Counter Cultural

The longer I live, the more counter cultural my mentality becomes. To be clear this is not limited to popular world cultures. I also find myself questioning trends within the "Christian culture" as well.

It is important to think for ourselves, as opposed to following the masses right off the cliff like lemmings.

Specifically I was listening to a recently discovered podcast hosted by a self-proclaimed Neuroscientist and Personal Trainer from Australia.

For the most part, I appreciate and value her useful content. Alexis generally starts with a fun brain fact based in psychology or neuroscience, which I often find interesting as a lifelong learner.

Next up on her show's format she typically answers listener's questions usually related to relationships, enforcing healthy boundaries, or letting go of codependent behaviors. Personally this happens to be an intriguing topic, as I progress in these areas in my own life.

On a side note, she sprinkles lots of "F bombs" throughout her dialogue, including one in the name of her podcast. For the most part, I am able to take all of that for what it's worth; finding the dichotomy of the profanity strewn in between the professional quasi university professor level psychology as somewhat entertaining in a base colorful language kind of way.

However, in "the episode of today" I found myself questioning the general world culture trending advice given which sounded something like this:

• "Put yourself first."

• "Do whatever makes YOU feel good."

• "Drop anyone who no longer serves you."

Sound familiar?

This podcast host is certainly NOT alone with this mentality.

It is indeed what popular culture as a whole frequently suggests.

This is why I choose to be counter-cultural and subscribe to a simple (not easy) action-based faith shared in EVERYBODY ALWAYS by Bob Goff.

For the audio book chunked by chapters with closed captioning or transcripts available for the visual learners check out the link below:

I love it when my God reveals a clear message moving me to change my prayer request and response from "Why not?" to "Thank You."

"Other's rejection is God's protection."

When He tells me "No" or "Not right now" or "Trust me, I have something even better in store for you" I believe HIM based on multiple life experiences. God hasn't failed me yet, and He won't start now. My Creator has protected me from myself more times than I can count.

"Side hustles" are another trend in today's social media saturated culture. I used to think I wanted one, and made several mediocre (at best) attempts at them. I'm still not opposed to the idea entirely. But it would have to be the right one for me according to God's [Proverbs 3:5,6] plan, not mine. Thy will be done.

Love God Love People is more than a "side hustle" for me. At this point there is zero financial gain for me to do so. In fact, if anything it costs me money, time, and energy to serve others, instead of "dropping those who no longer serve me." But the rewards are priceless and eternal. I wouldn't trade this "Upside Down Kingdom" for anything in this world!

This particular post is beginning to feel like rambling, so that's my cue to wrap it up for now.

We may not agree on politics, religion, or a plethora of other subjects, but can we at least agree to be good humans by practicing random acts of kindness?