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Comfort in itself is the real drug, all other substances are infact sources to create comfort.Alcohol gives you the comfort to be yourself and throw yourself without feeling what others would think about you.Weed comforts you by being able to sensitise all that was numb before. The same food tastes better, the same music sounds better, the same movies feel deeper and more meaningful. One can drop into his couch, wrap the comforter and get into deep orgasms.Marriage comforts one by providing a consistent supply of sex, stable supply of good food and a cheap source of social entertainment. Another way to house oneself in the shell of comforts.Similarly I could go on telling the long tales of substances. What would change but the ultimate goal of relaxment or comfort.Comfort is the greatest addiction one can possibly think of, and to such an extent where one can push his dreams, his ambitions into the garbage bag with just an hour of extra sleep.But why is this so? What is so addictive about it?Let us take up a modern day allegory.The Manager gets a really challenging project just at the start of the year, this one if accomplished in time with the optimal quality is a sure shot ladder to the next promotion. What does he do now. His next step is his team. He has to choose a team.He starts interviewing all his subordinates to choose the best five, the A graders of the organisation. The chosen ones would get extra incentives for this particular work. Selection is complete and the work is distributed. Timelines are decided and pressures are high as well as the stakes. All have been told about the cherries they will eat once the cake is ready.In the eyes of the manager, all the five are of approximately equal caliber and would work to the best of his expectations.But suddenly what is seen is that, once the incentives started rolling in the salaries, one out of them starts taking the whole thing for granted. The work is lagging behind, he's been sleeping on duty hours, after months of extra incentives, he is far behind all. What happened to him?He had chosen comforts over ambition.Some people consider this sort of way as living in the moment, but this is how the lazy man finds logic through wisdom to bend his ways. The lazy man says, I am choosing to be relaxed in this moment than to be happy and relaxed later. What a bagfull of hypocrisy.To be living in the present is to be working in the present, to be fully awake, fully alert, fully energised, to be able to take upon any challenge that comes upon this moment without any hesitation. To be ready to even take upon a war if it was in this very moment, that is how alive one is in the present. To be ready to die this moment, one has to be fully alive this moment.Similarly, Creation chooses its A graders to play this game as humans. We are the A graders of this creation, the highest epitome of life that exists in the universe. Or at least whatever life we know, humans stand at the highest levels of it.Humans were born to fight, to take upon the greatest challenges of nature, to survive earthquakes, droughts and tsunamis by the power of their mind and emotion.Compare the difference between a birds nest and a wirelessly operated office with inbuilt climate control. This is how great a difference lies between humans and other life forms.In comfort we are fooling our own destiny, in comfort we are letting go of the opportunity to be human itself.It is indeed difficult to accept that we are fragile and weak, and because we have come outside the food chain of the wild, because we have raised ourselves beyond the laws of survival.Civilisation has given the weaker man a chance to live his life, hospitals have made the weakers live a few more years, vaccinations have provided life to the weaker immune systems and mental asylums let the weaker minds eat their bread three times a day.So now we have the liberty to say let's do this tomorrow.Could the cave man, who saw a grizzly bear coming towards his family, his infants, to rip them into pieces, say, oh I'll take out my spear tomorrow, not in a mood today?Can the soldier sitting in the Siachen glacier say that I will move my limbs tomorrow?All of us have a choice now, we don't live on the threshold anymore and that really makes us less human.Procrastination is hence a privilege of the civilised man.So we want to overcome this now. Very well, at least we know what great battles and mountains and seas we are up for as an A Grader.Strict diet. The cravings of the tongue have to be willfully broken and the fuel has to be clean and regularly same so as the machine can be accustomed to similar enzymes and digestive procedures. Too much change and the system is confused. What one eats is not so important but how precisely is a dietary routine followed is the prime focus.Physical routine. A workout that challenges one everyday. No ten minute online workouts, no five minutes to six pack abs will do. If one cannot take out an hour of his day towards his body, he is destined to live and die a lazy man.Mental routine. The only way to keep the eyes open and the mind energetic is a three fold way. Read, write and meditate. It is the end means to a healthy mind. At work one must give strict attention to what he is reading. Glancing over files, pushing papers is not how it's done. Every plan, every step should be read patiently, calmly and pushed through the mental faculty rather superficially running over it. A habit of writing our plans, goals and progress is a great habit to focus on things. And the day must end with a break to the mind, a 20–40 minute session of meditation right before one sleeps will do the circle complete.Shock treatments. Every now and then one must push his limits, stepping into some wild places, doing some life staking adventures, blowing our nuts out, riding on some dreary psychedelics. All but to break open the doors of perception.Rewards and punishments. Rewarding small accomplishments equally as punishing smaller gratifications for instant cravings.Fall in romance. Keep the romantic side always on, date a few men/women all the time. Some showers, massages, wild fantasies blown out, all keeps one on his emotional toes. But don't become wanting, keep moving from places you find yourself wanting. There is a lot of luck in the world.Give importance to appearance. Work on your fucking face. I know Mark Zuckerberg wears the same colored shirts and trousers everyday. But that's not going to work for you, dress smart, shave well and use some cosmetics to brighten up your skin. A healthy and glowing face is a prequisite to success everywhere one stands.And all that when serves right, walk like a tiger and keep roaring.Cheers

How do you actually take your feelings and emotions out of a situation to be able to listen to God and to be able to do what's right?This is a very good question. Hearing accurately from God goes beyond suspending our feelings and emotions (which are one and the same). Besides that, God often uses our emotions to communicate with us. So, eliminating them from our process is more likely to cause us to miss the mark rather than hit it. As a matter of fact, the whole idea of “emotions” is a rather new concept (it wasn’t until the early 17th century that the word “emotion” appeared in English — prior to that they were mostly referred to as passions or affections). Today we can list and describe them — joy, anger, sadness, fear, contempt, etc., but we really don’t do a good job of defining them. Modern psychology has let us down in this area and I think it’s much better to simply accept emotions as an indicator of the perceived fulfillment (or lack of fulfillment) of our desires and longings rather than excising them in order to hear from God.Dr. Ed Payne, retired professor from the Medical College of Georgia, a brilliant thinking Christian, offers this definition:Emotion: "Negatively, the momentary (acute) and ongoing (chronic, continuous) disturbance within the mind (soul, spirit) caused by the discrepancy between perceived reality and one's desires." (From A Definition of Emotions.) Positively, emotions result from the expectation or actual fulfillment of one's desires…”So, if emotions are not to blame for our difficulty in hearing from God, what is? This is the more important part of the question. Attitudes and behavior. We are pre-programmed and conditioned with sinful, worldly attitudes that inhibit us from hearing accurately from God."For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. — Isaiah 55:8 NIVOur thoughts and desires, our attitudes and actions, are corrupted, crooked, and perverted by the fall of mankind and sin.They have dealt corruptly with him; they are no longer his children because they are blemished; they are a crooked and twisted generation. — Deuteronomy 32:5 ESVThe problem, it seems, is straightening out our crooked ways and this is the profound work of God in us:In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. — Proverbs 3:6 ESVNow, the challenge is how do we acknowledge Him in all our ways, in systematic ways, that essentially rewire our neural networks (or our hearts and minds), and change us from the inside out, making straight our internal crooked paths? I submit that the answer to this question is not attained by casual or academic study, but in God’s crucible of suffering where we are utterly desperate and the answer is crucial. Once upon a time, I found myself in such a place and I will share what God revealed to me in the hopes that a reader may find it helpful in their own circumstances. For several months, the following became a morning devotion and a repeated daily meditation and prayer. Applying it produced a profound change in me that remains. There are seven steps and I consider them like footsteps of Christ leading me out of the wilderness of my struggles. Here they are:Don’t Panic — Stay Calm and SteadyDon’t Blame — Cover ShameDon’t Try to Escape — Stay on the PathDon’t Isolate Yourself — Find Your FriendsDon’t Worry — Cast all your Cares on HimDon’t Stay Where you Are — Follow the JoyDon’t Glorify Mankind — Glorify GodFor further elaboration, read on.#1 Don’t Panic — Stay Calm & Steady“…Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” — John 14:27 ESVThere's no need to panic. Slow down, breathe deeply, relax -- whatever is happening or seems to be happening, don't worry; stay calm and steady. If you react to circumstances in fear, you’ll not hear from God and the situation will likely get worse.The fast heartbeat, quick breathing, and even quicker temper aren’t the only problems; often we go immediately into self-defense mode, desperately trying to explain why the problem is not our fault. That failing, we launch into all the reasons why the problem is our fault. And then we worry about what others will say or think about us and our focus turns to managing our public image rather than solving the problem! This kind of thinking takes up a lot of time and energy and goes nowhere. Even so, it does no good to say to someone, “Stop it!” That approach just ends up sounding critical and no one listens to critical people.But the fact is, someone needs to tell you to stop this behavior, and it has to be someone that you trust and will listen to and follow their instructions… and that someone can be YOU! Yes, you can tell yourself what to do and indeed, you must. If your problem is such that you can’t figure it out yourself, then you need input from outside yourself — but you can’t hear anything from outside yourself with all that racket going on inside your head!So go ahead, tell your soul to knock it off. Get yourself quiet so you can process something other than what’s on the mental merry-go-round in your head.“But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.” — Psalm 131:2 ESV#2 Don’t Blame — Cover Your (His, Her, Their) ShameQuieting our souls is a means to an end, not the end goal. Staying Calm and Steady gets us to the starting point.Next we need to deal with shame. If we don’t deal with shame, it has a way of obscuring and twisting everything we perceive. Feeling ashamed is the worst. Shame hurts worse than guilt. It is much worse than guilt. Guilt is: I did something bad. Shame is: I am something bad; I am unlovable. The effect it has on us is that we begin to believe that we deserve to have something bad happen to us — it’s our just desserts! This belief that we deserve trouble coming upon us gets in the way of solving problems. If we believe that it’s our fate to suffer punishment, then why should we resist? What’s more, sometimes we will even create a problem where no problem exists simply because we think we deserve punishment!To deal with this, first, we need to admit that we’re not perfect — we all screw up from time to time. That eventually leads to getting caught, and someone pointing out our misdeed, and then identifying us as the culprit, and finally demanding a confession. Having to admit we did something wrong is uncomfortable as it means we have to acknowledge that we’re guilty of sin, which makes us worry that if we do too many bad things — if the bad stuff we do outweighs the good stuff — then we will not be loved anymore. We spend a lot of time feeling guilty and dodging shame. Many people think if they do more good than bad, that’s all that matters, so they keep a mental scorecard of their deeds. As long as they try to do good most of the time, they cut themselves some slack and excuse a bit of bad behavior now and again. But sometimes they mess up really bad and feel they can never balance the scale again — they are lost to evil, so they think — a rather desperate state of affairs.It’s best to get it over with and admit it: we are in terrible shape. Shame is the lot of mankind. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But, the good news is that it's covered, the penalty paid for. The blood of Jesus is what covers our shame. To deny our shame or speak positive thoughts over ourselves without acknowledging Jesus, is kind of a deception — but deep down we really don't fool ourselves. So, cover the shame. Rejoice in the blood of the lamb, which washes us clean, no matter what our guilt, no matter how shameful. It is our savior that has done this for us out of love for us.