{"id":2027,"date":"2016-04-24T17:31:53","date_gmt":"2016-04-24T17:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=2027"},"modified":"2016-04-18T17:43:05","modified_gmt":"2016-04-18T17:43:05","slug":"dont-panic-thaw-whats-frozen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/04\/dont-panic-thaw-whats-frozen.html","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Panic! Thaw What’s Frozen"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image<\/a>
Image courtesy of dan\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Are there some places you \u00a0just don’t go to? Some ideas or images that make you immediately close your eyes and mind? Is there something within you that’s frozen – with fear and panic.<\/p>\n

This world can certainly bring on a sense of anxiety. And such worry can weigh heavily on us, making us heavier and heavier in spirit until, with all that weight, we lock up, frozen as we look at what’s happening and worse, what\u00a0could<\/em><\/del> happen to us, our loved ones, and our “little corner” of the globe.<\/p>\n

But still inside of us is a Spirit infused with\u00a0courage and ingenuity that never leaves us. God-given, always ready, if we reflect on the potential the Spirit poses for us, we can warm to its blazing light, gain wisdom and begin to thaw. As we do this,\u00a0we understand that there are tangible things we can do so that we are more effective in the world than we’d previously thought. We can take more, not less, charge of events and how they effect us. We can rise above pain and tragedy to experience God’s healing and goodness.<\/p>\n

We can\u00a0live<\/em> in light, not sticking to the dark corners where we believe (erroneously) that more tragedy won’t tough us.<\/p>\n

My new book,\u00a0Don’t Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough<\/em>, recognizes that crises will occur. There will be times when we’ll feel those fingers of iciness moving through us, threatening to freeze us from positive, practical action. But we can also act decisively to shake off the chills and thaw what’s frozen, for the better!<\/p>\n

Peace,<\/p>\n

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

Are there some places you \u00a0just don’t go to? Some ideas or images that make you immediately close your eyes and mind? Is there something within you that’s frozen – with fear and panic. This world can certainly bring on a sense of anxiety. And such worry can weigh heavily on us, making us heavier…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[360,43,1242,1047,578,1245,1246],"tags":[2001,2115,2045,2002,2116,2117],"class_list":["post-2027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-determination","category-encouragement-in-life","category-food-for-thought","category-good","category-goodness","category-positive","category-uplifting","tag-dont-panic","tag-frozen-with-fear","tag-maureen-pratt","tag-new-book-by-maureen-pratt","tag-panic-and-us","tag-panic-in-a-crisis"],"yoast_head":"\nDon't Panic! 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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\/2027","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=2027"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2028,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027\/revisions\/2028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}