Seven Reasons We Don’t Take Care of Ourselves

Seven Reasons We Don’t Take Care of Ourselves

by Joyce Meyer

I meet a lot of people in the course of my ministry. Sadly, I see too many who are not taking care of themselves. Many of them clearly feel terrible. Anyone can see this in the way they look and the way they carry themselves. You simply cannot look really great if you don’t feel great. How you feel will show up somewhere; in your body language, the dull look in your eyes, or even the color of your skin.

It is in our nature to take care of ourselves, so why don’t we? I thought about the ways that this can go wrong, and I came up with these reasons:

1. We don’t know how to take care of our physical bodies. Decades of bad diets, misinformation, and easy access to fast food and prepackaged food have left people amazingly confused about what a wholesome diet is and how they should eat.

2. We have a skewed body image planted in our minds by media and advertising. On one side we are inundated with unattainable ideals of beauty, while on the other, obesity is so prevalent that it’s almost considered the norm. We need to reset our internal picture of what a healthy person should look like.

3. We have lost touch with exercise. For virtually all of human existence, exercise was an integral part of our daily existence. Now we’ve invented enough conveniences that we often live completely divorced from exercise. However, it turns out a good deal of our well-being is dependent on exercise.

4. We have let ourselves slip into unworkable lives. With the incredible pressures of juggling career and parenthood, paying steep mortgages and increased fuel prices and burning the proverbial candle at both ends and everywhere in between, it is oh-so-easy to put the workout off, grab a cheeseburger on the run, cheat our sleep time in order to catch up on paperwork and let the tail wag the dog until we’ve cut everything out of our lives that once gave us pleasure or kept us sane. This is bad enough, because life is a gift and is meant to be joyful. It should be pleasurable and sane.

5. We have become pathologically selfless. Selflessness can be addictive. It feels so good to do for others and it makes us feel important. Yes, it is a good thing to help others and should be a major part of our life, but in my line of work, I often see people who routinely ignore their basic needs. The only thing that gives them meaning is doing things for others. This is admirable, but it can easily cross the line into mistaking suffering for virtue. Martyrs usually end up bitter. And once the body breaks down and life is no longer joyful, it becomes increasingly hard to serve anyone. Volunteers in a soup kitchen don’t let their pots fall apart while they ladle out one more bowl of soup. They take the time to care for the equipment they need to do their calling. And you should do the same with your most important piece of equipment—your body.

I am not suggesting that we be selfish because that renders us very unhappy and is not how God teaches us to live. We are to live sacrificially and be involved in doing good works, but we must not ignore our own basic needs in the process. Everything in life must be balanced or something breaks down and quite often it is us.

6. We have lost our support. When we don’t have a good social network or a godly foundation to keep our spirits high, it becomes easy to slip into boredom, loneliness, and depression. If we aren’t able to somehow fill that void, the devil will. You may have heard the saying “Nature abhors a vacuum.” Well, let me tell you, the devil loves one! He’ll put lots of bad food within easy reach and let you mistake spiritual or emotional hunger for physical hunger. Maintaining a good support network is a terrific way to prevent the formation of bad habits.

We need to have right people around us who will speak if they see us getting out of balance. We need to spend regular time in fellowship with God and learning His principals. His Holy Spirit who works through His Word convicts us of wrongdoing and gives us the chance to make positive changes before we break down or become ill.

7. We have forgotten our own value. This is the biggest reason we don’t take care of ourselves. If you don’t understand your own importance in the Big Plan, taking care of yourself seems pointless. Reminding you of your place in God’s plan is my first and most important task.

If you’re not sure of your value in God’s eyes, then I invite you to read this article. There’s a crucial link between our spirits and our bodies that we all need to understand.

God has a great future planned for you and you need to be ready for it! You need to look great and feel great, ready to do whatever God asks of you.

sumber :

https://www.joycemeyer.org/articles/ea.aspx?article=7_reasons_we_dont_take_care_of_ourselves

Comparisons

Comparative and superlative adjectives

Comparative adjectives

Comparative adjectives compare one person or thing with another and enable us to say whether a person or thing has more or less of a particular quality:

Josh is taller than his sister.

