Anxiety

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

Page 159 of 501 · 20 per page

• From A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (BDB) (1907)

  Faye WMT vb. haste, make haste (As. 2asu, D1?™, Eth. Ai; on this vb. v. N66 58) Qal Pf. 3 ms. חש‎ Dt 32* (or Pé., but v. Di), rs. NWO > 119% Impf. 3 fs. vinn) (sic!) Jb 31° Gesi?®9; Imv. ז חוּשָה‎ 20%+4+6t.y,+ 71” Qr (Kt (חישה‎ ; Inf. sf. חושי‎ Th 207; Pe. act. vn Hb *ד‎ + 18 8 in n.pr.; pass. UN Nu 32"; but v.infr. :—make haste Dt 32 )|| (קרוב‎ p19; in prophetic n.pr. 12 UO שָלָל‎ 2 Is 815; of eagle (in sim. of Chald. army) נשר חש לאכול‎ Hb 18; Jb 32° subj. ,רגל‎ sq. חושי בִי ;עלדמרמה‎ Jb 20° my haste in me, 1.6. my inward excite- ment—esp. Jmv. 18 20% ,(מהרה||)‎ and in py: sq. ny? 22% 38% yo! 70? 71” (Qr); sq. yo® 1411; pt. pass. DWN yon Nu 32”, but prob. for DWN (Kn Di comp. Ex 13" etc.); Ba*?™ retains DWN and regards it as act. (in- trans.)=hastening. Hiph. 27: החיש‎ Juz0%; Impf. יחיש‎ Is 28%; nen eoh.. 5° (Ges**5); אֶחִישָה‎ coh. / 55°; sf. אחִישנָה‎ Is 60”;—1. shew haste, act quickly Ju 20"; hasten, come quickly Is 5 (subj. מעשהו‎ , ||"; others: let him hasten on lis work), UT Is 28" hasten away (flee), or hasten about distractedly (si vera 1.; Che Guthe rd. ימיש‎ yield, give way). 2. transit. c. sf. Is 60” J will hasten it; c. ace. 55° I would hasten (=secure quickly) my escape. | tT חיש‎ adv. quickly, כי גז חיש‎ go” of passing away of human life. TI. [WITT] vb. feel, enjoy (with the senses) (Now comp. Ar. \ == feel, perceive by senses; NH UN feel pain; Aram. as, WN, feel pain; חושה Eth. :ית‎ perception)—only Qal Jmpf. 3 ms. | WAM יאכל גּמי‎ 1D Ec 2” who can eat and who can feel (i.e. enjoy pleasure)? in‏ 1806 == חור n.pr.m. a ‘son’ of‏ חוּשה1 Judah 1 Ch 4’.‏ adj.gent. of foregoing :--1. of‏ חשתיז וש 20% Sri Ch‏ כ הח ant.‏ ו Ch ra?) 0 in hae.‏ 1= so‏ 85% 2 ח' 87‘ .1 npr.m.‏ חוטי1 AY 15% friend of David, so‏ דוד called‏ ,17°4 16b-17-18 I Ch 2 also I S Ti EEE‏ ד cf.‏ הלה K 4” father of one of Solomon’s officers.‏ 2.1 1k own, חשים‎ n.pr.f. wife of Shaharaim of Benjamin, חושים‎ x Ch 8% DWN v2. Gn 46%‏ וּבָנִי דן OWT n.pr.m. of Dan,’N‏ .צנ שּמֶם = cf, WN 32 DVN 1 Ch 7? (v. Be VB);‏ v2,‏ שוּחְתִי (q.v-) Nu 26% ef.‏ Town, own n.pr.m. a king of Edom: ovn Gn 3645 —pvan 1 Ch 1°45, onin .ץצ‎ sub onn. חזה .1 sub‏ חַזַהאֶל .+ חִזְאָל +1. STITT .מל‎ (almost wholly poet.) see, be- hold (Aram. Vue, NIM, sce, perceive with the eyes ; Palm. Ethp. Innx = bogey Reckendorf 7"% 9; Ar. SP perceive with the inner vision, only ; = astronomer, astrologer)—Qal Pf. ץ ח'‎ 58" + 6% 00 Pr 22” 29% NN Is 57% NN זל‎

• From The History of Christian Theology (2008)

