What Is Your Outlet?

[00:00:00] Hey everyone, this is MJ and thank you for joining me. So I want to ask you something and I believe the answer will help you in the days to come. So if you're ready to open yourself up to a new level of happiness and joy please stay tuned.

[00:00:29] Okay so I want to ask you a question. What Is Your Outlet? Let me ask what is that? You know where does your energy go because it has to go somewhere. Any kind of appliance or device that has a plug doesn't work until you plug it into an

[00:00:54] outlet or a socket. Once it's plugged in then it has the power to do what it is designed to do. We as human beings are designed in a certain way. What goes in has to come out that happens naturally when we eat or drink.

[00:01:13] Our body takes what it needs and then the rest has to come out. Even when we are sick we don't feel better again until the toxins come out. When we are filled with emotion, you know we cry when we're angry with me lash out.

[00:01:31] Those are ways those emotions are released. You may not realize it yet but you do have an outlet. Everyone has one. The question is is it negative or positive? Watch people. Watch your children. If you pay attention they will tell you early what their outlet is.

[00:01:55] Is it video games? Is it art? Is it playing sports? Is it playing music? There are people who have positive outlets. Maybe it is music or cooking or fashion or writing and then you have people who have negative outlets like fighting and getting high.

[00:02:16] What's in you has to come out? The question is how does it come out? It's important to analyze your internal man. You have to learn to control your emotions, your thoughts. You really do have control.

[00:02:36] Something that is not helping to do with the whole things in or let things out in a negative way. Have you ever met someone who is better? Always angry? The smallest things make them jump off. They can take out things on innocent people.

[00:02:57] They always have something negative to say. These people allow anger to take root in them and grow. They never allow it to come out properly. Some of the causes of this is trauma and you have trauma responses.

[00:03:16] You have fight and that's people who lash out and bully and then you have a flight. Those people like to run away from the problem. They're work of hollocks and they're overthinkers. And then you have friends and those are people who have a hard time making decisions

[00:03:36] and they disassociate themselves. And then you have fun and those people are people, pleasers and have absolutely no boundaries. You don't have to choose one of these responses but I'm encouraging you to turn negative responses into positive ones.

[00:03:58] Some of the greatest authors, speakers, athletes use their skills and abilities as an outlet. There are a lot of people who have been through much trauma, much pain but they turn it into something positive to help other people to inspire other people.

[00:04:23] One thing that is beautiful to me is ministry and ministry can definitely be used as an outlet. If you listen to the interviews on this podcast, it's about people who have overcome hard obstacles whose pain was turned into purpose.

[00:04:43] I want to encourage you to use that as an outlet, to use your gift as an outlet. Don't alert hard times, disappointment and rejection to take rooting you. I know it's hard but let the Lord turn all of those things into something beautiful.

[00:05:04] It's never too late, that's alive from the enemy. I don't care what age you are, I don't care how much failure you may have experienced. It's not too late to start again. It's not too late to live your dream.

[00:05:22] If you are breathing, if you are living, then you have time to do wonderful things. Try something new, discover yourself. You may be surprised by what's in you. Sometimes your trials and tribulations reveal that. Sometimes lonely seasons reveal that.

[00:05:47] Maybe you have achieved certain things and you think that's all there is to you. But there may be much more. So never get comfortable. Another outlet that we can use is crying. Sometimes that is a way to let it out.

[00:06:07] Some people don't like to cry because it makes them look and feel vulnerable, but tears are actually a good outlet. There are literally benefits to crying according to health professionals, like relieving stress and healing grief. It aids sleep and it enhances mood. God may tears.

[00:06:32] They have a language, they speak, and he understands them. But when you are in sorrow, remember, you don't have to stay there. You actually are not supposed to stay there. Psalms 30 and 5 for his anger and death by the moment, and his favor is life.

[00:06:55] Weeping may endure for a night, but joy come within the morning, and Psalms 126 and 5. They that so entiers shall reap in joy. Even Jesus had an outlet because he was filled with love, light and truth. That is what came out. It came out through his healing and deliverance.

[00:07:24] It came out through his teachings. But our enemy, the enemy of our soul, he's filled with hate, and that's what comes out of him. John 10 and 10, the thief come at night, but for to steal and to kill and to destroy.

[00:07:45] I am calm that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. Another thing you can do is check your circle. More than likely, they have a similar outlet. Isn't that interesting? The people that are around you. And you should do this too.

[00:08:09] Find out who you click with. Who is that person that gets you? There is no struggle or strain to come up with solutions or ideas or creativity. And those things are able to flow like a river.

[00:08:28] It seems like you have similar thinking or your hearts are in the same place. That person can actually be a tool in helping you. Your outlet should never feel like a chore. It shouldn't make you feel drained or frustrated all the time.

