LEADERSHIP TEAM Reggie Joiner Reggie Goodin Carey Nieuwhof EXECUTIVE DIREC- TOR OF MESSAGING Crystal Chiang CONTENT DIRECTOR Sarah Bragg LIVE A BETTER STORY TEAM BRANDING & GRAPHICS Ryan Boon PROJECT MANAGER/ PARTNER SUPPORT Heather Binkley EDITORS & WRITERS Carey Nieuwhof Connexus Church Laurin Greco Sara Shelton Jonny Willis USER AGREEMENT VIDEO PRODUCTION Steve Underwood ADMIN/TECHNOLOGY/ PARTNER ENGAGEMENT Kevin Benson Hadley Brandt Reggie Goodin Live a Better Story, LLC., gladly grants permission to licensed organizations and their authorized agents to tailor LIVE A BET- TER STORY materials to fit their unique requirements, locale, and format preferences. If you wish to edit the content substantively including teaching scripts, small group guides, and any other content in which Biblical principles and concepts are presented you are obligated to do so within the doctrinal guidelines expressed in our Statement of Faith. These resources are intended to be downloaded and printed for use by the licensing entity only and may not be electronically transferred to or duplicated by other non-licensed entities. Any unauthorized reproduction of this material or incorporation into a new work including podcasts or video of this content is a direct violation of U.S. copyright laws. LIVE A BETTER STORY and the LIVE A BETTER STORY logo are trademarks of Live a Better Story, LLC. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc. LABS Stress Less Week 4 2018 Live a Better Story, LLC. All rights reserved. Page 1
Stress Less WEEK 4 July 22, 2018 WEEK SUMMARY What keeps you stressed on a daily basis? Whatever it is, in this day and age there s a pretty common solution to whatever you re facing: an app! Stressed about your finances? There s an app for that! Stressed about your calendar? There s an app for that! In today s world, technology seems to be the answer to everything. And if we re being honest, even though technology can be a really good thing in our lives, more often than not it tends to end up causing us more stress. With 24-hour news networks, social media feeds, and websites updated 24/7, the constant stream of media seems to increase our stress not decrease it. But what can we do about it? This week, we ll take a look at what Paul said we could do to address the constant stream of stress in our lives. As we do, we ll discover that the best way to stress less isn t to simply ignore the news or delete our Facebook account, but to replace that stress with God s peace. THINK ABOUT THIS One of the purposes of small group is to examine areas of our lives that have previously gone unexamined. Technology has the potential to be one of these areas for the members of your group. For some reason, social media, TV, movies, apps, and everything technology-related can fly under our personal radar perhaps because they re such normal, integrated parts of our lives. In other words, we can be passive in our approach to technology in our lives. This week, challenge your group to intentionally examine the role technology is playing in their lives. And then remind your group that this sort of proactive approach is not only important for this particular subject, but for other areas of our lives as well. For instance, we won t grow in our faith in God passively. If we want to grow and take steps in our faith, we are going to have to do so actively. Growth only happens when we move. Encourage your group this week to think and behave proactively. LABS Stress Less Week 4 2018 Live a Better Story, LLC. All rights reserved. Page 2
BOTTOM LINE CHANGING YOUR SOURCE CHANGES YOUR COURSE. SCRIPTURE PHILIPPIANS 4:6-8 NLT Don t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. PHILIPPIANS 4:13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength. CONTEXT AND PREP This week, we re studying verses from Philippians 4, and if you re familiar with this chapter or with the Bible at all you ve probably heard Philippians 4:13 many times in the past. It s a favorite verse for many people, but believe it or not, it s also one of the more misunderstood verses in the Bible. People often think this verse means they re capable of doing anything through the power of Christ often in the form of physical accomplishments (i.e. sports). But let s take a moment to look at this verse more carefully to find out what it really means. If we look at the verses that precede Philippians 4:13, we ll discover that this verse is actually talking about contentment not physical abilities or accomplishments. In Philippians 4:10-12, Paul talks about how he s learned to be content in any and all circumstances. He mentions times he s been in need and times he s had plenty. And it s with that in mind that Paul writes verse 13. In other words, it s through the strength of Christ that Paul has learned contentment both in times of need and in times of plenty. When Paul says, I can do all things, he s not saying he can run a marathon, dunk a basketball, or do a back flip. He s saying he can be content because his identity is in Christ. And the same is true for us. In Christ, we can be content. LABS Stress Less Week 4 2018 Live a Better Story, LLC. All rights reserved. Page 3