  96 Lecture 27: From Puritans to Revivalists Jonathan Edwards, who was Stoddard’s grandson, rejected the Halfway covenant and sparked a revival instead. Revival, in this original sense, meant a period of months in which there was a special outpouring of grace resulting in many conversions. Revival, for Edwards, was God’s solution to the problem that conversion cannot be accomplished by human effort but solely by the grace of God. Wesley and others involved in the Great Awakening of 1740–1742 in New England read Edwards’s book about the revival in his church in 1734–1735. Jonathan Edwards articulated a Calvinist theology of conversion and revival. The high Calvinism of Puritans like Edwards left unregenerate sinners no recourse but to wait for God to convert them. Hence Puritan preachers did not have the option of preaching what Luther called the Gospel, the promise of grace to sinners. The conversions in Edwards’s church followed an experiential pattern that re À ected Edwards’s theology. The pattern begins with conviction or awakening, that is, a sense of anxiety and guilt produced by the preaching of the Law, which shows unregenerate sinners that they deserve damnation. The key turning point is when the sinners give up struggling against the Law and admit, in the depths of their heart, that God is right to condemn them. This admission is precisely the beginning of an unsel ¿ sh faith which honors the truth and righteousness of God. Edwards’s famous and terrifying sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” is designed to facilitate such awakening. Edwards had a profound inÀ uence on later New England theology, especially in his concept of the human will. Edwards argued against Arminian notions Portrait of preacher John Wesley, the greatest Arminian theologian of all time. © Photos.com/Thinkstock.

• From Tipping the Velvet (1998)

  I had said that I would see her at the entrance to the public house at six o’clock, and it must, I thought, be past six now ... Even as I thought it, the carriage slowed in the traffic and I saw her standing there, a little way along the street, waiting for me. The brougham crawled still slower; from behind the lace of its windows I could see her perfectly, frowning to her left and right, then bending her head to look at the watch at her bosom, then raising a hand to tuck a curl in place. Her face, I thought, was so very plain and kind. I had a sudden urge to tug at the latch of the door, and race down the street to her side; I could at least, I thought, call to the driver to stop his horse, so that I might shout some apology to her ...But while I sat, anxious and undecided, the traffic grew swift, the carriage gave a jerk, and in a moment Judd Street and plain, kind Florence were far behind me. I could not bear the thought, then, of asking the forbidding Mr Shilling to turn the horse around, for all that I was his mistress for the afternoon. And besides, what would I say to her? I would never, I supposed, be free to meet with her again; and I could hardly expect to have her visit me at Diana’s. She would be surprised, I thought, and cross, when I didn’t turn up: the third woman to be disappointed by me that day. I was sorry, too - but, on reflection, not terribly sorry. Not terribly sorry at all. When I returned to Felicity Place - for that, I saw now, was the name of the square in which my mistress had her home - I was greeted with gifts. I found Diana in the upstairs parlour, bathed and dressed at last, and with her hair in plaits and elaborately pinned. She looked handsome, in a gown of grey and crimson, with her waist very narrow and her back very straight. I recalled those laces and ties I had fumbled over the night before: there was no sign of them now beneath the smooth sheath of her bodice. The thought of that invisible linen and corsetry, which a maid’s steady fingers had fastened and concealed and my own trembling hands, I guessed, would later uncover and undo, was rather thrilling.

• From Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Cycle of Anxious Thoughts (2020)

  Now we are about to go to battle against the unfettered thoughts that define us. Once the thought has been interrupted, we enter neutral ground. We then get to decide whether we are going to choose life and peace, the mind of Christ, the fruit of the Spirit—or sin and death, the mind of the flesh. In each of the next seven chapters, we are going to retrain our minds to think about truth. As we go to war with each toxic, twisted thought, we will begin to see the fruit and freedom of believing truth, walking moment by moment in our identity as children of God. The spiraling, chaotic thoughts that have so long kept us trapped will give way to the peace and beauty and abundant life Jesus died to give us. [image file=Image00030.jpg] 8 Holding Space for Silence I Choose to Be Still with God A friend reached out to me not long ago. She was spinning so fast emotionally that you could see it affecting her physically. I placed my hands on the outsides of her arms, as if to hold her up—or hold her still—as she spoke. Her marriage was in knots. One of her kids was acting out. Her pace of life was making her crazy. A misunderstanding had caused a rift between her and a dear friend. I listened to her describe these struggles, and I knew I did not hold the power to stop her spinning in that moment. While there were a dozen or more practical problems to untangle, before any of that she needed the only thing that could bring peace. “I love you,” I said as I looked into her eyes, “but you need Jesus right now.” Yes, there would be time for us to connect. Yes, I would help in any way I could. Yes, my friend would need the support of her people as she navigated the path ahead. But now, first, while the rotations were coming fast and furious, she needed to be alone with God. She needed what only Jesus gives. I said, “Right now I am going to leave you, and you spend thirty minutes alone with God.” She said she would. In the stillness and quiet, not only do we connect with God but we are also able to more clearly identify what is wrong. Recognizing our spirals and naming them is the first step in interrupting them. She had been spinning and desperate and dying for answers, yet when I checked in twenty-four hours later, the only thing she had to report to me were the twenty reasons that time alone with God just hadn’t happened.