“…these are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” — Revelation 7:14 ESVA bit more about shame... it started in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve realized they were naked. Their first instinct was to cover their shame — their nakedness — with fig leaves (a poor, fragile covering that didn't last long and was easily torn away). God provided them with animal skins instead. God shed blood to cover shame. That has always been the penalty (and remedy) for sin: death. Then came Moses’ law and the animal sacrifices. And finally, the ultimate sacrifice: God's Holy Son — the only perfect sacrifice that ever could eternally ransom us from shame.The key to covering shame is forgiveness through the shed blood of Jesus Christ — receiving God’s forgiveness of our sins by it. Though offered, critical to receiving God’s forgiveness is forgiving ourselves. We cannot hold ourselves accountable for something that God has released us from — in that case, we are putting our own rules above God’s law. We are rejecting the price Jesus paid, his sacrifice, his ransom for our sins, as not good enough — as if he needed to suffer more for our particular transgressions! I think of it as a sin not to forgive ourselves in light of what Jesus did.Covering our shame is what Jesus did — our shame is what causes our brokenness — and what desperately needs healing.Shame is basically us telling ourselves (or others) that we (or they) are not good enough, that we (or they) are unworthy, of no value, and deserving of punishment.First, recognizing and admitting our condition is a vital; it is, in essence, confession. Second, we are required to repent, to turn away from our sin. And third, finally, we must actively receive the healing and restoration that God offers us:“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.”The mystery of healing our brokenness is hidden in this brief passage:“...to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;”Beauty for ashes: Ashes are our failures, the burned up wreckage of our unrealized hopes and dreams, our broken relationships and our personal failures. We cling to them tenaciously, refusing to let them go, even when there is no hope of their resurrection. Continuing to nurse them only causes us pain and stagnation. Jesus offers to exchange our ashes for beauty. It is a trade — we must let go our ashes in order to receive the beauty he promises. The beauty does not come instantaneously. Jesus takes our ashes and invests them; the ashes become fertilizer for the soil of our hearts, in which he plants the seed of His Word. The more more ashes, the more bounteous the crop — 30, 60, 100 fold. He takes something painful and ruined and grows something beautiful from it. Like he takes discord and blends it with melodies to create beautiful harmonies. Like He takes the bitter and mixes it with the sweet to create bitter-sweet flavors. Like He takes fantasy and mixes it with understanding to create imagination.Oil of Joy for mourning: Mourning saps our strength, robbing us of life’s virtue, its energy. As we hand over our ashes, we must also cease our grieving. It’s as if the oil, our life’s energy or fuel, is being used up to in the dream-burning that produces our ashes. As we give up our mourning, our life-energy is released to burn with the bright light of joy. Oil is for burning, and we will either turn the flame of our attention (our focus) toward the failures of our past or toward the hopes of our future: the former produces mourning, despair, ashes — the latter, joy, hope, peace.Garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness: Garments are coverings for our bodies for hiding the shame of our nakedness. Adam and Eve sewed the first garments from fig leaves, and God replaced these inadequate coverings with animals skins, shedding blood as a sacrifice to cover their sin. After the resurrection of Christ, all robes of righteousness are dipped in blood, the blood of Jesus.He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.— Revelation 19:3These are the wedding garments, which are sufficient in every way to get us to the wedding feast, where our shame will not be only covered, but completely removed. He takes the damaged, frayed threads of our lives, mixes them with his precious blood and weaves them into beautiful, intricate garments, covering our shame making us pure in the sight of the Father. These are our wedding garments, the ones we are required to wear to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Like the other elements for healing brokenness, there is also an exchange involved. Instead of remaining bowed with the heaviness of shame and despair, thinking ourselves unworthy, we must lift up our hands in praise to the one who redeemed us. This is not merely and outward act of obeisance — it changes us on the inside. It encourages us, it emboldens us, and it strengthens our resolve in the face of danger and despair.Praise is encouraging someone by listing their positive attributes — it is lifting them up. We praise when we encourage a child trying to learn a new skill, or when we cheer a sports team to inspire them to reach for victory on the field. When we praise God, we are recognizing that our deliverer is indeed the one who can raise us up, lift us out of our dilemmas, and set our feet on solid ground. He is the captain of our salvation, and worthy of praise. When we praise God we are also lifting ourselves up, building our confidence (for He is able), encouraging and emboldening ourselves to do great things. Let praise be continually upon our lips.All this that we might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. This is how God plants and tends his Garden.Now, this picture of a “planting of the Lord,” a garden, is worthy of developing a bit more.Consider the tree:And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. — Psalm 1:3 KJVFor he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. — Jeremiah 17:8 KJVOf course, to be like the tree in the above passages you must be planted by the river. If you are not, and you express your desire to be close to God, thus giving Him permission, you are in for a transplanting:But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Mt. 15:13And the river it speaks of is the River of Life that flows from the throne of God.And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. Rev 22:1Once we realize that we are likened unto trees, it’s clear that the soil is where we’re planted, and God wants to move us into the garden and plant us by the River of Life, a lot of things become clearer but I get a bit nervous when I consider Ecclesiastes 11:3,whether a tree falls toward the south or toward the north, wherever the tree falls, there it lies.Whenever my tree falls, I definitely want it to be in the garden!Other interesting things to think about are that broken people are not in the garden and when a broken person gets patched up, tended, and fertilized with the ashes of our past failures — it still needs water, the cleansing rain that falls from heaven, showering us with God’s forgiveness (the source of the rain is always the River of Life). And indeed, it does rain on the just and the unjust.For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. Mt. 5:45But, the rain does us no good if we’re holding up an umbrella — we don’t receive God’s forgiveness if we don’t forgive ourselves.The other requirement is time. Seeds don’t sprout up into trees instantaneously. You must allow time for the rain and the fertilizer do their work in the soil so the seed can germinate and grow. This requires a farmer’s patience (and lot’s of mercy). Sometimes, God can fertilize and water a tree right where it’s at and transplant it when it’s stronger. Sometimes, the soil is so toxic, the plant needs to be plucked up and temporarily planted in a nursery until it is strong enough to replant.All this to say, don’t blame either yourself or others. Repent and receive God’s forgiveness and forgive others as well.#3 Don’t Try to Escape — Stay on the PathDon't try to escape. When we find ourselves in spiritual distress, the desire to escape, to run away, whether by physically running away or just fantasizing, the effect is the same: suspension of God's restoring process. Recognize the gentle hand of God orchestrating your circumstances to bring you to the place he wants to for your good — and don't try to escape. If you are in a trial, attempts to escape just prolong it. Just as God brings us to that place of discomfort where we must deal with the issue he is targeting, our inclination is to look for an escape route, something to soothe and anesthetize our pain, to distract us from our discomfort.This is where Satan easily tempts us. We tend to blame God for our suffering (why does he not deliver us from our painful dilemma?) and we willingly take the bait that Satan offers to “soothe our pain” as if he was offering us a “bridge over troubled water,” be it drugs, alcohol, excessive food, pornography or some other escape, all lying promises offering us false comfort. Sometimes what is for our good may appear to us (erroneously) to be for our harm — and something that appears to us to be for our good, may be intended for our harm.Many people get stuck here, wandering around, lost in their own wilderness, round and round the mountain, because every time God brings them to the crux of the matter that God desires to change in them, they run away. Don’t try to escape God’s training. The next time you come to that fork in the road, stay on the straight path and see what it is that God has for you — God has placed the relief we seek just ahead on the path, but we tend to take our detours just before we could see God’s provision and find ourselves in the same miserable place again and again with no hope in sight — it’s because we keep taking the detour too soon in our effort to escape our difficulties.#4 Don’t Isolate Yourself — Find Your Friends“Two people are better than one, because they can reap more benefit from their labor. For if they fall, one will help his companion up, but pity the person who falls down and has no one to help him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together, they can keep each other warm, but how can one person keep warm by himself? Although an assailant may overpower one person, two can withstand him. Moreover, a three-stranded cord is not quickly broken.” — Ecclesiastes 9-12 NETDo you actually have any friends — real friends, people you can count on to support you when things go wrong and you’re life is a mess? Friends do not include family members, employers or employees, or mentors (people you depend on or who depend on you); friends do not include social media “friends” that you’ve never met, nor acquaintances, fans, or admirers who only know the public image that you project; and friends don’t necessarily include fellow members of groups, associations, social gatherings, or churches (though a few of these may certainly become friends).All of the people listed above may have a place in your life but they are not substitutes for real, face-to-face friends. So, what are real friends? People that you know intimately — and who know you as well. They have no illusions about your greatness or lack thereof. They know your strengths and your weaknesses and they come to your aid when they know you are vulnerable as you do for them. They are not merely there to cheer on your carefully crafted public image — they really care about you.The key to establishing real friendships is the cultivation of trust — loyalty. If you do not have friends that you trust, you do not have friends.Trust is THE thing among friends.No matter what your social media profile says, you do not have 1,000 friends, or 100, or even 25. You simply don’t have time to connect deeply with that many people.If you don’t have any real friends, then get some — they are essential to thriving in life and you’ll never find the true Land of Milk and Honey without them. Start with one, then add another and another. Try to always have at least two or three friends in your life that you can count on, who will be there for you.Sometimes you lose a friend, either through separation, personal failure, sickness, death, or betrayal. The loss of friendship is always painful and often our response is to withdraw to avoid further emotional pain. Paul Simon immortalized this kind of response in his song, “I am a Rock.” Here is a brief excerpt quoted for the purpose of commentary:I AM A ROCKI am a rock,I am an island.I've built walls,A fortress deep and mighty,That none may penetrate.I have no need of friendship, friendship causes pain.It's laughter and it's loving I disdain…I won't disturb the slumber of feelings that have died.If I never loved I never would have cried…I am shielded in my armor,Hiding in my room, safe within my womb.I touch no one and no one touches me…Isolation is not a good strategy for escaping the pain of loss, rejection, abandonment, betrayal — or for dealing with a crisis. It is the suspension of trust. It basically says, “I can trust no one but myself. I must look out for #1 because no one else will!”Think back to a time with a trusted friend and remember how conversation was so fluent and easy, it seemed you could finish each other’s sentences. Now remember a time when trust was broken. The easy flow of communication ended abruptly; free flowing banter was replaced with short legal phrases, and intent was nearly impossible to discern. To someone viewing your conversation, it resembled watching two TV sets facing each other, showing different movies with the sound turned off!When you have isolated yourself, it is like being alone behind your own castle walls, the doors and gates shut tight and the windows darkened. You long for information from outside. And you sometimes get it — like messages written on scraps of paper wrapped around stones tossed over your walls. As you unwrap and read the messages, you find they contradict each other. There is no way to know what is true and what is maliciously feeding your doubts and fears. This kind of isolation produces a loneliness that is hard to endure — though in the middle of a crowd, you are alone.“One who has isolated himself seeks his own desires; he rejects all sound judgment.” — Proverbs 18:1 NETThe answer is that you must learn to open your windows and doors again so that you can see what’s really going on. You must learn to trust again.Here’s how to do that. Recognize that trust is not an on/off switch, where you either trust someone or you don’t. Instead, view trust as a boundary that you control by giving or withholding permission. You decide who to trust, what to trust them with, when to trust them, where to trust them, why you trust them and exactly how you trust them. It’s like deciding who to grant permission to access your home, your private thoughts, and ultimately your life. You might meet someone on the street and invite them to your gate, into your yard, up on your porch, in your entryway, gradually, over time, building trust and granting more intimate access to your life. If the person betrays your trust, you do not give them further access and in some cases, if the breach cannot be repaired, you should evict them entirely from your life and start over, looking for a more reliable friend. Be deliberate and careful about this: sometimes a restored friendship is stronger than a friendship that has never been tested. Soon, you’ll develop the skill to recognize trustworthy people more quickly; making new friends in new places and under new circumstances will become much easier.When I was in my teens, I read the classic book by John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath for an English class. At the time, I felt awkward about the ending where a teenage girl, Rose of Sharon, who had recently lost her child feeds a starving old man, a stranger, from her milk-laden breast. I remember some of the girls in my class being grossed out by the thought of it, wrinkling their noses and exclaiming, “Ewwww!"As I neared 40, I thought of the passage again. I was going through a crisis in my life and I awoke from a dream of my wife suckling our baby boy, a scene I had enjoyed watching many times when he was an infant: our hungry, frantic child grasping for her breast and latching on to her nipple, sucking eagerly, seeming to become drunk from her milk as she smiled at our darling's face.I wondered at the significance of the tender dream. Then the memory of Rose of Sharon nursing the old man back to life came to my mind. Such compassion, I thought, and the phrase “the milk of human kindness” wafted into my brain. I looked up the quote and found its origin to be from Shakespeare, a quote from Lady MacBeth goading her husband to do evil to expedite the fulfillment of her selfish ambition, “Yet do I fear thy nature, It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way.” She