Communication Plan WEEK 4 CONTINUING THE EXPERIENCE Do you ever wish you could strategically communicate with your small group outside of group time? Ever wish you could find a way to share quick snippets of what they re learning or even send a word of encouragement to them? Well... now you can. The communication plan is designed to help your small group attenders engage with the truths in that week s group time. Below you ll find bite-size content that you can TEXT MESSAGES SEND THIS TO EVERYONE IN YOUR GROUP: Hope you all are well! Just wanted to say how much I ve been enjoying this series with you all! It s so great to be able to talk about stress such a practical topic in all of our lives. Can t wait for next week! SEND THIS TO ANYONE WHO MISSED GROUP THIS WEEK: (Leader: You can find the audio file in your downloads. Use a service like Google Drive or Dropbox to share it.) Hey we missed you at group this week! Here s a link to the audio of this week s message so you can catch up before our send through email or post on social media for your group members to see. There are posts for Facebook and Instagram, and images that you can use. And they re all designed to help your attenders connect with the week s topic. Remember to make these posts yours. Don t feel like you have to use all of the content provided in a given series. Use this plan as a starting point as you leverage technology with your small group. SOCIAL MEDIA final week of the series. SEND THIS TO ONE OR TWO PEOPLE IN YOUR GROUP, JUST BECAUSE: Hey! I hope you know how valuable you are to our small group. I m so glad you re there every week. Thanks for being you! POST THIS TO YOUR FACEBOOK OR INSTAGRAM: I never realized how much of a connection there was between stress and technology. This series has really caused me to evaluate the sources of stress in my life, and I m so grateful for these new perspectives! LABS Stress Less Week 4 2018 Live a Better Story, LLC. All rights reserved. Page 4
Weekly Email WEEK 4 FOR THE LEADER Remember to email your small group every week with a reminder of when small group meets, directions, and information that you think your group members might need to know. Since every group and leader is different, feel free to change the email text to fit your group. To make it simple, just copy and paste the email below and fill in any information that would be helpful for them. Hey everyone! WEEK 4 EMAIL We re in the fourth week of Stress Less, and this week we re talking about the role that news, social media, and technology play in our lives. Technology is part of all of our lives, but I doubt many of us have really stopped to think about just how much it s affecting our lives and our stress level. I know I ve been pretty passive in my approach to technology, so I m looking forward to changing that by examining our lives together. See you all at group! Here are the details for our meeting: Date/Time: Address: Our weekly Bible Reading Plan and the questions for this week are attached. See you all soon! LABS Stress Less Week 4 2018 Live a Better Story, LLC. All rights reserved. Page 5
OVERVIEW Wouldn t it be awesome if you could help your small group members engage with God s Word all week long, instead of just during your weekly small group time? That s the intention of the Bible Reading Plan that goes along with this series. Every week of a series comes with five unique verses and five unique devotionals to help your small group members think about and engage with Scripture throughout the week. Each Scripture image can be found in the Graphics folder of the series download and each daily Scripture can be found below. HOW TO USE We ve designed these images and devotionals to be flexible enough to use in a wide variety of ways. But to help you get started, here are three things you might want to try: POST THEM. These images and devotionals work perfectly on social media! TEXT THEM. If you re looking for a more personal way to encourage your group members to read Scripture, DAILY SCRIPTURE MONDAY (DAY 1) Colossians 4:6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. TUESDAY (DAY 2) 1 Thessalonians 4:3a It is God s will that you should be sanctified. each day s Scripture and devotional to the group. Of course, we re all busy. So to save time, you may want to sign up for an online texting service and schedule those in advance. Feel free to send a picture of the devotion if that s easier. 3. PRINT OR EMAIL THEM. An easy way to have your group use the Bible Reading Plan is to simply print or email the next few pages. That way they have each day s reading before the week begins. WEDNESDAY (DAY 3) Luke 21:33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. THURSDAY (DAY 4) Romans 6:13b Offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. FRIDAY (DAY 5) 1 Corinthians 16:13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. LABS Stress Less Week 4 2018 Live a Better Story, LLC. All rights reserved. Page 6
