accomplishments . A day of rest wasn ’ t simply the result of exhaustion from the previous week . It was , and continues to be , a structure of celebration that invites us to release our grip on control and step into God ’ s rhythms of grace . Celebration starts when it starts , making celebration a rhythm of remembering God ’ s goodness ... not merely a reward for our own .
Also , without realizing it , I often treated celebration a bit like dessert — enjoyable yes , but not essential to the Christian life . But practicing celebration is critical to our experience of hope and joy in this life . You see , left on neutral , the brain leans negative . In other words , the only thing we need to do to feel disappointed , discouraged , or even hopeless ... is nothing .
There are several dynamics occurring in the brain that make this the case . One contributing factor is a phenomenon called the hedonic treadmill — a tendency we have as human beings to rapidly adapt to joy . Also , the brain is simply stickier with painful information than pleasant information . What this means practically is that our brains will dismiss and discard information that they deem as unimportant , including those everyday moments of delight such as beauty we observe in nature or connections with our loved ones . Additionally , we have this unhelpful habit of telling our joy how it can be improved upon . Instead of celebrating what is , we are quick to tell our celebration how it could be better . In order to experience joy in our lives , we need to practice
As a therapist , a fact I have seen firsthand is that God made us to be experiential learners . Insight
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