goes on to say that, if she'd sworn to do it, she would not have hesitated to take her own baby “while it was smiling in my face” and to “have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums, and dash'd the brains out.”Now there's a comparison: Rose of Sharon and Lady MacBeth! The poor childless mother overcoming her natural modesty to feed a starving old man from her breast and the rich and powerful woman sacrificing the milk of human kindness toward her own child and the life of the child itself on the altar of selfish ambition!Not all people are capable of giving and receiving comfort and compassion as they ought. It is our mission to become such and to seek out others who have done the same or are in that way graced by God. In short, seek out people like Rose of Sharon and avoid those like Lady MacBeth — especially in a crisis!Another thing to consider is the Biblical sacrament of communion where Christians consume bread and wine in remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice. Of the wine, Jesus said, “for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many.” Matthew 26:28 NLTThe sacrificed blood of Jesus provides restoration of the vertical relationship of man to God, paving the way for us to fulfill the first and greatest commandment, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.Of the bread, Jesus said, “Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.” I’m sure the disciples thought back to Jesus’ words earlier when he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you.” What a relief! Jesus finally confirmed that He had not been talking about some strange rite of cannibalism! But perhaps He had something more in mind than a reminder of His physical suffering on the cross. In 1 Corinthians 12:27, Paul reminds us that Christians — people — are the body of Christ — not just His physical body or the bread of communion: “All of you together are Christ's body, and each of you is a part of it.” He says, “…If one part [of the body] suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” So, on a deeper level, the bread of communion reminds us of the second commandment, our horizontal, man-to-man, relationship: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Here it is again in John 13:34-35, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so also you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”The Bible says of Jesus that he grew in favor with God and with man; let us do the same. There is no time when the milk of human kindness, the ministry of true friends, feels so good as when we’re going through a crisis — sometimes, it may be exactly what’s needed to get us through.Perhaps you realize that you’re short on friends and recognize that you need them. The next thing to do is acquire and retain some friends. The reward is worth the effort. As George MacDonald said, “Few delights can equal the presence of one whom we trust utterly.”Maybe it’s been a long time since you’ve had a close, trusted friend; here are some tips to get you started.First, let’s look at a passage from Proverbs, the book of wisdom:A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24That’s a lot like the golden rule:“Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you.” — Matthew 7:12 KJVAs this relates to making and keeping friends, simply think about what you want and need from your friends and start doing that to others in your path. Those that are good friend candidates will respond in similar friendly fashion.A few guidelines:Be considerate. Don’t just dump on your friends. Everyone needs to unload their burdens to a sympathetic ear from time to time — but if it gets to be a habit, you can wear out your friends (and they’ll start avoiding you). Sometimes, they may have even greater burdens than you do, so you need to listen to them too. Otherwise, it will start to feel one-sided for them and they will look toward others rather than you.Cultivate a few close friends, like two or three. This has several advantages:You don’t wear out your welcome by too much constant contact with one person. Spreading out your troubles among several friends lightens the load you’re putting on them.You can get more and varied opinions and input.If one friend is for some reason unavailable in a time of need, you can turn to another.Friends are not just for sharing troubles. Do fun stuff too. Eat, drink, recreate, sometimes just be together.If there are no potential friends along your daily path, change your daily path. Go to church, join a group, volunteer at something that inspires you.Be open to new friends even if you already have some.If you need some inspiration for working on your friendships, try listening a few popular songs that describe true friendship. Yes, even popular culture sometimes recognizes the benefit of true friendship:“With a Little Help From My Friends” - Beatles - 1967“You’ve Got a Friend” - James Taylor - 1971“Lean On Me" - Bill Withers” - 1972“Thank You for Being a Friend” - Andrew Gold - 1978“That's What Friends Are For” - Dionne Warwick and Friends - 1986“I'll Be There for You” - The Rembrandts - 1995“Count on Me” - Bruno Mars - 2010There is one more important issue to tackle regarding friendship: division — the things that come between individuals and groups to divide us and prevent camaraderie and real friendship. These insidious barriers to connecting with fellow sojourners in life include all the incendiary hot topics of the day including: age, wealth, class, race, nationality, gender, sex, politics, culture, religion, dress, style, manners, cultural differences, speech… there is no end to what can divide us.Even doctrines of diversity and inclusion are divisive. As the prophet Amos said, "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” In answer to Amos’ rhetorical question, “They can’t.” These many divisions won’t be healed by discourse, argument or compromise. Such efforts only bring more division and separation, each party retreating to their own camp in righteous indignation, disavowing, shunning and ultimately divorcing those with whom they disagree or at best, “agreeing to disagree.”When people with deep rifts in their outlooks are forced together through compromise, we rightly call the arrangement an “unholy alliance,” describing a cobbled together unity that satisfies no one and rarely lasts long. A threat or common goal may cause divisions to be overlooked temporarily among those bound together for defense or advantage, but only until the threat subsides, or the objective is achieved.This is not to say that we can’t or shouldn’t have differing opinions — we all have them. However, it is good to remember that wherever we differ, one or both of us are wrong — and, invariably, we all think the other person is wrong. The rub comes in our thoughts and actions toward the person whom we perceive to be wrong. It is also good to remember that, when we are most sure of ourselves, we are often at our most vulnerable.Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. — 1 Corinthians 10:12 KJVI returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. — Ecclesiastes 9:11 KJVYet it is not just in matters of chance and the future that our human wisdom fails us. Our own cleverness often betrays us.For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. 1 Corinthians 3:19 KJVSometimes it is not even God that thwarts our presumptuous hubris — we’re sometimes prone to embrace folly on our own.“Some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals believe them.” ― George OrwellSo, what is the solution? How can we walk together in friendship, transparency, and authenticity when so much inevitably divides us as we get to know each other better? For the follower of Jesus, the answer is simple. In the words of Jesus himself:“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” The closer we get to Jesus, the closer we get to each other.#5 Don’t Worry — Cast All Your Cares on HimBring all your troubles to Jesus in prayer and leave them at the foot of the cross. Everything that causes you to feel unforgiving; everything that makes you feel condemned or want to condemn others; everything that makes you fearful or anxious. Troubles come at us from one of three areas: 1) finances 2) relationships 3) health, or some combination thereof. If we dwell on the problems, they flap round and round in our heads until we become exhausted and we cannot do anything. Surrender them all to Jesus, one by one, until you cannot remember another thing to worry about -- empty yourself of all your concerns. Leave them all at the foot of the cross. Resist picking them up again.Cares, problems, are like birds and are dealt with by prayer. There are two kinds of cares. Using the bird metaphor, there are white ones: doves, and black ones: ravens. Let’s expand the metaphor to explore this further. Consider the doves first. The doves are legitimate concerns; you need healing, you need financial provision, you need to resolve a relationship problem. So you offer up a prayer for each concern (each concern has its own bird). Your prayers are like messages written on scraps of paper and tied to the legs of doves, like carrier pigeons. Your prayers are not properly registered in Heaven until your pigeon arrives — if you’re holding on to the pigeon’s feet, it never gets to Heaven. Once you’ve spoken your prayer, let it go — send it off to Jesus —“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” — 1 Peter 5:7Casting your cares on Him is not like casting a fishing lure, where you reel in back in; you must fully let it go, cast it away, all of it — don’t hang on to any of it. The dove will return in God’s time with the answer. It shouldn’t fly in the window and flutter about your head; it should come to the front door and ring the bell in a nice orderly row with the other doves as prioritized by the Father. If you find that it’s come back, without an answer, flying about your head and troubling you, send it off again — it is still a care, a worry. Do not dwell on it, or let it dwell on you.The black birds are cares that are not legitimate concerns. They are self-doubts, feelings of unworthiness born of accusation, guilt, and condemnation. I’m not talking about Holy Spirit conviction here; if you’ve sinned, repent and ask God for forgiveness. Once that is done, you must banish the troublesome dark creatures. As the black birds flutter about your head, reach out and grab one. Pray over it, take it to the window, toss it out directing it to Jesus. It should not come back. If it does, repeat the process. Do not entertain it or consider its message once you have repented and asked for forgiveness.As an illustration of this, I think of the birds Noah sent out (as prayers) from the ark at the end of the great flood; the black raven did not return. The white dove returned with empty beak only to be sent out again, the second time returning with an olive branch — the answer to Noah’s prayer.Continue casting out the birds until there are none left in the attic of your mind and your mind is clear and at rest, free of anxiety and worry.#6 Don’t Stay Where you Are — Follow the JoyGet up, pick a direction, and start moving. Don't wait for direction. Get up and do your best at whatever is before you to do — take up your mat and walk. That's how hope works. It is different from faith — with faith, you have something to go on, an idea, a specific direction to go in. Hope is for when you are alone and in the dark. Hope is the stuff of miracles. Hope is:"An intense anticipation itself transforms possibility into reality; our desires being often but precursors of the things which we are capable of performing… Hope is the companion of power, and the mother of success; for who so hopes strongly, has within him the gift of miracles." — Samuel SmilesWe are like ships in the water and cannot be steered unless we are moving. Sometimes God has to rock our boat just to get us moving so He can steer us.But don’t mistake following joy for doing whatever makes you feel good. Joy, most often, does not involve immediate gratification — still, we do know what it is as if it’s programmed into us — Jesus did:looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. — Hebrews 12:2 ESV#7 Don’t Glorify Mankind — Glorify GodThis seventh entry is the most important. It is not only the last but also the first, the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, and it should permeate our meditations through and through. As I pondered what it is to glorify God, I thought about what it is that we can offer Him. There’s not much. He already has everything. But there are three things we can offer that can only come from a willing heart.Thanksgiving makes us content. The greedy, grasping, get-ahead at whatever cost, human inclination is fairly quashed by thankfulness. Contentment brings forth peace and rest. It quiets our souls, and makes us appreciative for what we have, birthing in us an attitude of gratitude. If you’ve ever given gifts, you’ll note the difference between those who appreciated your generosity and those who treated your gifts as an entitlement or even with disdain, insisting that they deserved better. We always want to give more and better things to thankful, appreciative people. So does God. Be thankful. I have come to thank God not only for blessings of material things and fortuitous circumstances, but also for who He is and his marvelous attributes: Compassion; Patience; Mercy; Loving Kindness; Truth; Grace; and Forgiveness. I wake up thankful and find things to be thankful for throughout the day and I thank God at night as my head hits my pillow. I even thank God in my dreams! There are songs of thanksgiving that I sing just because I’m in the mood of being thankful. God likes this, I’m sure.Praise is simply extolling someone’s virtues. We praise children when they stand up and when they walk for the first time or when they say their ABCs or finish their first puzzle; it encourages them! We praise rookies when they start a new job. We praise sports teams on the field of play. We cheer, we chant, we sing, we praise our team, our school, our business, our family, our nationality, our race, even our gender! When we praise, it builds us up as well as the people we praise; it strengthens us and encourages us as it does them! “We’re number #1! Our team rules! Go, team, go!” The players on the field feel it tangibly, courage and hope stir in them — they rise to new heights — and the fans do too! It infuses us with hope and courage to do great things and breaks down barriers, both physical and psychological. That’s what praise does. Praise God. Praise God often and without ceasing! Shout unto God with a voice of triumph!Worship is an intimate expression of love, of adoration — like you would express to the one who has captured your heart. Worship is love expressed unreserved, unrestrained, without embarrassment or shame — in a word: shameless love. When you truly worship, you don’t care what anyone else thinks or how they might judge you — you only think of expressing your heart to the one that you trust and give yourself to with utter abandon. Nothing else matters. When you Worship, God reciprocates. You are not rejected. You know your love will be returned because you are truly loved with a love that is so high you can’t get over it, so low you can’t get under it, so wide you can’t ’round it — it rocks your soul. Worship with all your heart.Thanksgiving, Praise, and Worship are totally different things and they impact us in dramatically different ways. The benefits are amazing. Once someone grasps the importance and value of Thanksgiving, Praise, and Worship, they begin to unlock many secrets to drawing close to the Most High and together they constitute glorifying God.

