{"id":1456,"date":"2014-11-25T02:29:28","date_gmt":"2014-11-25T02:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1456"},"modified":"2014-11-21T22:37:57","modified_gmt":"2014-11-21T22:37:57","slug":"tlc-tuesday-stretch-yourself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/11\/tlc-tuesday-stretch-yourself.html","title":{"rendered":"TLC Tuesday: Stretch Yourself!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maureen<\/a>Feeling cramped? Confined? Constrained?<\/p>\n

Feel like you’re boxed up in a little corner of an even littler space?<\/p>\n

Times like this, you might want to think about stretching yourself!<\/p>\n

Physically, with all the sitting we do at work and home, our muscles can get mighty tight. Neck muscles, shoulders, even calves. Gentle stretching is a wonderful way to give them some tlc – and help you stay mobile when you most want to be!<\/p>\n

But, besides physical stretching, there’s personal and spirtual stretching, too. Strike up a conversation with someone new at work. Take the long way home. Learn a few phrases of a language you don’t speak, or sign up for (and take) a class that’s always interested you. Read an author you’ve never heard of, or a Scripture passage that’s always confused you. Learn about another religion, one that you know nothing about.<\/p>\n

These things might sound like work, but really they’re a way to reach beyond all that confinement and cramping that you feel.<\/p>\n

Today, consider stretching yourself – gently and with curiosity. You never know where God might lead you!<\/p>\n

Peace and joy,<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Feeling cramped? Confined? Constrained? Feel like you’re boxed up in a little corner of an even littler space? Times like this, you might want to think about stretching yourself! Physically, with all the sitting we do at work and home, our muscles can get mighty tight. Neck muscles, shoulders, even calves. Gentle stretching is a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,4,1246],"tags":[1372,1370,1182,1371],"class_list":["post-1456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-encouragement-in-life","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","category-uplifting","tag-spiritual-stretching","tag-stretching","tag-tlc-tuesday","tag-when-you-feel-confined"],"yoast_head":"\nTLC Tuesday: Stretch Yourself! - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/11\/tlc-tuesday-stretch-yourself.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TLC Tuesday: Stretch Yourself! - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Feeling cramped? Confined? Constrained? Feel like you’re boxed up in a little corner of an even littler space? Times like this, you might want to think about stretching yourself! Physically, with all the sitting we do at work and home, our muscles can get mighty tight. Neck muscles, shoulders, even calves. Gentle stretching is a…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/11\/tlc-tuesday-stretch-yourself.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-11-25T02:29:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-11-21T22:37:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/05\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic-246x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mpratt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"TLC Tuesday: Stretch Yourself! - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/11\/tlc-tuesday-stretch-yourself.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"TLC Tuesday: Stretch Yourself! - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","og_description":"Feeling cramped? Confined? Constrained? Feel like you’re boxed up in a little corner of an even littler space? Times like this, you might want to think about stretching yourself! Physically, with all the sitting we do at work and home, our muscles can get mighty tight. Neck muscles, shoulders, even calves. Gentle stretching is a…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/11\/tlc-tuesday-stretch-yourself.html","og_site_name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","article_published_time":"2014-11-25T02:29:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-11-21T22:37:57+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/05\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic-246x300.jpg"}],"author":"mpratt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/11\/tlc-tuesday-stretch-yourself.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/11\/tlc-tuesday-stretch-yourself.html","name":"TLC Tuesday: Stretch Yourself! - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/11\/tlc-tuesday-stretch-yourself.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/11\/tlc-tuesday-stretch-yourself.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/05\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic-246x300.jpg","datePublished":"2014-11-25T02:29:28+00:00","dateModified":"2014-11-21T22:37:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/11\/tlc-tuesday-stretch-yourself.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/11\/tlc-tuesday-stretch-yourself.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/11\/tlc-tuesday-stretch-yourself.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/05\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic-246x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/05\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic-246x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/11\/tlc-tuesday-stretch-yourself.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TLC Tuesday: Stretch Yourself!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/","name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","description":"Beliefnet Voices","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32","name":"mpratt","description":"Several years ago, Maureen Pratt earned her Master of Fine Arts in Theater Arts\/Playwriting from UCLA's School of Theater, FIlm and Television. She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1456"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1457,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1456\/revisions\/1457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}