• From Generation Anxiety: A Millennial and Gen Z Guide to Staying Afloat in an Uncertain World (2023)

  Before I talk myself out of it, though, and bargain for another month to postpone my plans, I come back to my own empowered acceptance. I know what I value. I want to build a family—especially with Greg. I know he’ll make the most incredible dad and I can hardly wait to see that happen. If I continued to delay, I would be forgoing a long-standing love for something that I know matters immensely to me—all for the temporary alleviation of a potentially inconvenient schedule. Not everything in life is about seeking comfort or the avoidance of unease. I come back to it over and over again: it’s about values induction, not pain reduction. I don’t have to buy into the narrative that women can’t have incredible careers and be parents at the same time. Both can coexist. If I allowed myself to indulge, there would always be an excuse for why “now” isn’t a good time. That’s anxiety, people-pleasing, and perfectionism talking. I know what I want, and I remember deeply in my bones: somehow, in some way, it will all be okay. It will be worth it, one way or another. Anxiety will be along for the ride, but I’m the one calling this shot about becoming a mom. I get how scary it feels to enter the unknown. It’s safer to sit on the shores of our lives and tell ourselves, “Maybe someday.” We’ll get a new job next year. We’ll move eventually. But what I’m learning is that there is never a good time. The timing will never be perfect. You just have to go for it and live in the goop of unpredictability. It’s a tall order if you’re someone who has lived with anxiety, like I and so many of my clients have. But it’s an order that you’re ready to fill. If you don’t trust yourself yet, I hope you’ll trust me when I tell you that you can do it. I should know—I’ve seen client after client pursue their values before they were ready or when it was incredibly uncomfortable. I’ve never had any of them express regret for making the brave choice. As you step forward, I want you to know that you are more than your anxiety. It does not have to define your life. You are not an “anxious person.” You are a person who feels anxiety. It is not your identity. Your anxiety doesn’t need to stop you from embracing your life fully. Ask yourself what you would do with yourself if fear weren’t a part of the equation. Now do that. Anxiety does not need to be the excuse anymore. No matter what your anxiety makes you want to do, whether it’s to flee or freeze or postpone, challenge yourself to have an opposite response.

• From Generation Anxiety: A Millennial and Gen Z Guide to Staying Afloat in an Uncertain World (2023)

  It’s at this point when we feel the strongest pull to avoid the exposure, or to engage in a compulsive behavior to alleviate our distress. This is often done innocuously. We continue with these behaviors because they momentarily relieve anxiety. The problem is that every time we do this dance of avoidance, checking, or any other compulsive behavior, the wave of our anxiety gets bigger and bigger until we feel like it’s impossible to ride out the wave. Before long, we want to get out of the water entirely. We want to stay home, bail on our friends, and keep ourselves safe by eliminating as many triggers as possible. Before we know it, we’re struggling with agoraphobia, where we can’t leave our homes and our friends have given up on inviting us to hang out. Thankfully, there’s a way out. ERP therapy operates on the idea of habituation. Here’s how it works: while the wave of your anxiety spikes when you first face a fear, anxiety levels ultimately go down when you tackle that fear over and over again. With each exposure we see that the wave’s peak gets smaller. We begin to get desensitized to the threat. This works on a behavioral level. When we witness for ourselves that we can survive our anticipatory anxiety and our feared situations, the brain starts to believe that we just might be able to manage it. This is why it’s so important that we show ourselves we can sit with the discomfort of our distress. It reminds us that we’re often far more resilient than we realize. I’ve done this work myself and I get what a delicate dance this is. That’s why I highly recommend working with a provider who specializes in ERP to guide you through this process. I’ve seen how ERP can be life-changing and I’ve also seen how it can be traumatizing when it’s not done well. After grappling for years with emetophobia, I decided to give ERP a try. Even though I knew it would be uncomfortable, I was sick (pun intended) of ruminating about getting food poisoning after meals, scanning the streets for vomit whenever we walked outside, and avoiding places such as bars because I could possibly see someone get sick. The biggest way that it was impacting me was that it was completely impeding my decision to think clearly about getting pregnant someday. Now, I completely empathize if you’re hesitant to start this kind of therapy—I know I was: “You mean I have to actively face my biggest fear? Yeah, I don’t think so.” But my distress was too great. You know if you’ve been there before (or if you’re there right now) that you can reach a point where you’re willing to get uncomfortable if it means relief could be on the other side. That’s where I was when I decided to start ERP. I worked with my own therapist to create my anxiety hierarchy.