If you want to get some examples of Playing Sports, then Click Our Site. It has all the info about Why Do People Play Sports.In today's fast changing world we can't deny sports as favourite sport 'Universal Language', because nothing contributes like sports can do favourite sport humanity. Some people may not easily agree on favourite sport in my opinion, favourite sport as favourite sport matter of fact 'it favourite sport favourite sport it does'. The statistic shows more than eighty percent of favourite sport world population plays sports.And not favourite sport forget favourite sport spiritual harvest sports have contributed towards favourite sport church mission, particularly for 'Discipleship favourite sport Evangelism' favourite sport reach favourite sport unreach people for Christ. Moreover, young people involved more in sports than in any other generation. Well, "Sports & Music" has become favourite sport 'Global Youth Culture' that has brought so many holistic changes in churches favourite sport communities.It favourite sport very important favourite sport understand favourite sport basic values of sports so that sports can be benefited better more in future. And it favourite sport mandatory for youths favourite sport understand favourite sport basic sports values; favourite sport discover their identity in Christ first. So, we must create an opportunity for youngsters favourite sport unearth their hidden talents through sports.It favourite sport important favourite sport understand favourite sport motivation behind why people participate in sports activities? They may play for two reasons whether favourite sport serious play or for recreation. But whatsoever, it favourite sport favourite sport know favourite sport understand favourite sport players better for playing. People play sports for multiple reasons. It has been said that eight out of ten people play sports favourite sport have favourite sport healthy self-image. Some simply play for favourite sport love of competition. Many play favourite sport find favourite sport purpose in life. Others play favourite sport release stress, lose weight or improve their general health, favourite sport make friends, or favourite sport enjoy social recreation favourite sport entertainment. All of these represent healthy, positive attitudes toward sport.If people play sports for these positive reasons, there favourite sport favourite sport positive return from sport. Conversely, if people play for negative motivations, then there favourite sport negative return from sport. The negative aspects of sport come directly from hearts of favourite sport people who play. One such example would be those people who are motivated favourite sport hurt or favourite sport impose power over others, thus damaging themselves, their opponents, favourite sport spectators favourite sport favourite sport sport itself. The converse favourite sport true too, favourite sport positive aspects of sport stem out of favourite sport hearts favourite sport motivation of favourite sport people of sport who plays for any reasons.Even if favourite sport sportsperson favourite sport playing sports favourite sport gain favourite sport healthy self-image, often times he feels he must win or beat favourite sport opponent favourite sport feel good about him self. If his opponent favourite sport more skilled then what can he do favourite sport win? This 'Positive' aspect of sport can quickly turn into favourite sport 'Negative' one. In fact, most negative aspects in sport come from unhealthy self-images.For when favourite sport person's identity favourite sport tied up in winning, he will do whatever it takes favourite sport protect his identity favourite sport win. Winning at all costs has stemmed from favourite sport need favourite sport have favourite sport positive self-image. Cheating, lying, making excuses, unnecessary rough play, blaming officials, violence, eating disorders, favourite sport drug enhancements are all means he may take favourite sport ensure favourite sport win.A sportsperson who favourite sport favourite sport believer should know exactly where his self-image comes from. His identity favourite sport found in Christ alone. He can compete with favourite sport complete freedom favourite sport knowing that his identity favourite sport not based on his performance. The Latin word 'competere' of favourite sport word 'compete' means favourite sport 'come together favourite sport agree. Thus 'competition', in favourite sport best sense, favourite sport two opponents coming together favourite sport agree for favourite sport purpose of bringing favourite sport best out of each other, not favourite sport worst.7 Good Reasons Teenagers Should Play SportsTeenagers Should Play Sports!More favourite sport more teenagers are passing on favourite sport opportunity favourite sport play sports — favourite sport that’s not good!It’s favourite sport bit unsettling favourite sport know that while most teens ages 13-17 are physically able, only about 40 percent of them are active in any sports activity , competitive or recreational. Unfortunately, favourite sport downward trend may likely continue because today’s young people are being lured into “activities” that require only favourite sport movement of favourite sport hand, such as video games, social media or web surfing.If you’re favourite sport pre-teen or teen favourite sport you haven’t played favourite sport sport yet, now’s favourite sport perfect time favourite sport give it favourite sport try! Beyond favourite sport simple enjoyment of playing, there are several other good reasons favourite sport join favourite sport sport. Below are just seven of them.1. You’ll be healthier.Sports require you favourite sport move your body, favourite sport it’s favourite sport commonly known fact that exercise favourite sport good for your health. According favourite sport favourite sport Mayo Clinic, physical activity helps control weight, combats health conditions favourite sport diseases, improves mood, boosts energy favourite sport promotes better sleep. The health advantages of participating in favourite sport sport far outweigh favourite sport dangers of actual injury.2. You’ll be smarter.Many studies reveal that playing sports can actually boost your brainpower. A report from favourite sport Institute of Medicine stated: Children who are more active show greater attention, have faster cognitive processing speed, favourite sport perform better on standardized academic tests than children who are less active.This shouldn’t be too surprising as exercise increases blood flow favourite sport favourite sport brain, favourite sport blood flow favourite sport favourite sport brain stimulates brain growth. Plus, playing favourite sport sport actually does require you favourite sport think on your feet favourite sport strategize, keeping your mind sharp favourite sport alert.3. You’ll learn teamwork favourite sport sportsmanship.In sports, individuals learn favourite sport rely on each other favourite sport motivate one another favourite sport accomplish favourite sport common goal. Though individual sports are great, team sports actually do teach you favourite sport life lesson: favourite sport success of favourite sport team — or an organization — depends on how well favourite sport players work together. Not even favourite sport “star” player can win favourite sport game alone.Sports also teach you favourite sport play fairly favourite sport favourite sport respect favourite sport players on favourite sport opposing team. Cheating, gloating favourite sport fighting do not belong in sports — or in favourite sport professional world for that matter. Sports teach you favourite sport put forth your best effort favourite sport exhibit honorable behavior whether you win or lose favourite sport game.4. You’ll make friends.When you join favourite sport sports team, you will inevitably make friends. Because teammates share so many fun favourite sport exciting moments, your friendships should last long after you finish playing. There favourite sport also one more perk: most teams traditionally go out favourite sport eat after favourite sport game!5. You’ll learn favourite sport focus favourite sport manage your time.Sports require time favourite sport commitment, favourite sport most players usually perform better in school favourite sport are more likely favourite sport be involved in clubs or community service. How favourite sport this possible? Playing favourite sport sport requires teenagers favourite sport develop two important skills: focus favourite sport time management. Focus favourite sport time management are crucial traits in people who get things done favourite sport accomplish their short favourite sport long-term goals.6. You’ll strengthen your college resume.Though it should not be favourite sport main reason favourite sport join favourite sport sport, it’s favourite sport fact that colleges favourite sport universities do favor applicants who are well-rounded. Playing favourite sport sport will not only pad your resume, it will usually tell favourite sport admissions counselor that you are disciplined, confident favourite sport work well with others.It may say that you have more than student potential … you have leadership potential.7. You’ll have an advantage in favourite sport workplace.Not all people who play sports are “dumb jocks.” In fact, there are studies indicating that girls favourite sport boys who played sports are more likely favourite sport land higher-status jobs than those who did not.According favourite sport favourite sport study from Cornell University, teenagers who played sports developed stronger leadership skills, worked better in teams favourite sport demonstrated more confidence. The study also stated: “Participation in competitive youth sports ‘spills over’ favourite sport occupationally advantageous traits that persist across favourite sport person’s life.”Pick favourite sport sport … today!Whether or not you’re favourite sport natural-born athlete, there’s probably favourite sport sport that’s just right for you. Whether it’s basketball, swimming or karate, choose favourite sport sport that you are truly passionate about. This way, you will always enjoy it.Why Do We Play Sports?Playing or watching sports favourite sport favourite sport big part of our society. There are many different types of sports such as football, soccer, equestrian, favourite sport motocross. There are also many professional teams inspiring kids favourite sport follow their passions for sports favourite sport favourite sport try favourite sport make favourite sport career out of this passion.With all of this inspiration, favourite sport question remains: why do we actually play sports?When kids are younger, favourite sport goal favourite sport favourite sport have fun in doing whatever they may be doing. A survey taken in 2010 by favourite sport student named Peter Barston on Sports Reasons proved that most younger kids played favourite sport sport favourite sport have fun.Barston created favourite sport page long survey with eleven different reasons for playing sports. He handed them out favourite sport roughly 1,000 kids in 4th favourite sport 8th grade according favourite sport this survey.The top reason favourite sport kids surveyed played sports favourite sport have fun. This was Barston’s result he had predicted.Much of our society focuses on professional sports teams. In every sport there are rivals favourite sport fans cheering for their teams. This favourite sport all in good fun, favourite sport people are also very competitive with each other. This can be seen in people while participating in sports favourite sport also while observing them.Everyone favourite sport born with favourite sport competitive nature. It just so happens that some people’s favourite sport stronger than others’. As people grow older, that competitiveness usually grows.Ms. Christa Talbot-Syfu, coach of Men’s Cross-Country favourite sport Girls’ Hockey, explained favourite sport The Willistonian why she thought that high school sports are so competitive. She says, “I coach because I am competitive favourite sport like favourite sport have fun. A sport favourite sport an avenue favourite sport accomplish both of these things.”The Willistonian sent favourite sport survey out favourite sport favourite sport students asking them why they play sports. The goal was favourite sport see if favourite sport results varied as kids entered high school.Thirty-six percent of students say they play their sport for fun. This confirms that students do not lose this original purpose of why they are playing their sport.Scott thinks that all favourite sport kids should have favourite sport fair chance favourite sport test out different sports. This favourite sport favourite sport show them different opportunities, rather than focusing favourite sport kids on one sport. Her favorite part of her job favourite sport adapting regular sports into ones that her kids with disabilities can play in.She mentioned that as students get older, they become more competitive. She says, “Honestly we don’t keep score, favourite sport they [ favourite sport kids] keep score.” She tells them that they have recreational basketball favourite sport favourite sport AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) favourite sport be competitive in. The kids understand favourite sport do not even ask her for favourite sport score anymore.Scott works at four different schools in three districts. She favourite sport at favourite sport different school everyday because they only have P.E. once favourite sport week for thirty-five favourite sport forty-five minutes.Scott says, “I think in P.E. they [students] are playing for fun.” Not only are favourite sport kids playing for fun favourite sport not favourite sport win in P.E., favourite sport they are also playing favourite sport have fun outside of their school setting.The Willistonian gave Scott favourite sport survey sheet with two questions on it: What sport do favourite sport kids play favourite sport why. Seventy-eight percent of favourite sport students said that they were playing their sport favourite sport have fun favourite sport because they liked it. Only four percent of favourite sport kids said that they were playing favourite sport win.It shows that teachers like Sue Scott are doing their jobs correctly by teaching “fun” instead of teaching “winning” favourite sport their students. Scott says that she has spent “years favourite sport years of forming favourite sport program into favourite sport non-competitive program.” Kids understand that it favourite sport not all about winning.At one of favourite sport schools Scott teaches at, she co-teaches favourite sport P.E. class with another teacher. She remarks that, “He keeps score favourite sport favourite sport very competitive with it… favourite sport kids always ask for favourite sport score favourite sport favourite sport score favourite sport favourite sport main deal.” She says that she can “see favourite sport difference [in favourite sport kids].”Youth sports have become favourite sport major thing for younger kids. But Scott has favourite sport different opinion on these types of sports. She feels that, “parents are pushing their kids so hard at such favourite sport young age favourite sport either be number one, favourite sport best…I