Daily Scripture Images & Devotions MONDAY (DAY 1) Colossians 4:6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. What we talk about is a reflection of what we think about and what we care about. In Matthew 12:34b, Jesus says, For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of, which means our words are a reflection of what is inside us. If we are full of stress, anxiety, and worry, we re going to speak from an overflow of these emotions. But if we ve given our cares and worries to God, then we re able to speak from an overflow of the grace mentioned in this verse from Colossians. In a world of 24/7 news channels and social media, it s important to keep conversations full of grace. There are plenty of people speaking from an overflow of worry, anger, or bitterness online and on TV. And as Christians, it s our responsibility to bring a different voice to the table one filled with grace for everyone. Do you tend to speak from an overflow of stress, anxiety, and worry, or an overflow of grace? What do you think it looks like have conversations full of grace? TUESDAY (DAY 2) 1 Thessalonians 4:3a It is God s will that you should be sanctified. Sanctified isn t a word we use much, but it really just means to be made more like Christ. If you have a relationship with Jesus, you re justified which means through Jesus sacrifice you are righteous in the eyes of God and now you are in the process of being sanctified. What s interesting is that this verse from 1 Thessalonians comes right before an explanation of the importance of self-control. As we talk about stress and technology, self-control is vital not to mention a key part of being sanctified. Since technology gives us access to so many things both good and bad it s up to us to exercise self-control. We can either control technology or allow technology to control us. And if we share in God s desire for us to be sanctified, it s important for us to practice self-control. How is God sanctifying you (making you more like Jesus) right now? In what areas might you need to exercise more self-control when it comes to technology? WEDNESDAY (DAY 3) Luke 21:33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Social media and technology have made it easy for anyone to put anything they want out into the world. Which means, there s a lot of stuff out there a lot! But the truth is that most of the words, images, and posts on the Internet and on social media are going to fade away. Can you remember any of the Facebook posts you looked at last week? What about from yesterday? Tweets, posts, and blogs aren t bad things, but they certainly aren t eternal. Trending topics come and go every single day. People can go viral one day and be forgotten the next. However, this is not true of God s Word. God s Word has been around for thousands of years, and it s not fading away anytime soon not ever, actually. Everything God has put into the Bible will never pass away, as this verse says. Today, ask yourself: How much of your time is spent consuming words that will fade away (i.e. Facebook, Instagram, and news websites)? How much of your time is spent studying words that will live on forever? Consider whether or not you need to shift which one gets more of your time and attention this week. LABS Stress Less Week 4 2018 Live a Better Story, LLC. All rights reserved. Page 7
Daily Scripture Images & Devotions THURSDAY (DAY 4) Romans 6:13b Offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. Offer yourself to God? That sounds pretty important, but what does that really mean and look like in our lives? Well, when we begin a relationship with God, we re committing our lives to Him and not just part of our lives. God wants all of who we are our family life, our social life, our work life, our church life, and so on. Why? Because He wants to use us to bring others toward Him. And that s what the second half of this verse is talking about. Think about the different tools you have at your disposal: your thoughts, your words, your actions, your influence, and even your social media. God wants to use all of these things as instruments for righteousness, to reach people in all the various parts of your life. Is there an area of your life you find difficult to offer to God? What can you do to start using your tools for God today in that area? FRIDAY (DAY 5) 1 Corinthians 16:13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Stress comes at us from all angles. Everywhere we turn, we re faced with different things that can cause us worry and anxiety. Just watch the news for ten minutes, or open up Twitter and Facebook, and you ll see new things to be concerned about every single day. What are we supposed to do in light of all that s wrong around us? How are we supposed to live in the midst of so many things to stress about? Well, this verse gives us the answer to that question. We are to stand firm in the faith. Notice the last three words: in the faith. This is huge, because this means we don t have to stand firm or be courageous on our own. Instead, we get to lean into the faith we have in the God who created everything and is in control. How would your life look different if you started standing firm in the faith in the midst of the things that stressed you out? What s one worry or concern that you ve noticed or read about recently that you can go ahead and lift up to God today? LABS Stress Less Week 4 2018 Live a Better Story, LLC. All rights reserved. Page 8