• From Generation Anxiety: A Millennial and Gen Z Guide to Staying Afloat in an Uncertain World (2023)

  5. You often have visions or nightmares about the worst-case scenario happening to your loved ones. 6. Even though you may need alone time, you push yourself to be with others because you feel a pressure that this could be your last chance to have quality time together. 7. You feel like you will never be okay again once your loved one passes away or if they were to leave you. 8. You have trouble leaving your home or another place where your loved one lives. You’d rather be with them than go somewhere new by yourself or to meet new people. 9. You often have somatic symptoms (headaches, nausea, panic symptoms) when a goodbye is coming up or happening. 10. Every time the phone rings you worry that something bad has happened. If a lot of this is hitting home for you, you’re not alone. I would argue that our generation has seen an uptick in separation anxiety. Why? Because we have so much unpredictability in our lives. Things have changed—drastically. No one and nowhere feels safe. Many of us now refuse to go to movie theaters, shopping malls, or concerts because we’re so afraid of what might happen. The grim reality is that we never know when our loved ones could be ripped from us. Even though our world is considered safer than it was even in the 1990s (which as a true Millennial I consider the golden era of Spice Girls and Disney Channel original movies), we don’t trust our security in this world. 192 In fact, while half of all Americans report that they feel unsafe at some point every single day, more than 75 percent of younger Americans between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-four note that they feel nervous about their safety on a daily basis. That means that only 25 percent of young adults feel safe as they move about their lives. Fifty percent of us won’t use a rideshare service because we feel it’s dangerous. We don’t trust others and we don’t even feel safe in our own homes. Forty-two percent of us, when home alone, feel unprotected— myself included. 193 I would argue that September 11 was a significant event that shaped our sense of security in the world for Millennials and Generation Z, just as the COVID-19 crisis will likely shape Generation Alpha. On a fateful fall day, what began as a seemingly normal Tuesday morning turned into one of the most epic tragedies of our time. We witnessed a massive amount of death and destruction on our television screens while we ate our Cheerios. It changed everything. All of a sudden, nowhere felt safe anymore.

• From Tipping the Velvet (1998)

  I asked. ‘Past Sam Collins’s, on Upper Street. Not so far as the post office. A little doorway on the left-hand side, somewhere between a public-house and a tailor’s ...’ This was all he could recall; I thought it might be enough. I thanked him, and he smiled. ‘What a lovely black eye,’ he said again, but to his daughter this time. ‘Just like the song - ain’t it, Betty?’ By now I felt as if I had been on my feet for a month. I suspected that my boots had worn their way right through my stockings, and had started on the bare flesh of my toes and heels and ankles. But I did not stop at another bench, and untie my laces, in order to find out. The wind had picked up a little and, though it was only two o’clock or so, the sky was grey as lead. I wasn’t sure what time the charity offices might close; I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to find them; I didn’t know if Florence would even be there, when I did. So I walked rather quickly up Pentonville Hill, and let my feet be rubbed to puddings, and tried to plan what I would say to her when I found her. This, however, proved difficult. After all, she was a girl I hardly knew; worse - I could not help but recall this, now - I had once arranged to meet her, then let her down. Would she, even, remember me at all? In that gloomy Green Street passageway I had been certain that she would. But with every burning step, I grew less sure of it. It did not, as it turned out, take me very long to find the right office. The man’s memory was a good one, and Upper Street itself seemed wonderfully unchanged since his last visit there: the public-house and the tailor’s were quite as he had described them, close together on the left-hand side of the street, just past the music hall. In between them were three or four doors, leading to the rooms and offices above; and upon one of these was screwed a little enamel plaque, which said: Ponsonby’s Model Dwelling Houses. Directress Miss J. A. D. Derby - I remembered this very well now as the name of the lady with the mandolin. Beneath the plaque was a hand-written, rain-spattered note with an arrow pointing to a bell-pull at the side of the door. Please Ring, it said, and Enter. So, with some trepidation, I did both. The passageway behind the door was very long and very gloomy. It led to a window, which looked out at a view of bricks and oozing drain-pipes; and from here there was only one way to proceed, and that was upwards, via a set of naked stairs.

• From Tipping the Velvet (1998)

