The “Complaint” Ingredient
How I deal with my complaints
A healthy baby comes from healthy pregnancy, and smart parenting produces a smart kid.
The “Complaint” Ingredient
How I deal with my complaints
Making money is all about your being and your doing: being who you are and doing what you can with what you have.
Not knowing your true
self and not doing what you are supposed to do, and yet wanting your money, and
even lots of it, leads to your “money fantasies”, such as becoming a
professional gambler, lining up for hours to get your Power Ball, and even
engaging in burglary or bank robbery.
No matter what, you may lose your money at some point in your life, and that is a reality. Remember, the opposite of "gain" is "loss", and what goes up must also come down, and this is a universal truth.
LOSING
Even if your life is a bed of roses, it must also have some thorns to go with it. What goes up must also come down. Gains are followed by losses. That is the natural cycle of all things.
While pursuing your
careers, you might have encountered your discharge or unemployment, and while
making your money in your businesses or financial investments, you might also
have been overwhelmed by your money losses.
Freedom
Free yourself from “money miseries”—living from paycheck to paycheck; not making both ends meet; always seeing your lack and deprivation when compared with others.
Remember this: Even
wealthy celebrities went broke, and you are not alone. For example, Mike
Tyson, a boxing champion, earning over $300 million dollars, ended up in bankruptcy
in 2003; and Michael Jackson, a recording artist, dancer, singer, and
songwriter, earning over $500 million dollars, was heavily in debt when he died
in 2009.
So, fight the good
fight to recover, restore, and rejuvenate yourself from the bondage and
wreckage of losses.
Bondage
Money is emotional, especially when always feeling the lack of it. Yes, money can cause many mental problems, including depression.
With more
money, you can live rich. But even with less money, you can still
live richly, and free yourself from the bondage of lack.
But how to
live richly if you have less money? The answer is thrift, which is an
alternative lifestyle to consumerism, materialism, and over-consumption in this
material world you are living in.
Thrift may help you work less, and not more. Many people are not paying with their money; instead, they are paying with their time from their lives. Are you one of them? Are you doing two or more jobs just to earn that extra money to spend more?
Thrift may promote your positive consumption values. Are some or most of your purchases aimed at your instant gratification, or just enhancing your self-esteem, making you feel rich, such as wearing a designer’s dress?
Thrift may encourage your savings. It may give you
more space to save, thereby instrumental in protecting you from negative income
shocks, such as an unexpected unemployment.
Yes, living richly
with thrift may turn you from bondage to freedom.
FREEDOM with BONDAGE shows you how to free yourself from your bondage to the flesh that gives you the "freedom" to make the wrong choices and decisions in your everyday life.
Stephen Lau
Copyright© by Stephen Lau
All About . . . .
In ancient times, many individuals were in quest of immortality, especially those in power.
INFIDELITY IN MARRIAGE
Tiger Woods, one of the world’s most famous and wealthiest golfers, was caught with his dark secrets of infidelities and lies in 2009. At first, he vehemently denied and even concealed them. But, eventually, he was more forthcoming and apologetic to his fans and his family at several press conferences:
The reality
King David’s adulteries
In spite of his efforts in seeking God’s wisdom, King David also demonstrated his darker side of the sin of lust.
One night, King David saw Bathsheba, the wife of one of King David’s generals, bathing on the rooftop. Succumbing to his own sin of lust, King David sent for Bathsheba, and committed adultery with her. To gratify his lust, King David even purposely sent the general to the war front to have him killed so that he could marry the general’s widow.
King David eventually married Bathsheba. Although penitent for his sins, God punished King David, and their firstborn son died.
King Solomon’s adulteries
King Solomon, the second son of King David, despite his profound human wisdom, violated God’s standards of sexual purity. His decision to disobey God and marry foreign women with their different gods led to his own idolatry. As a punishment for his sins, God divided Israel, and Solomon suffered bitterness and emptiness at the end of his life.
The difference between King David and King Solomon is that King David always lived in the presence of the Lord. So, King David always turned back to God with remorse and repentance, while King Solomon only distanced himself from God with no contrition and remorse.
So, living in the presence of the Lord always reminds you of your own accountability to Him, without which you will do anything and everything, thinking that you can get away with it.
The reality
Always live in the presence of the Shepherd. Always let the Shepherd guide you in the green pastures. Always let the Shepherd overcome your enemies of pride, lust, and deceit. Always let the Shepherd use His rod and staff not only to protect you but also to restrain and discipline you. Always let the Lord be your Shepherd throughout your marriage journey.