Stress Less WEEK 4 July 22, 2018 See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don t recognize that we are God s children because they don t know him. 1 JOHN 3:1 NLT DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. WHAT S YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLET OR SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM? HOW MUCH TIME A DAY DO YOU SPEND CONSUMING IT? 2. IN THE VIDEO, THE COMMUNICATOR SHARED SOME STATISTICS THAT SHOW THE STAGGERING INCREASE IN INFORMATION PEOPLE BOTH CONSUME AND PRODUCE TODAY VERSUS SEVERAL GENERATIONS AGO. HOW MANY HOURS A DAY DO YOU NOT SPEND ON A SCREEN (TELEVISION, DEVICE, OR COMPUTER)? 3. THE COMMUNICATOR SAID THAT FOR EVERY ONE GOOD HEADLINE YOU READ, THERE ARE 17 NEGATIVE HEADLINES TO GO WITH IT. HOW DO YOU THINK THE NEGATIVE HEADLINES YOU READ OR HEAR AFFECT YOUR LEVEL OF STRESS, WORRY, ANXIETY, OR FEAR? 4. READ PHILIPPIANS 4:6-8. DO YOU THINK PAUL S ADVICE IS REALISTIC OR UN- REALISTIC? WHY? 5. WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF YOU REDUCED OR CUT OUT SOME OF THE NEGA- TIVE VOICES THAT COME INTO YOUR LIFE VIA TECHNOLOGY? 6. WHAT SOURCES OF INFORMATION DO YOU NEED TO ELIMINATE ENTIRELY? AND, CONVERSELY, ARE THERE ANY POSITIVE SOURCES YOU THINK YOU SHOULD ADD? LABS Stress Less Week 4 2018 Live a Better Story, LLC. All rights reserved. Page 9
Stress Less WEEK 4 July 22, 2018 BOTTOM LINE CHANGING YOUR SOURCE CHANGES YOUR COURSE. INTRODUCTION Welcome to part four of a five-part series that we re calling Stress Less. In this series, we ve been talking all about stress, anxiety, worry, and fear. We ve said that when we re feeling any of those feelings, there s always something at the end of it. Sometimes we know what it is a big test, a difficult diagnosis, a conflict at work, financial challenges. Other times, we don t know exactly where it s coming from, but we know we re anxious. Either way, what we ve been encouraging you to do is to try and follow your stress. If you really followed the trail of fear, worry, anxiety, or stress in your life, what do you find at the end of your rope? TENSION But before we get to talking about what should be at the end of our rope, I want to focus on the things that cause stress day in and day out. What keeps you stressed on a daily basis? Why is it that stress seems to be a part of your daily life? Whatever it is, in this day and age there s a pretty common answer for it. It s the phrase: There s an app for that. Stressed out? There s an app for that! Can t sleep? There s an app for that! Worried about your finances? There s an app for that! The list could go on and on. My point is that in today s world, technology seems to be the answer to everything. It s coming at us all day long, from all different directions, and in all kinds of ways. And the truth is, that can be both a really good thing and a really bad thing. Technology itself isn t good or evil. It just reveals and amplifies what s already there. Your phone isn t good or evil. The internet isn t good or evil. Social media isn t good or evil. It just reveals or amplifies what s already in culture and in you. Here s what I mean. Let s start with the negative. Maybe you already have a problem with pornography. Now, all of a sudden, technology amplifies that. It didn t create the problem, but access to the internet certainly made it more difficult. Or maybe you ve been flirting with the idea of having an affair. It s not Facebook s fault that you friended another woman and started a dialogue with her. The idea was already in you; technology just made it more accessible. LABS Stress Less Week 4 2018 Live a Better Story, LLC. All rights reserved. Page 10
Now on the other hand, it s an incredibly good tool to amplify positive things in our lives, too. Many of us do our daily devotions on our phones or ipads. We read the Bible on an app. In fact, I d even say that I m more consistent now in my time with God than I ever was before technology made things like devotionals, apps, and readings so accessible. I think we can agree that technology isn t all one thing; it isn t all good and isn t all bad. But what I want to do today is look at the role technology plays in our everyday lives. I want to look at it in terms of our stress. You see, while I think technology can be used for amazing things, I also think it s doing something to the quality of our daily lives. For thousands of years, humans were processing information one way, but over the last decade, there s been a revolution. That s why I think there s been