  He shook his head.‘Not even with that. Haven’t you worked, these past six months - harder than Kitty, almost? You know the act as well as she; you know her songs, her bits of business - why, you taught them to her, most of them!’‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘This is all so new, and strange. All my life I’ve loved the music hall, but I never thought of getting up upon the stage, myself...’‘Didn’t you?’ he said then. ‘Didn’t you, really?’ Every time you saw some little serio-comic captivate the crowd, at that Palace of yours, in Canterbury, didn’t you wish that it was you? Didn’t you close your eyes and see your name upon the programmes, your number in the box? Didn’t you sing to your - oyster-barrel - as if it were a crowded hall, and you could make those little fishes weep, or shriek with laughter?’I bit my nail, and frowned. ‘Dreams,’ I said.He snapped his fingers. ‘The very stuff that stages are made of.’‘Where would we start?’ I said then. ‘Who would offer us a spot?’‘The manager here would. Tonight. I’ve already spoken with him -’‘Tonight!’‘Just one song. He’ll find space for you in his programme; and if they like you, he’ll keep you there.’‘Tonight...’ I looked at Walter in dismay. His face was very kind, and his eyes seemed bluer and more earnest than ever. But what he said made me tremble. I thought of the hall, hot and bright and filled with jeering faces. I thought of that stage, so wide and empty. I thought: I cannot do it, not even for Walter’s sake. Not even for Kitty’s.I made to shake my head. He saw, and quickly spoke again - spoke, perhaps for the first time in all the months that I had known him, with something that was almost guile. He said: ‘You know, of course, that we cannot throw over the idea of the double act, now that we have hit upon it. If you don’t wish to partner Kitty, there’ll be some other girl who does. We can spread the word, place notices, audition. You mustn’t feel that you are letting Kitty down...’I looked from him to the stage, where Kitty herself sat on the edge of a beam of limelight, sipping at her cup, swinging her legs, and smiling at some word of the conductor’s. The thought that she might take another partner - might stroll before the footlights with another girl’s arm through hers, another girl’s voice rising and blending with her own - had not occurred to me.

• From Tipping the Velvet (1998)

  And talk from here’ — I touched the buckle on his trousers, and he twitched - ‘not from your throat. Go on.’“‘Why Socialism?” he read again, in a deep, unnatural voice. ’ That is the question I have been invited to discuss with you this afternoon. “Why Socialism?” I shall keep my answer rather brief.’I sucked at my lip. ‘Some joker is sure to shout “Hurrah” at that point, you know.’‘Not really, Nance?’‘You may count on it. But you mustn’t let it unsettle you, or you’ll be done for. Go on, now, let’s hear the rest.’He read the speech - it was a matter of two or three pages, no more - and I listened, and frowned.‘You will talk into the paper,’ I said at the end. ‘No one will be able to hear. They will get bored, and start talking amongst themselves. I have seen it happen a hundred times.’‘But I must read the words,’ he said. I shook my head.‘You shall have to learn them, there’s nothing else for it. You shall have to get the piece by heart.’‘What? All this?’ He gazed miserably at the pages.‘A day or two’s work,’ I said. Then I put my hand upon his arm. ‘It is either that, Ralph, or we shall have to put you in a funny suit...’And so through the whole of April and half of May - for of course it took considerably longer than one or two days for him to learn even so much as a quarter of the words - Ralph and I laboured together over his little speech, forcing the phrases into his head and finding all sorts of tricks to make them stay there.

• From Generation Anxiety: A Millennial and Gen Z Guide to Staying Afloat in an Uncertain World (2023)

  170 Part of why we can feel panicky is because the vagus nerve, the longest cranial nerve in the body, can get dysregulated and start ricocheting a whole host of unpleasantries in the body, including but not limited to IBS, heartburn, dizziness, tachycardia, seizures, and migraines. 171 The vagus nerve holds tremendous power in our bodies as it toggles back and forth between our fight-flight mode and our parasympathetic mode, which is when we feel more at ease. Feeling anxious can be an indicator that the vagus nerve is not cooperating with us. Thankfully, there are some quick ways that you can start to regulate it. Bookmark this page to turn back to as a quick reference the next time you feel panicky: • Use cold water: A chilled drink on your forehead or a thirty-second cold shower can trigger feelings of relaxation. 172 • Sing along with music: Not only does singing strengthen our breathing muscles and upregulate immunoglobulin A, which improves our immune system, the physical act of singing or humming stimulates the vagus nerve when we exhale. 173 • Get a twenty-second hug: This releases the cuddle hormone, oxytocin, in our bodies and can bring a sense of peace and closeness while increasing our heart rate variability. 174 • Breathwork: By practicing diaphragmatic breathing (where you can feel your belly expanding), the vagus nerve is activated and we have improved oxygen saturation. 175 If you’re confused by this or not sure how to practice belly breathing, lie on the floor and put a few books on your stomach. This will help you feel your stomach filling with air, rather than your chest. There are so many great breathwork apps that can help you with this, including Calm, Headspace, Insight Timer, and more. Whether you’re grappling with panic attacks, struggling with insomnia, or wanting to be more intentional about the food you put in your body, I hope this chapter will help inspire you to settle into yourself. Invest the time to understand what’s going on beneath your surface (start by getting your bloodwork done!) and then take the steps to actually heal. This won’t be a one-and-done resolution. This is a lifetime of daily choices—it’s a lifestyle. Living from a place of wellness takes dedication. It’s a lot easier to no-show on an appointment than to do the work sometimes. However, when you show up for yourself, you’re sending your brain and body a powerful message. You are explicitly saying that you are worth it—that you deserve care. As Suma came to see, things can get better when you take action. The waves of anxiety will come and go, but you can learn how to ride them. Don’t give up on yourself or your body. Give yourself time and gift yourself with options. Your approach to your care can be creative.