Adultery is a conscious and deliberate act to do just the opposite of what a marriage commitment requires. Adultery is prevalent because it has become the new “norm.” According to many, adultery is just a sin, not a crime, and everybody commits sins of some sort anyway. But adultery is a sin directly against God, who creates the marriage, joining the two as one. So, committing adultery is lack of accountability to God, and is unforgivable without judgment and repentance.
Stephen Lau
Copyright© by Stephen Lau
In your life, there're different ways of living, and here're two examples:
Living by Wants
Yes, in
life and living, there’re many wants, including the following: wanting alcohol
may result in AUD (Alcohol Use Disorder); wanting gambling can
happen to anyone from any walk of life, due to the fun that often turns into an
unhealthy obsession with many serious financial and relationship consequences;
wanting sex can lead to pornography, adultery, infidelity, and
extra-marital affairs; wanting money can cause greed and attachments to
material things; wanting hobbies can make life more interesting, such as
dancing, drawing, and singing; wanting sports can increase
physical and mental skills in competitive sports, such as football and soccer,
while wanting non-competitive sports, such as running and swimming, can be
exercises for physical health; wanting success in any endeavor, such as
careers and businesses, love and relationships, health and healing, can set
goals and objectives in life and living.
But
living by wants requires the means, that is, the money or the earnings
to make a living, without which it’s impossible to get the wants.
Unfortunately, many even without their means yet demand their wants, and thus
ending up in crimes, such as stealing and robbing.
Living by Personality
An ego
is self-identity. Many may have an inflated ego that gives them a
distinguished personality to live by. They believe they’re not only much better
but also totally different from others. Accordingly, others must succumb
to their demands and desires. They’ve become so self-centered that they’ll
continuously inflate their own ego with higher expectations while controlling
and demanding others to do what they want them to do for them.
An Illustration
Donald
Trump, with little discipline in childhood and
adolescence, came from a wealthy family with high expectations. He began
his own business in hotels and casinos. Unfortunately, he was labeled “public
laughingstock” due to his repeated business failures in several of his different
tumultuous business careers. But, with his self-inflated egoistic personality,
Donald Trump was still able to give the public “delusional” perception of his high-flying
success in real estate. He even started the Trump University, but that only ended
up in many lawsuits. The bankruptcy protection in the United States saved
Donald Trump from his own bankruptcy caused by all his business failures.
Donald Trump’s ego-self turned around sharply
and suddenly when he was elected the 45th President of the United
States. With that great boost to his already self-inflated ego, he thought he
could do just about anything to control everyone and everything around him. But
his inflated ego was severely compromised when he “unexpectedly” lost his
second-term presidency that led to many allegations of his conspiracy, insurrection, and plot to
illegally hold onto power to sustain his inflated ego.
On the other side of those with an inflated
ego are those living with a deflated ego. They often feel inadequate,
incompetent, insecure, and even unloved. Their perceived low self-esteem often
originates from an unhappy childhood with extremely critical and demanding
parents, as well as from their own ongoing life events, such as career and
relationship failures and problems.
An
illustration
Paris Hilton is
the great-granddaughter of the founder of the famous Hilton Hotels. Being given
the nickname of “Star” by her mother and grandmother, and growing up in fame
and prestige, she began her modeling career at any early age. Due to her own
demand for celebrity status and media attention, Paris also began her other
careers in books, music, and screen appearances. Her book “Confessions of An
Heiress” was on the New York Times’s
bestseller list; her role in the film “The House of Wax” earned her The Teen
Choices Award.
But Paris Hilton always
thought that she was “less successful” than others. Her “deflated ego” and her
envy of those who were “more successful” than she was led to her continual
pursuit in music and television shows, such as “The World According to Paris,”
and “Hollywood Love Story.” Feeling being a mediocre, she was always envious of
those who she thought were more successful than herself. Throughout her different
careers, she was haunted by the sin of pride and the sin of envy. The Guinness World Record in 2007 named Paris Hilton
“the most overrated celebrity.” According to the media, she was “the worst
actress of the decade.”
The Bottom Line
Living by faith, you live with
humility and not pride if you’ve an inflated ego; you live with simplicity to
give you confidence, hope, and strength if you’ve a deflated ego.
Living by faith, you believe that God has given you your true self
destined by Him to live a life of humility and simplicity.
Living By Faith shows you how
to live your life in this material world with real-life examples.
Stephen Lau