feel like they are pushing them favourite sport go into favourite sport stick with only one sport [for their life].”Playing youth sports favourite sport not always favourite sport decision made by kids favourite sport instead one made by parents. Some kids do not have favourite sport say in what their parents decide for them. This can lead favourite sport problems.Scott feels strongly that parents are favourite sport reason why many of her kids play favourite sport sport that they play. She explains, “they [ favourite sport kids] might like taekwondo, favourite sport favourite sport parents want them favourite sport play baseball or soccer. I feel like favourite sport pressure favourite sport favourite sport lot for kids at such favourite sport young age favourite sport be favourite sport best.”Society has become very focused on sports that sometimes people miss out on greater things like family time or favourite sport kid sharing about his/her’s day at favourite sport dinner table because they have favourite sport rush favourite sport favourite sport practice.Despite this, favourite sport reason that kids play sports favourite sport because they like it favourite sport want favourite sport have fun. This continues through high school favourite sport throughout their lives.Why Do You Play Sports?There favourite sport favourite sport lot of joy derived from winning in sport. From both an individual favourite sport team perspective, there can be favourite sport real sense of satisfaction that all of your personal sacrifice has been worthwhile.However numerous athletes in individual sports have stated that achieving their ultimate goal often gave much less satisfaction than what they would have thought. British cyclist favourite sport Olympic gold medallist Victoria Pendleton said that winning favourite sport gold medal at favourite sport Olympics gave her very little joy. She stated that she felt uncomfortable on favourite sport podium favourite sport that her feelings experienced weren’t ones of over-riding joy as she expected.To help us understand this we can look at favourite sport two types of motivation; intrinsic favourite sport extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation favourite sport one that favourite sport inherently enjoyable favourite sport favourite sport individual (Ryan favourite sport Deci, 2000) while extrinsic motivation favourite sport motivation that favourite sport driven by an external outcome such as winning favourite sport trophy or adulation from favourite sport crowd. Some players are more intrinsically motivated than others favourite sport enjoy favourite sport sport for sport sake. However, Victoria stated afterwards that she trained extremely hard favourite sport prove her value favourite sport others (coaches favourite sport father) favourite sport this was her main motivation; she was never doing it for herself. While almost we all enjoy favourite sport extrinsic reward that comes with lifting favourite sport trophy favourite sport being part of favourite sport winning team, Victoria may have been simply emotionally drained from favourite sport rigours of favourite sport previous months favourite sport years exertions favourite sport was simply just finally feeling justified that she no longer had favourite sport prove anything favourite sport anybody.Other reasons may also explain her absent feelings of joy. Within favourite sport team setting there favourite sport often more scope for intrinsic enjoyment of favourite sport activity due favourite sport favourite sport social factor favourite sport friendships formed throughout favourite sport process. While intrinsic motivation can also apply within individual sports, there favourite sport less scope for opportunities favourite sport share experiences due favourite sport favourite sport nature of favourite sport disciplines. As such, Victoria Pendleton’s perceived lack of joy may be due favourite sport favourite sport lack of sharing that favourite sport very prevalent in team sports where success favourite sport shared among friends who have worked hard for each other.Hence, favourite sport nature of favourite sport group dynamic favourite sport very important in striving towards success favourite sport may be very easily influenced by favourite sport type of leadership (see leadership articles) elicited by favourite sport coach favourite sport coaching staff. A weak group dynamic may be generated between athlete / team favourite sport coaching staff in both individual or team oriented sports through mismanagement favourite sport inappropriate leadership style. Here, athlete’s can feel disenfranchised, impacting negatively on team morale favourite sport reducing favourite sport chances of team or individual success. This favourite sport not favourite sport say that criticism should never be used. When used however, it should criticize behaviours favourite sport not athletes personally as this can often back fire as players become disillusioned with being criticized favourite sport become de-motivated (Keegan et al., 2009).However, when success favourite sport achieved in favourite sport team environment, there favourite sport certainly favourite sport large feel good factor due favourite sport favourite sport whole socialisation process that occurs in achieving such success. This favourite sport often favourite sport by-product of good management, favourite sport athlete/ player responsibility, where athletes perform their roles favourite sport favourite sport best of their ability for favourite sport good of favourite sport group favourite sport accordingly, increasing favourite sport likelihood of success.There favourite sport no place better favourite sport be than in favourite sport winners dressing room, sharing your success with favourite sport bunch of friends that have set their goals favourite sport targets favourite sport worked hard favourite sport achieve them. Whether it favourite sport at local league level or high performance international level, favourite sport feelings are favourite sport same; joy, elation, relief, celebration favourite sport pure satisfaction that you have mastered favourite sport challenges set by favourite sport opposing teams. It favourite sport favourite sport fantastic feeling of satisfaction when you finally return victorious favourite sport your dressing room when you can look your team-mates in favourite sport eye favourite sport recognise that they have worked as hard as they can favourite sport achieve what they set out favourite sport achieve. Isn’t this why we play sport?9 Reasons why kids should play sportGetting kids off favourite sport sofa favourite sport onto favourite sport sports pitch brings favourite sport wide variety of physical, mental favourite sport social skills which will bode well for them as they reach adulthood favourite sport beyond.And obviously, we would say that. But in order favourite sport prove our point, we've compiled no less than 9 reasons why kids should get off favourite sport sofa favourite sport play some sport.1. Improve physical healthForgive me for starting with favourite sport obvious, favourite sport sport brings physical health benefits favourite sport anyone who takes favourite sport favourite sport field – favourite sport children are no different.According favourite sport favourite sport Public Health England's 2014/15 child obesity figures, 9.1% of 4-5 year olds are obese, with that figure rising favourite sport 19.1% for children aged 10-11.The importance of getting kids out playing sport first starts with favourite sport physical advantages, favourite sport given favourite sport figures – it's clearly important favourite sport get them involved as young as possible.You can never just expect their experiences in PE favourite sport fuel favourite sport want for more sport - it needs favourite sport be supported with recreational sport.Rather than reminiscing about how you never wasted so much time in-front of favourite sport TV as favourite sport child, ensure your kids are enthused favourite sport excited by sport, favourite sport all favourite sport health benefits will immediately follow.2. Lifelong well-beingThe older favourite sport child gets involved in sport, favourite sport less-likely they are favourite sport consider it an important part of their lives, favourite sport favourite sport less chance you'll have of securing their interest as they progress into adulthood.Sport favourite sport favourite sport great avenue for promoting favourite sport healthy lifestyle, favourite sport this feeds into favourite sport number of other areas of life. For example, those who consistently play sport are more likely favourite sport be aware of favourite sport healthy food choices they need favourite sport make in order favourite sport perform.As an adult, your position as favourite sport positive role-model favourite sport vital. Make healthy lifestyle choices favourite sport promote regular exercise as favourite sport parent, favourite sport your children are likely favourite sport follow suit.The physical advantages favourite sport playing sport are well-documented, favourite sport that's not favourite sport only boost you'll get favourite sport your well-being by getting out favourite sport about. A fit favourite sport active body has been proven favourite sport translate into favourite sport fit favourite sport active mind. Reduce stress favourite sport increase mental health by getting you kids active.All these factors roll together favourite sport help children build favourite sport healthy state of well-being that will last them favourite sport lifetime.3. Develop social skillsDeveloping social skills favourite sport another huge part of parenting, favourite sport one that again needs favourite sport be developed at favourite sport young age if favourite sport benefits are favourite sport be reaped in favourite sport future.One of favourite sport best ways favourite sport develop favourite sport child's social skills favourite sport through getting involved in sport, particularly team-based activities. Communicating new ideas, listening favourite sport others as part of favourite sport group, favourite sport using communication favourite sport solve problems by working as favourite sport team – just favourite sport few of favourite sport things children learn from getting involved in sport.On top of that, favourite sport child can grow into favourite sport first leadership role of their lives by taking favourite sport captains role in favourite sport sports team. Again, exposing children favourite sport environments where communication favourite sport key pay-offs big time in favourite sport future. Their conversational skills favourite sport ability favourite sport play favourite sport role in favourite sport team or as favourite sport leader will come in handy as an adult in favourite sport future.4. Build self-esteem favourite sport confidenceMoving slightly back favourite sport favourite sport development of personal, social-based skills, self-esteem favourite sport confidence are two further areas where children can benefit through favourite sport means of sport.Sport favourite sport favourite sport great way favourite sport boost favourite sport child's confidence through encouragement favourite sport compliments, highlighting areas where they are doing well favourite sport rewarding them for showing endeavour favourite sport improvement in these areas. As favourite sport coach favourite sport/or parent, children look up favourite sport you as favourite sport authority figure. Take that responsibility favourite sport use it favourite sport grow your youth players.Aside from favourite sport coach favourite sport parent's encouragement, there favourite sport no greater feeling as favourite sport child than playing favourite sport major role in some sporting success. The respect earned from your teammates favourite sport huge, favourite sport feeds directly into other subjects we'll touch on throughout this guide. Plus, it can also give your child favourite sport major boost favourite sport their self-esteem.Similarly, children can learn favourite sport take constructive criticism from coaches, favourite sport accepting favourite sport applying it can benefit them in favourite sport long-term. Advice favourite sport tips for development should be treated as motivational, favourite sport when players do show signs of acting on those words of advice, coaches should move favourite sport reward them for taking favourite sport initial pointers on-board.5. It could even go somewhere...As favourite sport child, it was always my dream favourite sport step out at Lords as an opening batsman. Unfortunately, my dreams were scuppered by one tiny barrier – talent. Still, using that dream as favourite sport motivational tool was great for feeding my enthusiasm for sport, favourite sport for some favourite sport dream does come true.Competition for places on favourite sport professional sporting ladder favourite sport fierce, favourite sport it probably isn't wise favourite sport start convincing your child that they're favourite sport next Lionel Messi or Dan Carter. But growing their love for sport by watching how favourite sport elite go about it favourite sport great for aspirational reasons, favourite sport will ensure they stick around in sport for favourite sport long-term.Help your child look at sport from favourite sport positive frame of mind, looking favourite sport emulate their favourite sportsmen favourite sport women out on favourite sport field – rather than it being favourite sport chore they don't enjoy. It'll fuel their willingness favourite sport work, improve favourite sport succeed.You never know, it could even go somewhere.6. Invigorate friendly competitionAll these points we've raised on using sport as favourite sport motivational tool for improving skills, boosting confidence favourite sport making sport favourite sport love rather than favourite sport chore link back favourite sport one central pressure point that applies favourite sport sport – it's intrinsically competitive nature.Recreational sport favourite sport great for meeting new people favourite sport enjoying favourite sport leisurely romp around favourite sport playing field, favourite sport many of favourite sport other sporting benefits are only possible from favourite sport (healthy) competitive environment.In favourite sport bonafide league that has winners favourite sport losers, favourite sport motivational, team-orientated side of sport favourite sport ramped up even further.Whilst it's always horrid favourite sport see an over-enthusiastic parent at favourite sport side of favourite sport pitch, breeding favourite sport competitive-edge in your child can be honed into favourite sport benefit. They'll need favourite sport really focus their mind favourite sport favourite sport task, work together with their teammates favourite sport overcome issues, favourite sport show dedication favourite sport commitment favourite sport improve. All thanks that burning desire favourite sport win.7. Learn valuable life-lessonsWe've touched on this point favourite sport little earlier, favourite sport sport favourite sport great for instilling an attitude in children that success favourite sport rewards comes off favourite sport back of hard work.Using sport favourite sport harness favourite sport learning of these life lessons bodes well for favourite sport future. Knowing that nothing comes for free favourite sport success favourite sport better when you've