• From Tipping the Velvet (1998)

  I sucked at my lip. ‘Some joker is sure to shout “Hurrah” at that point, you know.’ ‘Not really, Nance?’ ‘You may count on it. But you mustn’t let it unsettle you, or you’ll be done for. Go on, now, let’s hear the rest.’ He read the speech - it was a matter of two or three pages, no more - and I listened, and frowned. ‘You will talk into the paper,’ I said at the end. ‘No one will be able to hear. They will get bored, and start talking amongst themselves. I have seen it happen a hundred times.’ ‘But I must read the words,’ he said. I shook my head. ‘You shall have to learn them, there’s nothing else for it. You shall have to get the piece by heart.’ ‘What? All this?’ He gazed miserably at the pages. ‘A day or two’s work,’ I said. Then I put my hand upon his arm. ‘It is either that, Ralph, or we shall have to put you in a funny suit...’ And so through the whole of April and half of May - for of course it took considerably longer than one or two days for him to learn even so much as a quarter of the words - Ralph and I laboured together over his little speech, forcing the phrases into his head and finding all sorts of tricks to make them stay there. I would sit like a prompter, the papers in my hand, Ralph declaiming before me in an effortful monotone; I would have him recite to me over breakfast, or as we washed the dishes, or sat together beside the fire; I would stand outside the kitchen door and have him shout the words out to me as he lay in his bath. ‘How many times have you heard economists say that England is the richest nation in the world? If you were to ask them what they meant by that, they would answer ... they would answer ...’ ‘Ralph! They would answer: Look about you -’ ‘They would answer: Look about you, at our great palaces and public buildings, our country houses and our ...’ ‘Our factories -’ ‘Our factories and our ...’ ‘Our Empire, Ralph!’ In time, of course, I learned the whole wretched speech myself, and could leave the sheets aside; but in time, too, Ralph managed more or less to con it, and was able to stumble through from start to finish, without any prompts at all, and sounding almost sensible.

• From Tipping the Velvet (1998)

  I shall keep my answer rather brief.’ ‘Thank God for something, then!’ called a man at that - as I knew somebody would - and Ralph gazed wildly around the tent for a second, quite distracted. I saw with dismay that he had lost his place, and was forced to glance at the sheets in his hand. There was a horrible silence while he found the spot; when he next spoke, of course, it was into the paper, just as he had used to do in our Quilter Street parlour. ‘How many times,’ he was saying, ‘have you heard economists say that England is the richest nation in the world ... ?’ I found myself reciting it with him, urging him on; but he stumbled, and muttered, and once or twice was forced to tilt his paper to the light, to read it. By now the crowd had begun to groan and sigh and shuffle. I saw the chairman, seated at the back of the platform, making up his mind to step over to him and tell him to speak up or to stop; I saw Florence, pale and agitated to see her brother so awkward - her own griefs, for the moment, quite forgotten. Ralph started on a passage of statistics: ‘Two hundred years ago,’ he read, ‘Britain’s land and capital was worth five hundred million pounds; today it is worth - it is worth -’ He tilted the paper again; but while he did so, a fellow stood up to shout: ‘What are you, man? A socialist, or a schoolmaster?’ And at that, Ralph sagged as if he had been winded. Annie whispered: ‘Oh, no! Poor Ralph! I can’t bear it!’ ‘Neither can I,’ I said. I jumped to my feet, thrust Cyril at her, then hurried to the steps at the side of the platform and ran up them, two at a time. The chairman saw me and half-rose to block my path, but I waved him back and stepped purposefully over to the sweating, sagging Ralph. ‘Oh, Nance,’ he said, as close to tears as I had ever seen him. I took his arm and gripped it tight, and held him in his place before the crowd. They had grown momentarily silent - through sheer delight, I think, at seeing me leap, so dramatically, to Ralph’s side. Now I took advantage of their hush to send my voice across their heads in a kind of roar. ‘So you don’t care for mathematics?’ I cried, picking up the speech where Ralph had let it falter. ‘Perhaps it’s hard to think in millions; well, then, let us think in thousands. Let us think of three hundred thousand. What do you think I am referring to?