I’m more interested in music than sport.

Big cars that use a lot of petrol are less popular now than twenty years ago.

Superlative adjectives

Superlative adjectives describe one person or thing as having more of a quality than all other people or things in a group:

The ‘Silver Arrow’ will be the fastest train in the world when it is built.

The most frightening film I’ve ever seen was Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’.

What is the least expensive way of travelling in Japan?

Comparative or superlative?

A comparative compares a person or thing with another person or thing. A superlative compares a person or thing with the whole group of which that person or thing is a member:

Joe’s older than Mike. (comparing one person with another)

Sheila is the youngest girl in the family. (comparing one person with the whole group she belongs to)

When there are just two members in a group, traditionally, we use the comparative. However, in informal situations people often use the superlative:

Who is younger, Rowan or Tony? (traditional usage)

Jan and Barbara are both tall, but Jan’s the tallest. (more informal)

Comparative and superlative adjectives: form

One-syllable adjectives (big, cold, hot, long, nice, old, tall)

To form the comparative, we use the -er suffix with adjectives of one syllable:

It’s colder today than yesterday.

It was a longer holiday than the one we had last year.

Sasha is older than Mark.

To form the superlative, we use the -est suffix with adjectives of one syllable. We normally use the before a superlative adjective:

I think that’s the biggest apple I’ve ever seen!

At one time, the Empire State building in New York was the tallest building in the world.

They have three boys. Richard is the oldest and Simon is the youngest.

Longer adjectives

Adjectives of three or more syllables form the comparative with more/less and the superlative with most/least:

The second lecture was more interesting than the first.

Not: The second lecture was interestinger …

That way of calculating the figures seems less complicated to me.

London is the most popular tourist destination in England.

Not: London is the popularest …

If you are going as a group, the least expensive option is to rent an apartment or villa.

Comparative adjectives: using much, a lot, far, etc.

We can strengthen or emphasise a comparative adjective using words such as much, a lot, far, even or rather, or by using than ever after the adjective:

This food is much better than the food we had yesterday.

The town is a lot more crowded these days because of the new shopping centre.

Alex is far less intelligent than the other kids in the class.

We’ve been busier than ever at work this last month or so.

We can soften a comparative adjective using a little or a bit. A bit is less formal:

She feels a little more confident now that she’s given her first public performance.

or She feels a bit more confident … (less formal)

Comparative adjectives: using than

We use than when we mention the second person or thing in the comparison. If the second person mentioned takes the form of a personal pronoun, we normally use the object form of the pronoun (me, you, him, her, us, them):

Could you carry this? You’re stronger than me.

Not: You’re stronger than I.

Why did you choose Robert? Marie is more experienced than him.

In more formal situations, instead of than + object pronoun, we can use than + subject pronoun + be:

You managed to answer the ten questions correctly? Well, you’re definitely cleverer than I am!

I preferred Henrietta to Dennis. She was always more sociable than he was.

Comparative adjectives: -er and -er, more and more

To talk about how a person or thing is changing and gaining more of a particular quality, we can use two -er form adjectives connected by and, or we can use more and more before an adjective. We don’t follow such comparisons with than:

The weather is getting hotter and hotter.

I’m getting more and more interested in conservation these days.

Comparative adjectives: the -er, the -er and the more …, the more …

If a person or things gains more of a particular quality and this causes a parallel increase of another quality, we can repeat the + a comparative adjective:

The colder it is, the hungrier I get. (as the weather gets colder, I get hungrier)

The more generous you are towards others, the more generous they are likely to be towards you.

Reduced forms after comparatives

After than, we often don’t repeat subject pronouns with impersonal subjects, or auxiliary verbs with passive voice verbs:

The exam results were better than predicted. (preferred to … better than people predicted.)