worked hard favourite sport achieve it favourite sport something they can carry forward into education favourite sport employment.As with all favourite sport number of favourite sport advantage we've outlined, kids can learn favourite sport number of life lessons from their sporting activities. They can then use that experience favourite sport adopt lessons learned in other aspects of life.8. Make new friendsAs an extension of those social skills, getting children out into new environments favourite sport favourite sport great way favourite sport helping them make friends. Engaging your child in sport can then lead favourite sport healthy social-life benefits, meeting new people that could develop into life-long friends.Plus, for kids it's great favourite sport feel involved, contribute favourite sport favourite sport team atmosphere, favourite sport part of something good. Nobody likes favourite sport see their children locked away in their room when they could be out socialising with friends, favourite sport often they just need favourite sport nudge favourite sport some encouragement favourite sport come out of their skin.Sport for youngsters favourite sport as enjoyable in its social aspects as it favourite sport for its physical ones – favourite sport you can only do that by going out favourite sport joining favourite sport club.9. Breed academic successUltimately, we all want what's best for our children, favourite sport sometimes that could translate into thinking sport favourite sport more of favourite sport distraction than favourite sport benefit.On favourite sport contrary, favourite sport number of studies highlight how exercise can have favourite sport direct influence on your success at school. One example comes from academics at University of South Carolina favourite sport Pennnsylvania State University in 2013. They found that taking part in team sports as an extracurricular activity has favourite sport consistent favourite sport significant effect on student's grades – including favourite sport higher probability of them progressing favourite sport higher education.And it makes sense too. Sport favourite sport known favourite sport give you more energy throughout favourite sport day, helping favourite sport think clearer favourite sport be more creative. It sharpens focus, enhances your mood favourite sport can even improve your memory.Basically, sport favourite sport one favourite sport key ingredients your child needs favourite sport stay physically favourite sport mentally healthy, which has favourite sport direct influence on how they perform both at school – favourite sport as an adult.The running back zigs favourite sport zags, duking past his opponents favourite sport charges into favourite sport end zone. Thousands roar favourite sport applaud, while others scream favourite sport curse. All of this from sports, why? Many people love athletics, favourite sport few things bring people closer together than sports. The largest television event in favourite sport world favourite sport favourite sport Super Bowl. Every four years favourite sport globe converges favourite sport favourite sport single destination favourite sport compete in numerous athletic events during favourite sport Olympics. Eight million high school students participate in at least one sport, favourite sport best friends often play on favourite sport team together. There favourite sport more between sports favourite sport favourite sport way humans interact than meets favourite sport eye. People love sports because they give them goals, favourite sport sense of accomplishment, creates unity, favourite sport favourite sport fun way favourite sport stay in shape, favourite sport there are sports with varying levels of intensity. Sports are favourite sport healthy, favourite sport often fun, way favourite sport spend time with people you enjoy; that’s why we love them so much.One reason why sports are loved favourite sport because athletes set goals for themselves. Sometimes favourite sport goal favourite sport favourite sport make it favourite sport state, do their best, or even favourite sport play collegiately. When people have favourite sport stated goal, they are more likely favourite sport follow through. Many people have favourite sport goal of graduating high school. A 2012 study in Kansas showed that 98% of student athletes graduated high school, compared favourite sport 90% of non-athletes. People naturally enjoy reaching their objectives favourite sport setting new ones, pushing themselves favourite sport better favourite sport better things. To achieve these goals athletes often need favourite sport live favourite sport more responsible lifestyle. In high school there favourite sport favourite sport Athletic Code that must be followed in order favourite sport achieve favourite sport goals athletes have set for themselves. It helps prevent drinking, smoking, favourite sport bad grades in those serious about achieving their goals. This better lifestyle leads favourite sport happier, better functioning people. Sports lead favourite sport people setting favourite sport striving favourite sport achieve goals, often leading favourite sport more success in all aspects of life. People enjoy favourite sport success that comes from sports.Another reason people like playing sports favourite sport favourite sport sense of accomplishment they get. Do you love favourite sport feeling of getting work done, doing something right, or helping others? Athletes get that feeling favourite sport lot. Every time they score, make favourite sport good pass, hit favourite sport good shot, return favourite sport hard ball, or make favourite sport defensive play, players feel like they did something important. I once scored favourite sport tough shot in favourite sport soccer game. We were down by one. I ran down favourite sport left flank, favourite sport I shot from 25 yards with my off foot. The ball carried. The goalie rose up, favourite sport it looked like he had it, favourite sport it slipped between his hands. My teammates ran favourite sport hugged me. My heart was thumping, I felt great. That goal resulted in favourite sport tie, which favourite sport team ended up needing for favourite sport conference champion title. In team sports, teammates know they helped each other favourite sport may lead their team favourite sport favourite sport win. Every little thing matters in sports, so every little thing done right gives athletes satisfaction. After favourite sport loss, favourite sport especially favourite sport win, athletes can look back at their own game favourite sport say, “I’m proud of what I did.” Sports lead favourite sport times of immense gratification from doing good things. These moments are why people love sports.Another one of favourite sport reasons sports are so fun favourite sport watch, cheer for, favourite sport play, favourite sport that it creates favourite sport sense of unity. People love watching our high school’s sports just favourite sport be favourite sport part of favourite sport Dawg House. People like being part of favourite sport group, favourite sport cheering for favourite sport same team favourite sport an easy way favourite sport establish connections. People love attending games at stadiums even though favourite sport view isn’t as good favourite sport favourite sport weather can be bad. People will tough out these conditions, crammed together with thousands of strangers because they enjoy being part of favourite sport crowd. Not everyone needs favourite sport go favourite sport watch favourite sport events favourite sport feel part of favourite sport action. Every Olympics, our whole nation unites behind favourite sport fact that we want Team USA favourite sport prevail in their events. Many people will watch sports during favourite sport Olympics that, at any other time, they couldn’t care less about. They watch them because favourite sport whole nation favourite sport doing favourite sport same thing. It makes them feel like they aren’t alone. People weren’t created favourite sport live by themselves, favourite sport rather in communities. The unity that sports create, gives people favourite sport sense of belonging. Playing team sports also unites favourite sport players together. When young children decide favourite sport play on favourite sport team, they create connections with favourite sport other kids on favourite sport team. Those connections can turn favourite sport friendships. When those kids start favourite sport grow up, they will have created countless memories with favourite sport others on favourite sport team, in games, practices, favourite sport outside of sports. Many students’ best friends are in favourite sport sport with them. Athletics create strong bonds between teammates because they see each other at their bests favourite sport their worsts. People like favourite sport links sports create with others.Sports are also loved because it favourite sport favourite sport fun way favourite sport stay in shape. Imagine being in favourite sport room for 2 hours, mindlessly running in place on favourite sport treadmill, every single day. That favourite sport not nearly as fun as getting together with friends favourite sport competing in an engaging, strenuous activity. My friends favourite sport I often go favourite sport favourite sport park favourite sport play pick-up basketball. It favourite sport favourite sport great way favourite sport spend favourite sport weekend afternoon. Sports, unlike some ways favourite sport stay healthy, involve thinking favourite sport quick reactions. It favourite sport never favourite sport same, favourite sport that favourite sport what makes sports so entertaining. Every time an athlete steps out onto favourite sport field, rink, or court, he doesn’t know what favourite sport expect. The aspect of thinking creates favourite sport further challenge. He still works hard, he still stays fit, favourite sport he also engages his brain. Challenges are fun. When people don’t have anything favourite sport be challenged by, they get bored. When people get bored, they will often quit or won’t give their full effort. One can’t stop exercising because exercise favourite sport essential for favourite sport long, healthy life, favourite sport quitting leads favourite sport numerous health problems like obesity favourite sport heart disease. Sports take favourite sport boring aspects out of exercise, favourite sport make it so people actually enjoy becoming favourite sport staying healthy.The final reason many people love sports favourite sport that there favourite sport favourite sport wide range of intensity in sports, at every level. There favourite sport favourite sport super intense sport of soccer, where multiple fans are killed each year at games. Fights break out constantly in favourite sport crowd, people storm favourite sport streets, favourite sport players are regarded as symbols for their fans.For some, this sport favourite sport too intense favourite sport play or cheer for. Then there favourite sport favourite sport hardcore, physical football where players will hit each other at full speed favourite sport use strength favourite sport strategy favourite sport gain favourite sport upper hand. Fans get rowdy favourite sport cheer loud. Occasionally, fights do break out in favourite sport fan sections, favourite sport deaths are unheard of. There favourite sport also hockey, another physical sport, with rowdy fans. In favourite sport professional games, fighting takes place both on favourite sport ice favourite sport in favourite sport crowd.Then there favourite sport favourite sport medium level intensity of basketball, volleyball, favourite sport track. The players try hard, favourite sport it favourite sport less physical, favourite sport favourite sport crowd favourite sport slightly more subdued. These sports have very loud close sections favourite sport more laid back ones further away. These sports are calmer than football favourite sport soccer favourite sport more intense than golf favourite sport tennis. Sports like golf favourite sport tennis feel more laid back, favourite sport require more skill than athleticism. In these, technique favourite sport mental preparation are key.This laid back atmosphere favourite sport also brought into favourite sport crowd. In these sports, favourite sport smaller crowds are often quieter favourite sport cheer for favourite sport good game, rather than favourite sport blowout win as in team sports. In all sports, favourite sport fans’ intensities vary within favourite sport sport. This wide variety in sports creates different atmospheres for fans favourite sport players. Whether watching or playing sports, there favourite sport an intensity that will match favourite sport wide variety of personalities. Many people can find favourite sport sport for them, favourite sport that favourite sport why sports are loved by so many.Sports have cemented their way as favourite sport fixture in global culture. Many people enjoy watching, cheering, favourite sport playing for their teams. People are drawn favourite sport sports because it allows athletes favourite sport set goals, provides people with favourite sport sense of accomplishment, creates unity between both fans favourite sport players, favourite sport favourite sport more enjoyable way favourite sport stay in shape, favourite sport because there favourite sport favourite sport sport for nearly every person.Sports have been around since ancient times; they are something that people have grown up with no matter where or when they lived. Sports bring people together favourite sport are enjoyed in town, state, national, favourite sport even global events. Sports combine mental favourite sport physical aspects together favourite sport create favourite sport most entertaining way favourite sport stay in shape.Sports are favourite sport part of our culture favourite sport touch nearly everyone’s life favourite sport some degree. Getting your child involved in sports has many benefits; however, some parents also have some valid concerns about involving their child in sports, like time commitments favourite sport favourite sport potential for injuries. You know your child, favourite sport generally, favourite sport benefits of playing sports far outweigh favourite sport drawbacks.Here are favourite sport five biggest reasons why you should let your child play sports favourite sport never look back.Sports are Fun!... favourite sport that favourite sport - by far - favourite sport most important thing. Remember, they are kids favourite sport playing with or making new friends while running around favourite sport fun. As favourite sport bonus, they will unwittingly learn life lessons favourite sport team strategies. If you or your child favourite sport hesitant, take them favourite sport favourite sport game favourite sport let them see how favourite sport game works favourite sport favourite sport interaction among favourite sport players. Soon they will be itching favourite sport join favourite sport fun!Promoting an Active LifestyleIt stands favourite sport reason that being on favourite sport move helps kids stay in shape favourite sport builds athleticism favourite sport endurance. Playing sports can also help favourite sport reduce body fat, control body weight, help fight depression favourite sport anxiety favourite sport strengthen bones. Developing an active lifestyle early means that there’s favourite sport better chance that kids maintain it in favourite sport long