and the working relationships therein (Lee Shaughnessy, 1988). The cultural analysis of organizations, therefore, is the use of organizational culture as a lens through which to examine what is going on in an organization. Management theory in the 1980s underwent a sea of change in its realization that an understanding of an organization's culture(s) could be a major step on the road to changing or controlling the direction of that organization. There are both positive and negative sides to how an understanding of culture can be used within an organization. For instance, Edgar Schein (1992) considers the process of creating culture and management to be the essence of leadership, while Gideon Kunda (1992) describes a culture which embodies both the implicit and explicit rules and behaviour of a particular group of people and the conscious efforts of management to engineer the culture to its own goals. There is a fundamental distinction between those who think of culture as a metaphor (Morgan, 1986) and those who see culture as an objective entity. (Gold 1982) Metaphors allow us to understand organisations in terms of other complex entities such as the machine and the organism. By observing the similarities, scholars attempt to explain the essence of human organisations. The dangers of such an approach is distinguishing when the metaphor is no longer valid. That is why most commentators have chosen to think of culture as an objective entity. This view have ranged from viewing the organisation literally as a culture with all features of an organisations including its systems, policies procedures and processes as elements of its cultural life (Paconowsky & O'Donnell-Trujillo 1982) to suggesting that culture is best thought of as a set of psychological predispositions, called ?basic assumptions', that members of an organisation possess that leads them to think and act in a certain way .(Schein 1985). The former view presents problems in using the concept to explain other aspects of organisational activity. Indeed if everything is culture, this view becomes indistinguishable from the view that culture is a metaphor. This leaves us with Schein's view of culture as an essentially cognitive phenomena that resides in the psychology of organisational participants, with the acknowledgement that patterns of behaviour are equally important (Eldridge & Crombie 1974) The contents of an organisational culture has several levels. At the basic and superficial level, it takes the form of artefacts like stories, jokes metaphors and symbols. Examples of artefacts would be Material objects like mission statements, corporate logos , Physical layout of the office space etc. At a deeper level, culture takes the form of values beliefs and attitudes. Values determine what people ought to do while beliefs are what people think is or is not true. In practice, beliefs and values are often hard to distinguish, because beliefs frequently involve values. Moreover, there is considerable merit to viewing values as a particular sort of belief. (Rokeach 1973: 5) Attitudes connect beliefs and values with feelings. An attitude is a learned predisposition to respond consistently to a particular thing or idea. Attitudes are developed over time and unlike opinions, are held relatively consistently. At the deepest level, culture in an organisation takes the form of basic assumptions, a solution to an identifiable problem that is taken for granted. These are implicit, deep-rooted assumptions that people share, and which guides their perception, feelings and emotions about things. (Schein, 1981) Basic assumptions are held unconsciously and are very difficult to surface. Basic assumptions are by definition neither confront able nor debatable. Basic assumptions are also

Atomism - Pre-Socratic Philosophy

Atomism - Pre-Socratic Philosophy Atomism: Atomism was one of the theories the ancient Greek natural philosophers devised to explain the universe. The atoms, from the Greek for not cut were indivisible. They had few innate properties (size, shape, order, and position) and could hit each other in the void. By hitting one another and locking together, they become something else. This philosophy explained the material of the universe and is called a materialist philosophy. Atomists also developed ethics, epistemology, and political philosophy based on atomism. Leucippus and Democritus: Leucippus (c. 480 - c. 420 B.C.) is credited with coming up with atomism, although sometimes this credit is extended equally to Democritus of Abdera, the other main early atomist. Another (earlier) candidate is Moschus of Sidon, from the Trojan War era. Leucippus and Democritus (460-370 B.C.) posited that the natural world is comprised of only two, indivisible bodies, the void, and atoms. Atoms continually bounce around in the void, bouncing into each other, but eventually bouncing off. This movement explains how things change. The Motivation for Atomism: Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) wrote that the idea of indivisible bodies came in response to the teaching of another Pre-Socratic philosopher, Parmenides, who said that the very fact of change implies that something that is not either really is or comes into being from nothing. The atomists are also thought to have been countering the paradoxes of Zeno, who argued that if objects can be infinitely divided, then the motion should be impossible because otherwise, a body would have to cover an infinite number of spaces in a finite amount of time. Perception: The atomists believed we see objects because a film of atoms drops off the surface of the objects we see. The color is produced by the position of these atoms. Early atomists thought perceptions exist by convention, while atoms and the void exist by reality. Later atomists rejected this distinction. Epicurus: A few hundred years after Democritus, the Hellenistic era revived the atomist philosophy. Epicureans (341-270 B.C.) formed a community applying atomism to a philosophy of living a pleasant life. Their community included women and some women raised children there. Epicureans sought pleasure by getting rid of things like fear. Fear of gods and death are inconsistent with atomism and if we can get rid of them, we will be free of mental anguish. Source: Berryman, Sylvia, Ancient Atomism, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2005 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)