such a shift in the way we live our lives. I think it s part of why we get stressed out daily and why anxiety feels like it s on the rise. Take a look at some stats with me. In 1900, the average person received the equivalent of 16 newspapers worth of information over the course of a lifetime. That s just over a century ago. Now, fast-forward to 1986. By that year, the average person received about 40 newspapers full of information daily. That s a huge jump over the course of just 80 years. But then the internet came along. And by 2011, the average person was getting 174 newspapers worth of information every single day. Now, if that sounds like lot, hold on. Let s just fast-forward to today. Today, the average person takes in 725 minutes of media every single day. Quick math for you: That s 12 hours of media consumed by the average person on a daily basis. But we can break that down even further. That s 245 minutes of television or streaming on your mobile device. 186 minutes on your mobile device. 131 minutes on your desktop or laptop. 87 minutes on the radio. 26 minutes on other miscellaneous devices. And print? Oh, that s way down at the bottom! 16 minutes a day on newspapers, 12 minutes on magazines, and 22 minutes for other things. Now as a church leader, I had to ask myself when I looked at these stats: Where s the Bible in all of this? If you re a Christian, then you probably try to make reading your Bible a priority every single day. It s a great habit to develop! But we know we re all in a hurry and life feels busy so sometimes we don t give that as much time as we want to or think we should. So, let s say you give 15 minutes a day to reading your Bible. Now I m no expert, but I do think that this lack of time and energy spent digging into the Word of God doesn t help our cause when it comes to stress and anxiety. We wonder why we re so anxious and worried, but we re filling our time and energy with so many things that we leave little room for God, the only One who, as we learned earlier in this series, can carry the things that cause our stress. And then you add in the messages of the media that we re consuming, it s no wonder that we re so worried! This statistic probably won t surprise you, but did you know that negative news outpaces positive news 17 to one? In other words, for every one good headline you read, there are 17 negative ones to go with it. Why? Because negative news sells. There s just something in the human brain that gravitates toward the negative first. LABS Stress Less Week 4 2018 Live a Better Story, LLC. All rights reserved. Page 11
Headlines with negative superlatives outpace or outperform positive superlatives by 63 percent. That means if you write a story with a negative headline, you get 63 percent more traffic or viewers than if you write one with a positive headline. Think about what s popping up on your phone, or on your social media feed, or in your push notifications. It s constant headlines and news and 17 out of 18 times, it s negative. We live in the middle of a 24-hour news cycle, which means we can get news all day, every day. And thanks to technology, it goes with us all the time. So that brings us back to this question: Why are we so stressed out on a daily basis? Let me ask you this: Is technology impacting your stress level? I think the answer is that it absolutely is! Now please hear me say this: I m not suggesting we all bury our heads in the sand and ignore the bad things happening in the world. It s important to be aware of and empathetic toward those who are suffering, hurting, or in distress around the world, especially if you re a Christian. It s not that we should ignore what s happening in the world or not try to act on what we can to make a difference. It s the amount of information we re receiving and the way in which we re receiving it. It s the frequency of negative news in our feeds and in our lives that s keeping us in a steady stream of stress. TRUTH So, what do you do? If we re not supposed to ignore it, what do we do? To help us understand what we re talking about here, let s jump into Scripture. In Philippians 4, Paul is writing to encourage Christians who are being persecuted for their beliefs. These Jesus followers were living under the weight of a lot of fear and anxiety. They were nervous. They were afraid. They were stressed. So look at what Paul says... Don t worry about anything (Philippians 4:6a NLT). Okay, let s stop right here. Don t worry about anything? What about my kids? What about my future? What about money? What about my job? What about school? What about my marriage? Paul says not to worry about it. And Paul writes to remind them that they have a choice. When it comes to anxiety, we all have a choice. Remember what we said in week two: We have to take responsibility. God is in control, but you have a role. We can t forget to own what we need to own and take responsibility for the things we can do to help ease our stress. But the underlying thing we have to remember is what Paul says here: Still, don t worry about anything. There s no exception to this. You don t need to worry. So if we re not supposed to worry, what are we supposed to do? Well, Paul gives us the answer: Instead, pray about everything (Philippians 4:6b NLT). So if you re following the rope of your stress and you find that at the end of it is a fear of failure, or a worry that others won t like you, or a belief that God doesn t have what s best for you, what do you do next? Paul says to pray. Pray about everything. Meaning, give it all to God. Then he continues: LABS Stress Less Week 4 2018 Live a Better Story, LLC. All rights reserved. Page 12