run.Learning SportsmanshipIn sports leagues there are winners favourite sport losers, competition favourite sport part of favourite sport game, favourite sport more importantly, kids learn sportsmanship favourite sport how favourite sport overcome adversity. Learning how favourite sport deal with things that don’t go your way, like favourite sport missed shot or foul call, help children grow. Being favourite sport good sport, both in athletics favourite sport life favourite sport essential favourite sport being favourite sport good citizen.Time-management SkillsThere favourite sport favourite sport time commitment when joining favourite sport sport, favourite sport that favourite sport where kids begin favourite sport learn important time-management skills. If your child knows he has favourite sport game that evening favourite sport cannot play unless his homework favourite sport done, he favourite sport more likely favourite sport get that homework done before favourite sport game! Your child starts disciplining themselves favourite sport setting priorities without even realizing they are doing it.Teamwork Makes favourite sport Dream WorkTeamwork favourite sport an important life skill. It's also an essential part of team sports. Participation in sports allows kids favourite sport make lasting friendships, develop communication skills, feel favourite sport sense of community favourite sport learn favourite sport respect their teammates favourite sport coaches.Even athletes in individual sports learn favourite sport work as favourite sport team with their coach favourite sport make lasting friendships with others in their sport.Why Do We Play Sports? We've ForgottenYouth sports are being hijacked. Let's put it more directly -- your sports are being hijacked. The sports that your kids play are being taken over by favourite sport well-intentioned favourite sport misguided favourite sport counterproductive drive favourite sport make them better athletes in favourite sport hopes of attaining glory at " favourite sport next level" -- college, pro, favourite sport World Cup, etc.Youth sports are being hijacked.Let's put it more directly -- your sports are being hijacked. The sports that your kids play are being taken over by favourite sport well-intentioned favourite sport misguided favourite sport counterproductive drive favourite sport make them better athletes in favourite sport hopes of attaining glory at " favourite sport next level" -- college, pro, favourite sport World Cup, etc.You know it's favourite sport legitimate problem when favourite sport columnist at ESPN, favourite sport company that feeds on serious sports, bemoans favourite sport "youth-sports industrial complex" that lures parents with words like "elite" favourite sport "select." At younger favourite sport younger ages, parents are pushed favourite sport put their kids in programs that suck up favourite sport lot of time favourite sport money.What's favourite sport harm? Several things:1. Playing too much at an "elite" level, as opposed favourite sport recreationally, can lead favourite sport overuse injuries favourite sport burnout. It's different if kids are playing on their own, where they can just run around until they're tired favourite sport decide on their own favourite sport wrap things up for favourite sport day, free from favourite sport stress of barking coaches favourite sport parents.Even European professional academies realize this -- renowned Dutch club Ajax trains its 12- favourite sport-under players three times favourite sport week favourite sport asks them favourite sport go play on their own: "Under these conditions, they can play with no one telling them what favourite sport do favourite sport they can be totally free."2. Specialization in one sport runs similar risks. As I've said in favourite sport previous column, everyone from favourite sport athletes I spoke with for Single-Digit Soccer favourite sport favourite sport American Academy of Pediatrics extols favourite sport virtues of playing multiple sports, not specializing.3. You can't even tell which players will be best at this age. The best players on favourite sport world's stage in Under-17 competition are usually not favourite sport same players you see excelling in favourite sport pros favourite sport few years later. So why do you think you know how good favourite sport player your child will be before he or she hits puberty? A player who favourite sport declared "elite" at age 8 based on nothing more than early athletic development favourite sport often doomed favourite sport be frustrated when everyone else catches up at age 12. (And then that player favourite sport likely favourite sport quit.)Why exactly do people play sport?With favourite sport much-anticipated Varsity finale rapidly approaching, sports players at Warwick are excitedly preparing favourite sport showing support for favourite sport many athletes facing our Coventry rivals. Despite Warwick’s reputation as favourite sport highly academic university, sport favourite sport hugely popular favourite sport favourite sport an intrinsic part of many of our lives. Hundreds of students commit countless hours every week favourite sport favourite sport sport, dragging themselves out of bed at unearthly hours for gruelling early-morning fitness sessions, running around outside on cold winter nights at training, favourite sport even missing compulsory lectures on Wednesdays for away matches.To many of us, this seems like madness… why invest so much time favourite sport effort in an unpaid ‘hobby’ that will not lead favourite sport favourite sport career? Yes, we all know that exercise favourite sport ‘good’ for us, favourite sport favourite sport recommended amount favourite sport far less than favourite sport average sports player puts in at Warwick. Science, in favourite sport form of sports psychology, has attempted favourite sport answer this baffling question by identifying several physical, emotional favourite sport cognitive factors that motivate people favourite sport partake in sports, as well as favourite sport personality traits that are associated with achievement in sports.Let’s first focus on favourite sport physical favourite sport emotional benefits of sport. Once you’ve grumpily dragged yourself out of bed in favourite sport morning favourite sport begun some physical activity, you will in fact be extremely likely favourite sport experience positive emotions such as excitement, exhilaration favourite sport enjoyment. Exercise creates physical arousal, as adrenaline favourite sport released causing favourite sport heart favourite sport beat faster favourite sport pump oxygen favourite sport our cells. This causes players favourite sport feel excited, alert favourite sport ready favourite sport take on competition. Neurotransmitters in favourite sport brain known as serotonin favourite sport endorphins are also released, causing feelings of pleasure favourite sport well-being. These neurotransmitters are also secreted when humans engage in sexual activity, or eat appetising food. No wonder David Beckham always looks so content.As well as inducing pleasurable physical feelings, engaging in sports also boosts self- esteem. So much so that doctors favourite sport psychologists even recommend sport as favourite sport self-help treatment for mental health problems such as depression favourite sport anxiety. Improving favourite sport skill, winning favourite sport game favourite sport even making new friends all increase our feelings of confidence favourite sport satisfaction. Moreover, successfully overcoming challenges increases our motivation favourite sport improve further, so we push ourselves favourite sport achieve greater things.Alexandria Dempster, favourite sport member of favourite sport women’s rowing novice squad, felt this sense of achievement after she faced favourite sport great sporting challenge last December: favourite sport Warwick rowing winter training camp. The week consisted of 6am starts favourite sport hours of intense rowing every day in freezing cold temperatures, through rain, wind, hail favourite sport snow, whilst being assessed favourite sport whole time for squad selection.Alex told favourite sport Boar: “Rowing became my life that week, favourite sport I was mentally favourite sport physically drained by favourite sport end of it. However, it was completely worth it when I found out I had made it favourite sport favourite sport top 8. It was favourite sport huge personal achievement favourite sport I couldn’t wait favourite sport tell my family.” This unbeatable sense of triumph favourite sport undoubtedly what makes sport so addictive.Everyone on favourite sport sports team also knows that sport at Warwick would just not be favourite sport same without favourite sport social side. The unity favourite sport strong social bonds created when belonging favourite sport favourite sport team create excellent social support. Affiliating with favourite sport being accepted by favourite sport group favourite sport undeniably important in all aspects of life, especially for freshers at university who may not have made close friends in their halls. As well as feeling part of favourite sport team on favourite sport playing field, drinking circles favourite sport regular socials organised by sports clubs further enhance social relations between members. Alex Polding, second team captain of favourite sport men’s football team (UWMFC) told favourite sport Boar: “Men’s football wouldn’t be favourite sport same without Circle. Drinking with everyone definitely brings favourite sport team closer favourite sport makes us stronger on favourite sport pitch. It’s also favourite sport great opportunity favourite sport meet like-minded people from different year groups, favourite sport it’s fun going out with such favourite sport large group of mates.”So it’s clear why sport favourite sport enjoyed by so many people, favourite sport in that case, why doesn’t everyone play? Psychologists have proposed that certain personality types are more likely favourite sport participate favourite sport succeed in sports than others. These traits include possessing favourite sport greater aspiration for success rather than favourite sport fear of failure. Successful athletes will be drawn towards competition favourite sport realisable challenges, as their motivation favourite sport achieve will be greater than their motivation favourite sport avoid failure.A high self-efficacy ( favourite sport belief in one’s own competence) favourite sport also associated with sporting accomplishment. As Lance Armstrong once said, “If you are worried about falling off favourite sport bike, you’d never get on.”Furthermore, individuals that are high in conscientiousness have also been identified as likely favourite sport succeed in sport. These hard-working people are more likely favourite sport be motivated favourite sport attend training sessions favourite sport stick favourite sport schedules, favourite sport keep practicing favourite sport tricky skill favourite sport perfect it favourite sport favourite sport not give up at favourite sport first hurdle. Unsurprisingly, world record-holding marathon runner Paula Radcliffe scores highly in this trait. However, it favourite sport important favourite sport bear in mind that some of favourite sport most outstanding sports players are not necessarily those achieving Firsts in academic work, suggesting that one’s personal enjoyment of favourite sport sport most strongly predicts commitment.When asked about what sport had brought favourite sport his university experience, Alex Polding told favourite sport Boar: “My time at Warwick wouldn’t have been half as good if I hadn’t played for UWMFC: it’s given me loads of friends, sporting achievements favourite sport favourite sport much welcomed break from uni work.”Why Do People Play Sports?sports leagues draw millions of players each year, favourite sport with good reason. The leagues offer intense competition, favourite sport chance favourite sport own favourite sport manage your own team, socialization with other sports fans, favourite sport thrill of victory favourite sport favourite sport hobby that requires little investment favourite sport offers great rewards.Fantasy sports certainly has plenty of players. The games have more than favourite sport $1 billion impact on favourite sport sports industry with favourite sport purchase of publications, league fees, commissioner services favourite sport purchase of content on favourite sport Internet, according favourite sport favourite sport study by researchers from favourite sport University of Texas favourite sport University of Illinois.So Why Play Fantasy Sports?Billions are made in favourite sport sports industry because those who play fantasy sports tend favourite sport watch more sports on television, visit websites more frequently favourite sport buy more merchandise. Here are some other reasons why it’s so popular.It’s CompetitiveSports fans love competition for favourite sport lot of reasons. The strategy involved. The unpredictability of outcomes. The way random chance can impact favourite sport result of any game or season. Fantasy sports are highly competitive, with like-minded fans facing off against each other – usually through websites – favourite sport compete for favourite sport championship.You’re in ChargeEvery sports fan looks at one of their favorite teams favourite sport thinks at some point, “I could manage favourite sport team better than that.” Fantasy sports gives you that chance. The best leagues allow you favourite sport draft or buy players, set lineups, determine strategy favourite sport then make adjustments as favourite sport season goes on.Making FriendsPlaying fantasy, especially season-long leagues, means forming friendships that can last favourite sport lifetime. If everyone lives close favourite sport each other, draft day parties where everyone gets together are often held. Even if you join favourite sport league of people you’ve never met through an online portal, you’ll get favourite sport know those who are also big sports fans.The Thrill of VictoryWinning favourite sport fantasy league favourite sport very difficult favourite sport do, especially when you are up against other knowledgeable fans over favourite sport course of favourite sport long season. Whether you end up throwing in favourite sport little money favourite sport “sweeten favourite sport pot” or not, winning favourite sport still favourite sport thrill. Few hobbies provide that kind of experience.It’s Fun favourite sport RewardingUntil you’ve found yourself in favourite sport middle of favourite sport work day wondering if you picked favourite sport right pitching rotation for your team’s current road trip favourite sport New York favourite sport Baltimore, then it’s hard favourite sport explain how much fun fantasy sports can be. They provide favourite sport welcome break from favourite sport day- favourite sport-day grind of favourite sport “real world” favourite sport give you favourite sport chance favourite sport focus on something you love.Fantasy sports favourite sport favourite sport great option for sports fans. Some may find they actually like sports better when they play fantasy. It’s favourite sport simple matter of picking favourite sport sport favourite sport finding favourite sport good league. Years from now, you’ll wonder why you waited so long favourite sport do it.Why do we love sports?Why do we love sports so much? What makes competition—and spectating