Blake Snow

writer-for-hire, content guy, bestselling author

As seen on CNN, NBC, ABC, Fox, Wired, Yahoo!, BusinessWeek, Wall Street Journal
It looks like you're new. Click here to learn more.

Tagged prayer

When life gets complicated, cling to three spiritual pillars

Courtesy iStock

A friend recently asked what he should tell a youth group his pastor asked him to address. He had this grand idea about explaining all the ways the world is more challenging and complicated than before, especially for youth. He was then going to articulate several points on how to combat each complexity in deep detail.

Although my friend’s heart was in the right place, he was overthinking the issue. “Just acknowledge that life is hard, then reiterate how daily prayer, scripture reading, and church attendance draws us closer to God than any other habit.” Upon telling him this, he looked at me with newfound clarity and determination. “Thank you,” he said. “I’m gonna try this.”

When I saw him the following week, he approached me with a big smile. “It worked!” he exclaimed. “The kids loved the simplicity of the message.” I was happy to hear this.

But the truth is these three habits work for more than just youth. They are for anyone who feels overwhelmed by temporal challenges, moral dilemmas, or the spiritual demands of religion in general.

In short, daily prayer, scripture reading, and weekly church attendance has blessed my life and nurtured my faith more than any other spiritual habits.

Easy peasy: 5 ways to rewire your brain for happiness

Grant Wood/Wikimedia Commons

Grant Wood/Wikimedia Commons

As a leading psychologist, Shawn Achor has spent two decades studying happiness. His bona fides include award-winning researcher and teacher at Harvard, best-selling author on positivity, and popular TED lecturer.

So when he speaks you should listen. For instance, Achor asserts our circumstances — including age, race, gender, social status, and wealth — only account for 10% of our happiness. The rest is determined by our genetic baseline for happiness (i.e. optimist vs pessimist) and our individual intentions, including the way we spend our time and the things we ponder.

Obviously, happiness means different things to different people. But there are plenty of standardized things we can do to boost our chances of finding it. Somethings such as knowing oneself, learning how to forgive, and balancing the personal, professional, and social demands on our time can be life-long pursuits.

But other happiness-building attributes are quite easy, Achor argues. In order from least difficult to most difficult, they are as follows:  Continue reading…

Overheard in family prayer: “Please help me forget scary movies”

Samsung PN50C450 2010While considering a TV upgrade, Lindsey and I were price checking a nearby retailer yesterday. Thankfully for us, the outfit was showing a kids movie, so parents could shop around.

Lindsey and I didn’t wait to take advantage. After a few minutes, I glanced towards the girls to find my four year-old looking the opposite direction, peeking through tiny fingers, and squirming in her skin as she watched a sci-fi movie on a different TV. I then rushed over to rescue her from the gnarly Alien surgery taking place on screen.

She was pretty upset. And I’m sad to say I didn’t notice the movie beforehand. (Was neck deep in materialism—not parenting— at the time, okay?) She cried when we got home. Her mother wisely recommended prayer. I offered. It helped.

This morning, it was Sadie’s turn to pray. “Please help me forget scary movies,” she supplicated.

Cutest. Prayer. Ever.