Maximize Your State

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By:  Staci Stallings

We have been talking about Dr. Lee A. Simpson’s workshop on maximizing your state in life.  The three steps to doing that are these:

1) Start where you are.

2) Use what you have.

3) Maximize your state.

Dr. Simpson says that your “state” is condition or position you are in at a particular moment.

So you’re state right now might be happy, or angry, or frazzled, or meditative.  The state of your life right now may be chaotic or tranquil, haphazard or organized.

Right now, please write down three words to describe the state of your LIFE right now.

Okay.  Take a look at what you wrote.  Are there changes to be made in any of those areas?

Let’s say that you wrote “stressed.”  That would be an area that you need to see some change in.  After all, you don’t want to maximize stress, you want to live a maximum life–an optimal life.

So if you’re stressed, let’s go back to #1.

#1 Start where you are.  “I am stressed.”  Be honest about it.  Don’t say, “Well, yes, but look what I have to be stressed about.”  Are there things to be stressed about in your life right now? Almost certainly.  But do you have to live “stressed”?  No.  You don’t.  But be honest that that’s where you are.

#2 Use what you have.  One of the things you have is the ability to breathe and to pray.  No matter what the situation, you can choose to breathe for a moment, close your eyes, and invite God into this situation.  USE IT!  When things are ratcheting up and out of control, consciously STOP.  Take a breath and ask God to come in.  When you do this, the situation that was out of control comes down a notch–in your heart if nothing else.

#3 Maximize your state.  Living stressed out is not maximized living.  It is existence at best. So if you’re living stressed, maximize those times of quiet and peace.  Maybe it’s for five minutes just before you go to sleep.  Maximize it.  Shut off the television and focus on relaxing.  Stop watching those violent shows that ramp up your blood pressure and adrenaline just before you go to bed.  Drink something soothing.  Take a warm shower or a warm bath.  Give yourself some me time–even if it’s just five minutes.  The stretch that to six minutes the next night.

Whatever your situation, whatever state you’re in that you don’t want to be in, there is a way out.  Start where you are by being honest about it.  Use what you have and enlist help if necessary and possible.  And make the most out of what you’ve been given.  When you do this, you begin to see that you don’t have to live the way you were living.  There is a different way, a better way, a more abundant way.

Ask God to show you His best for you.  What does He call maximum in your life.  You will be amazed how different things feel after you do this!