Temperatures that summer were higher than previously recorded. (preferred to … than were previously recorded.)

Less and not as/not so with comparatives

We use less with longer adjectives (interesting, beautiful, complicated), but we don’t normally use less with short adjectives of one syllable (big, good, high, small). Instead we use not as … as …, or not so … as … Not as is more common than not so:

The second method was less complicated than the first one.

This new laptop is not as fast as my old one. I’m sorry I bought it now. (preferred to is less fast than my old one.)

Prepositions after superlative adjectives

We don’t normally use of before a singular name of a place or group after a superlative adjective:

The castle is the oldest building in the city.

Not: The castle is the oldest building of the city …

She’s the youngest musician in the orchestra.

However, we can use of with a plural word referring to a group:

All the sisters are pretty, but Sarah’s the prettiest of them all.

The with superlative adjectives

When a superlative adjective is followed by a noun, we normally use the:

This is the best meal I’ve had for a long time.

Not: This is best meal …

In informal situations, we can often omit the after a linking verb (be, seem) or a verb of the senses (look, taste) if there is no noun:

[talking about sweaters in a shop]

They’ve got them in red, green or grey. Which looks best?

If you want to get a message to Peter, email is quickest. He never answers the phone.

Other determiners with superlative adjectives

Before a superlative adjective, we can use a possessive determiner (my, his, their), or the + a number (two, three, first, second), or a possessive determiner + a number:

My worst score ever in an exam was zero. I just couldn’t answer any of the questions.

Birmingham is the second biggest city in England.

His two best friends organised a surprise party for him on his fortieth birthday.

Emphasising superlative adjectives

We can make a superlative adjective stronger with by far, easily or of all:

The Beatles were by far the most successful rock band of the 1960s.

This method is by far the least complicated.

She’s easily the best dancer in the group. No one is as elegant as her.

There were a number of excellent poems entered for the competition, but the best poem of all was written by a ten-year-old boy.

In more formal situations, we can use quite:

This is quite the most irresponsible behaviour I have ever seen.

To-infinitives after superlative adjectives

We can use a to-infinitive after a superlative adjective, with a meaning similar to a relative clause with who, which or that:

Who was the oldest person to compete in the London Marathon of 2008? (Who was the oldest person who competed …?)

The Golden Swan was the largest sailing-ship ever to be used in battle.

See also:

Relative clauses

Comparative adjectives: typical errors

A comparative adjective is followed by than, not that or as:

The next hotel we tried was more expensive than the first one.

Not: … more expensive that the first one … or …more expensive as the first one …

After a superlative adjective, we don’t normally use of before a singular name of a place or group:

She was the tallest girl in the team.

Not: She was the tallest girl of the team.

We use the superlative, not the comparative, when we compare more than two people or things:

Which is the city’s biggest hotel?

Not: … bigger hotel


sumber :
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/comparison-adjectives-bigger-biggest-more-interesting

Business English 2 Assignment Part II

Exercise 26 : Adjective and Adverb

1. well
2. intense
3. brightly
4. fluent
5. fluently
6. smooth
7. accurately
8. bitter
9. soon
10. fast

Exercise 27 : Linking (Copulative) verb

1. terrible
2. good
3. good
4. calm
5. sick
6. quickly
7. deligently
8. vehemntly
9. relaxed
10. noisy

Exercise 28 : Comparisons

1. as soon
2. more important
3. as well
4. more expensive
5. as hot
6. more talented
7. more colorful
8. happier
9. worse
10. faster

Exercise 29 : Comparisons

1. than
2. than
3. from
4. than
5. as
6. than
7. as
8. than
9. than
10. from

Exercise 30 : Comparisons

1. Better
2. Happiest
3. Faster
4. Creamist
5. More colorful
6. Better
7. Good
8. more awkwardly
9. least
10. prettier
11. the best
12. than
13. less impressive
14. the sicker
15. than
16. twice as much as
17. few
18. much
19. farthest
20. more famous