Leadership in Infromation Technology Research Paper

Leadership in Infromation Technology - Research Paper Example However, little population ranks self-knowledge as most critical. Using means, the rank order of knowledge domains is as follows: Business environments (1.5) Technology (2.14) Self and human resources (2.57 and 2.57) Finance (3.86) Much of the literature available addresses leadership at a strategic level. Clearly the most critical role of effective IT leaders is perceived to be the communicator role, followed by facilitator, guide, partner, and collaborator. Informal management styles seem to be preferred in technology intense organizations. (Lewis, S. & Lewis, 2005) The roles of tactician, technical guru, and human resources leader receives middle rankings while commander, servant, dictator, king or queen receive the lowest ranking for effective IT leaders. Congruent with this ranking of roles for effective IT leaders, team building is considered the most important function, followed by management, then creating. Leadership in Information Technology in Private Industry When the inf ormation technological skills of leadership are combined with an ability to use software to solve IT problems as in Acorn Computer City, New York, leaders of the organization are better equipped to move among the various agencies comprising our society. It was assessed whether leaders of IT firm can be trained, what characteristics are important for IT leaders of the organization, and what is the best environment to encourage IT leadership. While strategic leadership is possible at all levels within the organization, there is a need for work on leadership at the project leader/project manager level. As Sear (2008) pointed out, IT leaders have a difficult time making the transition from skilled technical work to project leader. Not only are they better able to use software to manage their... The concept of communication with a physician via e-mail is not really a future capability; it is available now and used to a very limited extent. What stands in the way of its widespread use is not the absence of cutting-edge communication technology, but rather a broken payment system. Physicians are paid relatively well for procedures, relatively poorly for office visits, and not at all for telephone or e-mail advice. Increasing the bandwidth for patients without fixing reimbursement is more likely to lead to a future state where frustrated patients complain, "My doctor doesn't return my phone calls or answer my e-mail." One of the more contentious but critically important issues today is the so-called misalignment of the costs and benefits of health IT. Essentially, the argument is that under our current fragmented healthcare system, physicians and hospitals pay for IT, and most of the benefit flows to payers. The Center for Information Technology Leadership modeled the cost and benefit of an ambulatory computerized physician order entry system, and concluded that 89 percent of the benefit accrued to payers, with only 11 percent flowing to providers (Johnston et al. 2003). Nelson references the landmark Wang study, which looked at system benefits of an advanced EHR in an office practice. Wang concluded that primarily by reducing pharmacy expenditures and avoiding redundant testing, payers would save about $86,000 per physician over five years-thus making the first real economic argument for payers funding EHRs for physicians.