• From Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (1995)

  “I think you’ve got the right to information that could affect your health. But that doesn’t mean Mr. Anderson is gonna think so. I’ll stand behind you, and so will the other parents, but you need to do what makes sense for you.” Sadie pulled her overcoat tightly around herself and looked again at her watch. “We shouldn’t keep Mr. Anderson waiting,” she said, and plunged through the door. From the expression on Mr. Anderson’s face when we walked into his office, it was clear that I hadn’t been expected. He offered us a seat and asked us if we wanted some coffee. “No thank you,” Sadie said. “I really appreciate you seeing us on such short notice.” With her coat still on, she pulled out the legal notice and set it carefully on Mr. Anderson’s desk. “Some of the parents at the school saw this in the paper, and we were worried … well, we wondered if this asbestos maybe was in our apartments.” Mr. Anderson glanced at the notice, then set it aside. “This is nothing to worry about, Mrs. Evans,” he said. “We’re just doing renovation on this building, and after the contractors tore up one of the walls, they found asbestos on the pipes. It’s just being removed as a precautionary measure.” “Well … shouldn’t the same thing, the same precautionary measures, I mean, be taken in our apartments? I mean, isn’t there asbestos there, too?” The trap was laid, and Mr. Anderson’s eyes met mine. A cover-up would generate as much publicity as the asbestos, I had told myself. Publicity would make my job easier. And yet, as I watched Mr. Anderson shift around in his seat, trying to take measure of the situation, there was a part of me that wanted to warn him off. I had the unsettling feeling that his soul was familiar to me, that of an older man who feels betrayed by life—a look I had seen so often in my grandfather’s eyes. I wanted to somehow let Mr. Anderson know that I understood his dilemma, wanted to tell him that if he would just explain that the problems in Altgeld preceded him and admit that he, too, needed help, then some measure of salvation might alight in the room. Instead, I said nothing, and Mr. Anderson turned away. “No, Mrs. Evans,” he said to Sadie. “There’s no asbestos in the residential units. We’ve tested them thoroughly.” “Well, that’s a relief,” Sadie said. “Thank you. Thank you very much.” She rose, shook Mr. Anderson’s hand, and started for the door. I was just about to say something when she turned back toward the project manager. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said. “I forgot to ask you something. The other parents … well, they’d like to see a copy of these tests you took. The results, I mean. You know, just so we can make everybody feel their kids are safe.”

• From Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Cycle of Anxious Thoughts (2020)

  But give those same people a day or a week or a month, and trouble will have its way. It always does, you know? We live in a troubled world. As Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble.”2 The good news is this: once we recognize that a prevailing emotion is connected to outright, life-sucking lies, we begin to see that everything we need for life in God has been given to us already3 —which means we begin to heal and live lives that matter. Over the past year, since my return home from that trip to Uganda with Esther and Ann, I’ve taken to calling this escape plan “the shift.” When I’m mired in a certain way of thinking that clearly is not serving me well, I can escape that thought pattern and seize a new thought pattern. I can make a mental shift. And by changing my mind, I can change my emotions, which interrupts that entire progression we looked at earlier that results in how I’m experiencing life. The best part? You can do the same. You don’t have to spiral downward and end up in a panicked heap. You don’t have to be held captive by fears and doubts. You don’t have to dwell on every horrible thing that may never happen. According to Paul, in order to make the shift from “warped philosophies” (a.k.a. overwhelming doubt) and “barriers erected against the truth of God” (a.k.a. 3 a.m. disbelief) to focus on something more in line with the “life shaped by Christ,” we must take up the weapons of warfare and destroy the strongholds that are dominating our thoughts.4 First, of course, we must learn to recognize those strongholds. Your Mental Story Map We begin by being aware of what we are thinking about, by zeroing in on the thought and identifying it for what it is. Evil never wants to be noticed, I should mention here. It sneaks in and hijacks our minds, and we barely notice anything’s amiss. I barely noticed, anyway. So a vote for noticing. For thinking about what we’re thinking about. If you’re game to give the thinking-about-thinking thing a try, then grab a journal and a pen. Ready? Step 1 Referring as needed to the graphic example, write in the center of a blank page the primary feeling or emotion you’re experiencing right now. It could be good or bad. You might write anxious. Or peaceful. Overwhelmed. Angry. Afraid. Whatever it is, jot it down. Now draw a big circle around that word.

