Change your bookmarks!

My See throughe life has moved!  My blog is now located at:

www.michellegeorge.net

Much easier to remember! Click on the picture or the link to come on over…remember to change  your bookmarks.

I have included subscription options on the new blog so that you can sign up and receive my updates in you inbox, or in your RSS feed reader.

Come on…don’t be shy

Please be patient…

I am in the process of transitioning to self-hosted and moving all of my content over to the new site…it’s taking longer than I anticipated to iron out the kinks…please check back shortly…if you need anything…email or twitter me

My new blog can be found over at:

michellegeorge.net

If you would like to comment on a post, please do it over there….I’m still ironing out the theme and navigation, but you should be able to find what you need via the search box on the sidebar.

thanks for your patience

I’m in!

Before my feet hit the floor each morning I pray. It takes all of ten seconds, but it’s the best way I can think of to start the day.

God,

whatever you’re up to today…

count me in!

In the words of Los…it’s better that way.

How do you start your day?

Making conversation // I didn’t know how!

I have always found it hard to talk to people that I don’t know well, and more specifically to initiate a conversation. This difficulty is multiplied when there are strangers involved, either in a social, or work situation, or in a completely random encounter at a shopping mall or on a plane.
I think this is probably because I am reasonably shy, and  part of it has been because of my introvert tendencies and not wanting to engage in meaningless conversation for the sake of filling in a moment of silence.

Why bother having conversations?
As I discussed in my earlier introversion posts <you can find them here> I believe that we humans are purpose-built for community and connection with other people. Conversation allows us to make these connections, to learn from other people, to be enriched, to be encouraged, to influence, to encourage others, to minister, to provide comfort, to develop relationships.

For years I avoided making conversation and making these connections. Over time I forgot how to do it, until I was rescued by my friend Andrew who attended a Caleb Ministries training course and learned about the conversation stack, which is a very simple system for initiating and developing conversations. Andrew’s a great, natural conversationalist anyway, but he knew I’d benefit from it, so he shared this tool with me and as I’ve experimented with the conversation stack over the past couple of years, I have learned a secret…people love to talk about themselves or about things that they are interested in. If I can get people talking about themselves, it takes the pressure of me and I don’t have to talk so much.

Here’s the stack (For most general conversations I rarely get past the tennis racquet.). The left column is what you can picture in your mind to remind you of what’s coming next, the right column is the basic question to ask (you’ll need to modify it to your own style otherwise you’ll sound like you’re working through a list…you want it to feel natural, take some time to practice on your family and friends if you like.)
NAMEPLATE                            What is your name?
HOUSE                                         Where do you live?
PEOPLE IN HOUSE                  Do you have family?
CLOCK                                         What do you do with your time?
AEROPLANE                             Travel?
TENNIS RACQUET                  Hobbies? Sports?
LIGHT BULB                              Ideas, points to bounce off
GOAL POSTS                              Do you have goals, dreams?
QUESTION MARK                    Problems? Frustrations? Concerns?
TROPHY                                       Achievements?
SUNSET                                        Inspirational people?

Here are a couple of points to remember when you’re using the conversation stack:

Respond, don’t interrogate:: Don’t just ask lots of questions and don’t get creepy…you’ll come off like you’re interrogating the person and they will more likely than not become defensive and clam up, defeating the purpose of using these kick-off questions. Respond to what the person shares, interact. Share about yourself a little.

Open ended questions :: Don’t ask questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no. Ask questions that require an answer that will allow the person to elaborate about their answer, and provide you with material to ask follow on questions.

Listen:: Don’t sit there thinking of your next brilliant contribution to the conversation. Really listen. Look out for gems, or places where your stories can intersect and you can connect.

No agendas:: Don’t go into any conversation with preconceived ideas of what the outcome will be. If the person thinks they are being manipulated they will shut down.

Don’t force it:: If they don’t want to talk…move on. Some people just really don’t want to talk (I’m betting you know how that is LOL)…don’t force them to.

I’ve found this system so helpful in getting past the awkward small talk that can plague so many social situations. I hope it helps you too.

Have you ever used a conversation stack? How does it work for you? Are you a natural conversationalist? Do you have to work at it like I do?

Fit Friday // Strange things are happening

I lost a kilo this week.

It wasn’t hard work.

I didn’t feel deprived.

I felt a little hungry and didn’t die.

What did I do? I had a chat to God any time I felt bored, or stressed, or tired…any time I would normally self-medicate with food to make myself feel “better”.  I’m working at returning food to it’s place as fuel for my body…kicking it off its pedestal of ultimate comfort provider.

For the first time in a long while I am feeling hopeful. Now I just need to remain intentional about it until it is embedded as a habit.

How did you go this week?

::photo coscurro

Fit Friday // Small changes

Now that I have incorporated a steady amount of exercise into my routine and am enjoying it (rode about 40kms all up last weekend! yay!), I have started to make small but sustainable changes to the way I eat.