Tell God what you need (Philippians 4:6c NLT). That s how you start. You tell God what you need. I need a job. I need to pass this test. I need help with my addiction. I need patience for my children. I need grace from my spouse. I need You, God. When you re stressed, anxious, afraid, or worried, tell God. Tell Him what you re struggling with and what you need to get through the day. And then? And thank him for all he has done (Philippians 4:6d NLT). Gratitude is a great antidote to stress. The next time you feel the weight of anxiety and stress, make the choice to stop and thank God for what He s done for you in the past. The best way to pave the way for peace in the middle of your stress is to shift your eyes toward gratitude. Be grateful for what God has done for you, even as you re anxious. Why? Because, as Paul tells us, it s only then that we ll experience peace. Then you will experience God s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7 NLT). In other words, you have a choice: stress or peace. You can live in the midst of the cycle of stress, negativity, and anxiety that comes with the constant bombarding of information and technology in this world. Or you can live in the peace of Jesus. You can pray about everything, tell God what you need, thank Him for what He s done, and make room for His peace to come into your heart. And the more room you make for that, the less room you ll have for things like stress and anxiety. Let s look at how Paul wraps this up: Now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8 NLT). There s an active sense to what Paul is saying here. The word fix is active. You have a choice. Fix your thoughts on the things God is calling you to the true, honorable, pure, lovely, admirable, right things in this world. Take your thoughts off of the things that are causing you stress and fix them instead on these things. APPLICATION Fixing our eyes on God starts by changing your source. Because changing your source changes your course. Think about all the messages you re receiving from media and technology and ask yourself: How is this helping me live a better life? Is this helping me be a better spouse? A better parent? A better friend? A better follower of Christ? If the answer is No, I d suggest changing your source so you can begin to change your course. When it comes to what messages you take in, ask yourself: What s true? What s honorable? What s worthy of lifting up? What s right? What s pure? What s uncontaminated? Put your thoughts there. LABS Stress Less Week 4 2018 Live a Better Story, LLC. All rights reserved. Page 13
In our culture this may seem farfetched, but with God, you have the power to move your eyes to something else. You have the power to choose your source and change your course. So let s get really practical with this. What do you need to do? First, I m going to suggest this: Turn of all notifications from your phone. You don t need to know as soon as someone likes your latest photo on Instagram. You don t need an hourly update from your news app. Your phone doesn t have to tell you as soon as you get an email. You don t need to know. Go in once or twice a day and look at what you ve missed, but keep the steady stream of noise from alerting you all the time. Next, try a technology fast. I d suggest giving it up for a week, but even if you only start with a day, give this a try. I think you ll be surprised at just how much relief you feel in staying out of everyone else s oh-so-polished or opinionated media presence for even a day. And finally, change who you follow. Unfollow people who are more negative than positive. Change your source so you can change your course. LANDING I know these things may not be easy, but I do think they re practical steps we can all take to begin to decrease the stress in our daily lives. We all need more people and things in our lives that encourage us to fix our thoughts on what s true, what s honorable, what s right, what s pure, what s lovely, what moves you toward love, what s admirable. We need more of those things coming into our lives and minds so that more of those things will flow out of us as well. This world needs people who are overflowing with that in a world filled with negativity. So start by changing your source. Because changing your source changes your course. LABS Stress Less Week 4 2018 Live a Better Story, LLC. All rights reserved. Page 14