Women's Suffrage Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Women's Suffrage - Research Paper Example Women’s suffrage also encompasses political as well as economic rights to women who then qualify without any restriction to payment of taxes, ownership of property and marital status. Following the 1907 elections, the Grand Duchy of Finland was the first country to produce the first female as a member of parliament. In the United States, women’s suffrage gradually infiltrated the local and the states politics in the 19th and 20th century. In 1920, this movement culminated with the passage of Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution of USA (Du Bois 77). This paper seeks to explore the opinion of three scholars on Women’s suffrage. Scholars’ Opinions William Du Bois (1868-1963) was a chief advocator for the civil rights of the Black society. In addition, he showed continued interest on the question of women and their rights to vote through his writing. He wrote the Horizons, Voice of the Negros and The independent where he advocated for the rights of the Afr o-Americans as well as women in the society (Du Bois 75). During his time, he described various issues that affected the women in the Negro society. He undertook various factual studies to analyze the employment, wages, working hours and working conditions of women as compared to those of men. He noticed that there was sex discrimination in the job opportunities, wages as well as working conditions, which favored the men. He also reported that the black woman faced sexist discrimination in the society. They also faced racial discrimination that was practiced by the women organizations. During an annual convention of the National American Women Suffrage Association, he delivered a speech on suffrage that was later published as a book. During this speech, he advocated for the women’s right and encouraged their fight for justice. Furthermore, he collaborated with several famous suffragists, for example, Jane Addams, Mary Church Terrel and Ida Wells (McGoldrick 1). Du Bios throug h his writing has been acknowledged as a supporter for the woman suffrage by various scholars. During his tenure in the National Association of Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), he used his position as the editor of The Crisis magazine to champion the rights of women. In 1912, 1915 and 1917, he dedicated these editions on Women’s suffrage (Du Bois 76). In The Crisis of 1912, he suggested that the alliance between women and the African American should be continued in the 20th century. This edition of the article carried Fredrick Douglass portrait as the cover. The cover image was contrary to the message inside the magazine. This was because Fredrick Douglass was strongly against women’s suffrage (McGoldrick 1). In this edition, Du Bois termed the demand for the women’s suffrage as a significant human question that should not be ignored by any black citizen in the world. This openly criticized F. Douglass’s campaign against women’s suffrage. In 1915, the cover magazine carried the portrait of Abraham Lincoln and Sojourner Truth. They were black leaders who fought for the liberalization of the Black people. In this edition, Du Bois reminded his readers of the obvious historical linkage between women and African Americans. This edition contained comments from twenty black women and men on women’s suffrage. The edition reflected the African American views concerning the issue. Later on, in 1917 he dedicated the last edition which was released on the eve of enfranchisement of African Americans, which took place in New York (McGoldrick 1). In this edition, he encouraged the black women to get ready to vote. This edition served to give hope to the Black women that they should prepare to be

The Film Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Film - Essay Example Adopting a light-hearted tone, Marker takes the unique approach of editing various video clips together, without adhering to time frame, and putting them together to describe the memories of the fictional Sandor Krasna, whose letters are read by a female narrator whose identity we never find out. Resnais’ Nuit et Brouillard, on the other hand, is based on the very real and macabre events of Holocaust. With most of the focus on the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp, the documentary which was filmed ten years after the Holocaust ended (1955), lays bare the atrocities committed therein. The male narrator simply relates the series of events that start from the rounding up of the people who were being sent to the concentration camps. The tone of the movie is, of course, very somber and serious throughout. In his movie, Chris Marker tries to explore how human memory works and how time and place have an effect on everything that later becomes history. It is an attempt on his part to take an interest in the banalities of life and, through them, try to explain human nature. The tone of the movie remains quite philosophical; though a lot of people are put off by it and they claim that Marker has ruined what could have otherwise been a great travelogue by using this tone, I disagree. The script of the movie, which are the letters read by the narrator, is crisp, innovative and it helps in driving the point home: the subjectivity of human memory and how we perceive time. It is a very unique approach and I agree that it is not palatable to everyone; however, it is unfair on the part of the critics to call it a work of pseudo-intellectualism. In Nuit et Brouillard, the script is very objective and it portrays the suffering of the prisoners of concentration camps in Nazi Germany. There are no personal observations made by the narrator; he recounts the events as and when