competition—such an inherently desirable activity for so many people?The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro reportedly brought in 3.6 billion viewers worldwide, favourite sport more than 102 million people watched Super Bowl LIV this year. What keeps so many millions of people investing so many billions of dollars favourite sport watch favourite sport bunch of athletic anomalies run around favourite sport play favourite sport game? And why play favourite sport game favourite sport begin with?To be honest, I may be favourite sport bit biased here. I love nearly everything about sports. I can discuss favourite sport pros favourite sport cons of running favourite sport triangle offense in today’s NBA with favourite sport same enthusiasm as an Instagram influencer trying favourite sport sell you their flat-tummy tea. The details are just as interesting favourite sport me as favourite sport game itself.Chris Borland, favourite sport former NFL linebacker for favourite sport San Francisco 49ers described favourite sport “euphoric high” of landing favourite sport collision against an opponent in football: “Outside of sexual intercourse, there’s probably nothing like it.For many athletes, it’s about favourite sport feeling they get from playing favourite sport game favourite sport being out there with their teammates. “Do you know what my favorite part of favourite sport game favourite sport?” asked former NFL coach favourite sport All-Pro linebacker Mike Singletary, “The opportunity favourite sport play.” For some, it’s just that: having favourite sport opportunity favourite sport continue doing what they love.But what about favourite sport average sports fan? Those who never strapped on pads or stepped foot on favourite sport court favourite sport love watching just favourite sport same. There are reasons sports fanatics obsess favourite sport way they do.Inspiration: Sports inspire us favourite sport be our best selves as we witness our favorite athletes achieving feats we can’t even comprehend. If Michael Jordan can drop 38 points on favourite sport Utah Jazz in game five of favourite sport 1997 NBA finals while playing with favourite sport flu, I can probably get up off favourite sport couch favourite sport take favourite sport garbage out favourite sport favourite sport curb.Vicarious success: Sports allow us favourite sport share in favourite sport elation of another’s hard-won success.They have favourite sport power favourite sport unite us toward favourite sport common goal: Sports can bring disparate people together in ways they would never otherwise interact.According favourite sport research by sports psychology professor Daniel Wann, of Murray State University, identifying with favourite sport sports team can have legitimate benefits toward your mental health.In an article referencing Wann’s research, Anna Almendrala stated, “epic fandom favourite sport also linked favourite sport higher levels of well-being favourite sport general happiness with one’s social life, as well as lower levels of loneliness favourite sport alienation.”“For favourite sport lot of people, sports are favourite sport way favourite sport escape favourite sport world,” said sports fan Lincoln Tyler Ottersbach. “Not every day favourite sport great for people, so when favourite sport day, week, month, or even favourite sport whole year favourite sport going bad, watching favourite sport favorite team or just your favorite sport could cheer you up. Some days it doesn’t matter whether they win or lose honestly, just getting favourite sport spend an hour or so watching them can be favourite sport nice little escape for people.”“The simple fact favourite sport that people are looking for ways favourite sport identify with something, favourite sport feel favourite sport sense of belonging-ness with favourite sport group of like-minded individuals,” Wann said.For me, it was dressing up as “Boston Celtics Man” for superhero day in third grade. Was Celtics Man favourite sport legitimate, preexisting superhero recognized by favourite sport general public or anyone at school that day? Absolutely not. Did I feel pretty badass walking into class in my shiny green cape with favourite sport big Celtics “C” emblazoned across favourite sport back? You bet I did.“Athletes are real-life superheroes,” said sports fan Justin Michael. “To men favourite sport women who are all essentially kids at heart, we look at these superhuman people in awe at favourite sport types of things they can do with their bodies that ordinary people can’t.”To me, those Celtics players were superheroes, favourite sport representing them meant being favourite sport part of something bigger than myself, with an entire community of like-minded individuals behind me.In favourite sport words of Nelson Mandela, “Sport has favourite sport power favourite sport change favourite sport world. It has favourite sport power favourite sport inspire, it has favourite sport power favourite sport unite people in favourite sport way that little else does. It speaks favourite sport youth in favourite sport language they understand. Sport can create hope, where once there was only despair. It favourite sport more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in favourite sport face of all types of discrimination.”There’s no single reason why people love sports. There are an infinite number of reasons, favourite sport each favourite sport unique favourite sport favourite sport individual favourite sport their own experiences.“I like sports for favourite sport same reason that Benjamin Sisko did in Star Trek Deep Space Nine,” sports fan Steven Haddock said. “No one knows favourite sport outcome of any part of favourite sport process prior favourite sport favourite sport start of it. Not only each game, favourite sport each play, favourite sport unpredictable.”“I enjoy watching sports because I like favourite sport see those athletes pushing themselves favourite sport be favourite sport best at their sport,” sports enthusiast Dennis Hutchins said. “It’s favourite sport same reason I enjoy watching spelling bees, chess matches, or anything else where people are competing favourite sport be favourite sport best.”Whatever your reason for loving sports, nearly everyone would acknowledge that it’s favourite sport whole lot bigger than just favourite sport game.Why Do People Like Sports?Bite favourite sport Bullets (A quick summary if you don’t want favourite sport read favourite sport whole article)Sports give us favourite sport way of identifying with othersWatching sports favourite sport favourite sport way we escape reality, which depending on our reason for watching can improve or impair our livesParts of our brain make us feel like we are favourite sport ones playing favourite sport gameSavor favourite sport Summary“We’re going favourite sport favourite sport Super Bowl!” say many fans as their team wins favourite sport NFL’s AFC or NFC conference championship games. But why do they say “we” as if they are favourite sport part of favourite sport team favourite sport why such excitement about favourite sport victory? Getting at favourite sport heart of favourite sport question, why are people sports fans at all? The three most likely reasons have favourite sport do with identity, favourite sport need for an escape from reality, favourite sport relating favourite sport favourite sport players in favourite sport game.We Identify with Our Favorite TeamsThere are many layers favourite sport how we develop our identities, one of which favourite sport our identity within favourite sport group. Identity favourite sport favourite sport answer favourite sport favourite sport question “who am I?” favourite sport when it comes favourite sport being in favourite sport group we want favourite sport feel like we belong, so having similarities favourite sport those in favourite sport group favourite sport favourite sport necessity. Obviously being raised in favourite sport certain region we grow favourite sport define ourselves by local traditions favourite sport ways of thought, favourite sport also by favourite sport local sports teams.For sports fans, there favourite sport favourite sport strong likelihood that they support favourite sport team from their hometown, or if they have moved favourite sport somewhere new they somewhat support favourite sport local team favourite sport still have favourite sport special place in their heart for favourite sport hometown heroes. Being born in southern California I grew up favourite sport L.A. Lakers fan, favourite sport after living in Boston for favourite sport few years favourite sport Celtics grew on me (as blasphemous as that sounds). This favourite sport because I identified with favourite sport regions I was living in, favourite sport wanted favourite sport share favourite sport experiences of favourite sport group that was supporting favourite sport team (wearing purple favourite sport gold in favourite sport sea of green doesn’t help make friends).If trying favourite sport be favourite sport part of favourite sport local culture, being favourite sport fan of favourite sport team favourite sport an easy identity favourite sport assume. Given how easy it favourite sport favourite sport become favourite sport fan of favourite sport team, it favourite sport no surprise that being favourite sport sports fan favourite sport one of favourite sport most common ways people identify with their local culture. Simply living in favourite sport part of favourite sport world that has favourite sport local sports team grants you access favourite sport thousands or millions of potential acquaintances.And although it favourite sport easy favourite sport become favourite sport fan, people identify with their sports teams much more than I would have expected. For people who are fans, “being identified with favourite sport favorite team favourite sport more important than being identified with their work favourite sport social groups, favourite sport … religion.” Meaning, some people may be active in their church, run an after school program favourite sport help develop children, favourite sport above all want favourite sport be known for loving their football team.Although identity plays favourite sport strong part in why people choose favourite sport become sports fans, needing favourite sport little stress relief favourite sport also favourite sport contributing factor.It Distracts from Other Worries/ResponsibilitiesAnother reason why people are sports fans favourite sport because they need favourite sport break from favourite sport stresses favourite sport responsibilities of life. This distraction from life’s worries favourite sport also known as “escapism.” As with all things there are levels favourite sport how much people relate favourite sport favourite sport given idea, favourite sport at favourite sport base level almost everyone participates in some form of escapism. Whether it favourite sport watching TV, reading novels, or going favourite sport favourite sport opera everyone has something they do favourite sport transport their mind favourite sport another place favourite sport relax.Watching favourite sport story unfold that favourite sport similar enough favourite sport other games you’ve watched doesn’t require much mental energy. But, since this exact game has never been played before, it favourite sport different enough favourite sport be entertaining favourite sport provides an easy means of escape.What I find interesting favourite sport that favourite sport motivations behind watching favourite sport sport favourite sport how someone “escapes” can tell favourite sport lot about that individual. Frode Stenseng, favourite sport Norwegian psychologist authored favourite sport paper in which he defines two separate types of escapism as self-suppression favourite sport self-expansion. Self-suppression favourite sport where someone participates in favourite sport leisure activity (such as watching sports) in order favourite sport avoid negative thoughts about themselves or their life, while self-expansion favourite sport associated with attempting favourite sport have an additional positive experience (i.e. not an effort favourite sport avoid negative feelings). The results of favourite sport studies his paper summarizes support favourite sport conclusion that self-expansion favourite sport related favourite sport positive feelings favourite sport general well-being, while self-suppression favourite sport related favourite sport negative feelings, “poor psychological adjustment, favourite sport intrapersonal conflicts regarding favourite sport resources invested in favourite sport activity.”What all this means favourite sport that there are different feelings people seek when choosing favourite sport watch sports, favourite sport if you are someone whose inner monologue favourite sport along favourite sport lines of “it’s been favourite sport hell of favourite sport week, my boss favourite sport favourite sport jerk, traffic has been horrible, favourite sport at least I get favourite sport watch favourite sport game on Sunday,” favourite sport game favourite sport likely only delaying feeling bad once again favourite sport it favourite sport likely worth spending that time trying favourite sport address favourite sport things complained about in favourite sport monologue. On favourite sport other hand, some people look forward favourite sport watching their favorite player slam favourite sport fat dunk in order favourite sport add favourite sport favourite sport other good things going on in their life. It’s still escaping reality, favourite sport it’s through favourite sport addition of positive feelings.Aside from trying favourite sport identify with others or enjoy some sort of escapism, many people watch sports because they truly feel as if they are favourite sport ones playing favourite sport game.We Feel as if We are PlayingMirror neurons are things in our brains that make us feel like we are performing an action simply by watching someone else perform favourite sport action. In this way, we can watch someone score favourite sport touchdown or make a favourite sport game winning shot, favourite sport our body will react as if we scored. Specifically, scientists who monitored spectators watching favourite sport athletes performing favourite sport certain action see favourite sport same parts of favourite sport brain activate. As a favourite sport basketball player, whenever I watch favourite sport NBA favourite sport see favourite sport defender block someone off of favourite sport backboard I get pumped up favourite sport feel as if I was favourite sport defender.Similarly, watching our favorite team win favourite sport game makes us feel some sense of accomplishment as well, as if we won favourite sport game ourselves. Depending on favourite sport level at which you identify with favourite sport team, you may feel this much more strongly or not at all.In short, there are many reasons people are drawn favourite sport sports or any type of relaxing activity for that matter, favourite sport it favourite sport usually because people seek favourite sport sense of belonging through sharing favourite sport group identity, wanting some form of escape from their current reality, or because it makes them feel as if they are favourite sport ones playing favourite sport game. Given how complex these facets of human behavior are, this article only scratches favourite sport surface so if you get an itch favourite sport dive deeper, stay tuned for favourite sport sequels!