Here they are:

1. Slow down: I tend to eat fast, I suspect it has come from being a mum with two kids close together. When the boys were babies I had to eat fast otherwise I either didn’t get to eat, or I ate cold, congealed, revolting food. The habit became ingrained and I have continued to eat quickly even now, all these years later.The problem with this is that it takes about 20 minutes for the brain to register that the belly is full, so I’ve been eating far too much because I haven’t given my body enough time to recognise that it’s had enough. Now I am trying to remember to take smaller mouthfuls and put my fork down between each bite to force myself to slow down.
2. Portion Control: Flowing on from the previous point I am controlling the *amount* I eat by using a smaller plate. A little amount of food on a big plate just looks sad A little amount of food on a little plate looks like more, and fools my brain into thinking that there’s enough food there.
3. Caffeine: I’m reducing the amount of coffee that I drink by replacing it with green tea, which has many more health benefits. I still have a cup of coffee in the morning, but the rest of the day is tea. I’m not sure if there’s any science to back this, but I feel less hungry on the days when I manage to stick to this one. Next step is to cut out the Coke Zero
4. Counting: You can only change that which you can measure. No idea who said that…but it applies here. I’ve found that it’s really easy to completely underestimate the amount of calories I’m actually taking in. The only way to make sure I’m reducing my intake is to count them. It’s a pain in the butt, and where I fall down most often, because I just can’t be bothered half the time, however I’ve found an iPhone app that makes it a much less arduous task. So we’ll see how this one goes.

I’ve lost half a kilo this week, so at least the scales are moving in the right direction.

My dear friend has challenged me to consider surrendering my eating to God, which is in line with  my current thinking and desire to live a 100% intentional Jesus-focussed life in ALL areas of my life. It’s something that I will be praying about and pursuing.

How did you go his week?

Do you like Pirate Flashmobs?

Louise dressed as the main character, Salty

Christian children’s author Louise Curtis is writing a two-month-long twitter tale that you can read online in bite-size pieces or receive on your phone. These stories are designed to create buzz around her writing, which is similar to the Narnia series (but with pirates) — exciting adventure stories that have a deeper meaning for Christians.

Follow the blog of the stories on twittertales.wordpress.com
Follow the tweets by following Louise at http://twitter.com/Louise_Curtis_ (You will need to join Twitter. This is free)

You can be a part of the launch!

The story begins Saturday August 1, and to celebrate the launch Louise invites families to dress as a pirate and be at the Lyneham shops in Canberra between 2:00 and 2:30pm (near the secondhand bookshop). Free short-short stories and lollies will be given out. More details (including who is safe to accept lollies from) are on the blog twittertales.wordpress.com.

Louise Curtis rates her books PG for some piratical violence.

Louise playing pirate as a young girl

And the winner is…

Congratulations Lori! Keep an eye on your mailbox!

Blogiversary Giveaway // Thank you!

My blog is one year old!

In the past 12 months I have written 130 posts, you guys have left 205 comments, and there have been somewhere in the vicinity of 5400 page views. Wow! I am so grateful to you all for stopping by to read what I have written! Thank you!

You have read about Introversion, Fit Fridays, and my Adventure as I discover what God has for me in this next phase of my life.

There has been celebration and fun, there has been achievement and there has been debate.

There are those of you who are faithful, regular commenters, and there are those of you who are lurkers in this little community of ours.

I am really excited about what the year ahead holds…there will be some changes to the way the blog looks, there will be an exciting project that I hope you will help me out with, and we’ll keep rolling along with our regular raft of posts about life.

I’d like to celebrate my blog’s first birthday and say thank you to all of you who have been a part of it so far, by giving away a copy of Anne Jackson’s best selling book Mad Church Disease to one lucky reader!

How can you win?

All you need to do is leave a message in the comments section of this post introducing yourself and telling us something interesting about yourself. At 7pm on Thursday 23rd July (AEST : GMT +10) I will lock the comments and choose a random commenter to receive the book! Make sure you register an email with your comment so I can contact you!

Go on…leave a comment for your chance to win!

Thank you again for being a part of my life!

Love you all!

Michelle

Fit Friday //#FAIL

Confession:: I didn’t do my Fit Friday post last week because I was depressed about my weight.

Confession 2:: I nearly didn’t do it today either for the same reason.

Physical health, fitness and the associated control of what goes into my mouth is where I fail most often in my attempts to live a godly life. This failure of self-control is sin. I’m not going to sugar-coat it. It’s a sin in the same way that adultery or stealing are sins.

My body is the temple of God…I am defiling it by letting it get overloaded and unkempt.

My life is to be the embodiment of Christ in this world…I’m pretty sure God is not obese.

Our physical selves are often ignored as part of the whole picture of who we are in Christ. Our overeating or lack of healthy habits is ignored in favour of the “more” spiritual acts of bible study and prayer. In reality these things must be balanced.

I think that this area of our lives is one of the biggest strongholds of the enemy in today’s world, and I am struggling with it.

On my escape from Mad Church Disease, this is the next frontier…time to circle the wagons and jump into the fight with both feet.

Do you struggle with the same things? Is this a stronghold in your life?

Michelle