[00:08:49] If you find yourself feeling that way, then you need to find your healthy outlet. As I was preparing this episode, I was thinking about myself. And what are some of my outlets? Well, I know one of them are. I like connecting with people through conversations.

[00:09:09] So it doesn't surprise me that I'm doing a podcast. Learning from people and hearing their stories that always inspires me. And then another thing I like to do is I like to read. I like knowledge. Well, actually I love knowledge. I love learning new things.

[00:09:30] And so reading is one of my outlets. And I remember this one time in my life where I was working a job. It was so stressful. My boss, he was horrible you guys. He was on me so much. And I was so stressed that my body was responding.

[00:09:53] I used to wake up with headaches. And on the type of person, I don't even get headaches. But working for this person, I had headaches. At the time I was in school, my grades were going down. I couldn't concentrate. All of these things.

[00:10:08] And it got so bad I had to just quit because it was just too much for me. And I remember when I resigned, I went to go get a massage to just help me. Like relieve the stress. And the lady was like, where do you work?

[00:10:26] What do you do? And at the time, I was in a administrative assistant. And it was like, what do you do? Because I had so many knots and stuff in my neck and my back. And it was like change your job. They literally said change your job.

[00:10:41] I said, oh my goodness, this is bad. And so I remember after that experience, I would read. I would read books on like health or I would look up things on health. And that's how I really get into health.

[00:10:56] Like, I would just read about healthy foods and what they do for your body and what they do for your mind. And it just really intrigued me. I was so fascinated by that. And that's how I kind of get into health.

[00:11:07] I'm always preaching health to people all the time. And that's how I get into it because it just really reading about it. It just really calmed me down and brought me to a place of peace after that. So reading is one. And then music is definitely another.

[00:11:25] I love music. I love listening to music. I love playing music. I'm a musician. I love creating music and the Lord opened up a door for me and he blessed me to be over a choir and I'm over a college choir.

[00:11:42] And this choir is multicultural and there are people from all over the world. And I love working with people from different cultures. They were teaching me their language and stuff. It was such beautiful, beautiful time working with them.

[00:11:57] We had our first concert this year and it was just awesome. We were singing and some of them are saying that they never sung us from music before and how they really like it. Everybody had an accent because everybody was from somewhere different people in

[00:12:15] their from Armenia, Russia, Ukraine, all different parts of the world. And it was just such a beautiful thing to see all of these people from these different places come together and make beautiful music. That is an out-left for me music.

[00:12:29] And so those are some of mine, but I want to ask you what is yours? What is that thing that you enjoy doing? What is that thing that brings you joy effortlessly without strain? That brings you peace? I really hope this episode encourages you to discover that.

[00:12:55] Because most times we engage in things that we don't like or that we don't enjoy. Instead of doing things that we really do enjoy and we really like. And I want to let you know that you are entitled to joy. So discover it and then live in it.

[00:13:17] There are people in this world that stay mad or sad. And I truly believe it's because they don't have an outlet or they don't use their outlet or they use the wrong outlet. Your outlet may not fit you according to other people's opinions, but you can't worry

[00:13:40] about what they say. This is about you and what makes you happy. So I want to talk about my last outlet. I have many outlets, but another one that I truly enjoy and that's ministry. It brings me so much fulfillment to talk to others about the Lord.

[00:14:02] And I don't do it in just in charge. I've been plenty of times where ministry opportunities came to me outside of church. And sometimes we feel that it doesn't make a difference, but it does.

[00:14:16] You may never know the impact you have on someone, but ministry is always a good outlet. It doesn't always mean that you're going to stand in the pulpit or behind a podium all

[00:14:30] of the time your ministry may be in the nursing home or maybe doing a mission work or maybe working with young people or maybe writing books or maybe doing a podcast. There are so many things that you can do in ministry.

[00:14:47] Your ministry outlet has purpose, so don't underestimate it. So I want to ask you, for the last time what is your outlet? Maybe you haven't discovered it yet. Well I hope after listening to this, you will go on a little treasure hunt to find

[00:15:10] that thing that brings you joy. It's in you, you just need to find it. I hope you enjoy today's episode if you have not already, please subscribe because there'll be many inspirational episodes that will become your way. And now you guys, you can send me a text message.

[00:15:28] The link is in the show notes. It comes straight to me. It's not a robot or anything. So if you want to text me, just say, hey, if you want to shoot me a show, a suggestion

[00:15:37] that you may have or a chit chat, I'm more than willing to do that. So send me a text and also you can check out our website and that link will be in the show notes as well. Wow. Who knew? Choosing a healthy outlet would change my life.