• From Generation Anxiety: A Millennial and Gen Z Guide to Staying Afloat in an Uncertain World (2023)

  That’s where I saw Grace take control of her situation. She was empowered as she accepted the reality of the relationship. And be prepared—I expect you to probably have a strong reaction to this: she set an ultimatum. Yes, you read that right. Grace said from the start that she would give therapy six months. If Ryan was still unsure about marrying her at that point, she was out. He would either know by then or he wouldn’t—either way it was an answer. Now this is where some of you may be saying, “But if you really love them, you’ll wait forever.” “Why do you need a ring to prove that your partner loves you?” “If they’re not ready yet, then it’s never going to work out. You’re a fool to stick around this long anyway.” “What if they only propose because they don’t want to lose you and then they secretly resent you?” Or my favorite, “This is sounding too hard. Relationships that are meant to be should come easier.” Well, if you’ve ever lived with a partner with anxiety or you’ve lived with it yourself, then you know that few things ever come that easy. It’s in the nature of the anxious brain to hem and haw, to doubt, and to be indecisive. We always need just a little more time. It’s not that we don’t love whom we are with. For some of us with anxiety, it can feel really hard to take that next step into the unknown. It’s scary to jump in the pool, even if we know we want to be in the water. This is where Grace and Ryan had been sitting for ages. They each hoped that the other would make the jump ahead. Ryan hoped Grace would change her mind about having kids. Grace hoped that Ryan would love her enough that he’d be willing to forgo having a family. Both were too anxious before therapy to fully broach the situation. This is where something like a time ultimatum can really come in handy. Boiled down, ultimatums are simply boundaries that are clearly elucidated. If you are honest about what you want and what your values are, that’s not something to be apologetic or feel guilty about. We often shame people, especially women, for giving ultimatums (ahem, boundaries), when really, they’re just naming exactly what they want and by when. Ultimatums are about respecting your time—and the time of the person you’re with. Rather than leading you to slowly build resentment if your wishes do not come to fruition, ultimatums make sure there are no surprises if and when you need to leave to find your values fulfilled elsewhere.

• From A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (BDB) (1907)

  darkness, obscurity ;—‏ 7 *1*?. גננ. גב חשךּז Gn 1° + 75%.) + Ez8" del.Co A Betc.);‏ חשך abs.‏ estr. id. Ex 10; sf. °300 y 18"=2§ 22”;—‏ darkness (opp. 8) lit. Gn 1°* (P), Is‏ .1 3. fig. " 45’ 1526 Ec 2% cf. in imprecation Jb 3** טַ & ky : Gn 1 (P), cf. Jos 2° (JE),‏ לילה = (ח' וצלמות) Is 45% 10 17" 24% 38" 104”; darkness in‏ mines Jb 28°; of extraordinary darkness, in‏ Egypt Ex 107*(E); AEN” NEx1o*(E),y 105%,‏ from piular of cloud Ex 14”(J); at Mt. Sinai‏ Dt 4" 5”; of clouds of theophany 2S 22%=‏ of darkness in death, or 02601, 1 S 2°‏ ;"18 IN), 17° 18% y 885 Pr 20”‏ ח' וצלמות) Tb ro‏ =extreme of darkness). 2. =secret‏ א ישון ח') =hiding-place‏ ; (צלמות |\(™12 place(s) Is 45° Jb‏ Jb 34> (|| 2d.), cf. » 139°" ;—on Ez 8", v. supr.‏ fig., a.=distress Is 5” g' 29 (fig. of blind-‏ .3 =18° ץ *ךָ 311 ?3 ness), 42’ 49° 58% 59° 60" La‏ ees Sb iE 20” 22" 23% 29° 107°"‏ Ec 5" 115 b. =dread,‏ 112 , (צלמות || {in both‏ terror, symbol. of judgment Am 5°” Zp 1”‏ Nat® Ez32° Jo2*3*. ©. =mourning Is 47°.‏ d. = perplexity Jb 5“ 12% 19°; confusion 735°.‏ =ignorance 2 37% 100 2. £. =evil, sin‏ .6 Pr2™. g.=obscurity Ec 6**.‏ = 15 Wiad adj. obscure, low, only mpl. as subst.; לְפֶנִי חשפִּים‎ asM da Pr 22” he shall not stand before obscure men (opp. .(לפני-מלבים‎ ח'---(.6%סן n.f. darkness (chiefly‏ השכהז Gn 15"+2 t., so rd. also prob. Mi 3° (for MT‏ estr. NVM y 18";‏ ;"139 ץ חַשִכָה ;ְחֶשָבָה Is 50";—darkness, opp. light (7758)‏ חְשכִים pl.‏ (JE); “NPN‏ 155 0 ח' supernat.,n>m3‏ ;"139 ¥ חשָרתדמים "22 ₪ 2 || DY y 18" in theoph. (but‏ a mass of water); fig.=lack of understanding‏ =distress 18 85 (|| M3), 50.‏ ;82° ¥ כ' n.m. dark place (poet.)—abs.‏ מחשך1 Ts 29" 42°; JZ y 88"; pl. DDVMD 88" 143°‏ =La 3°; estr. ‘20M ¥ 74";—dark place: a.‏ db. dark region,‏ .”74 מה'הארץ =hiding-place‏ im which men may lose their way 15 42%. ¢. =‏ y 88" (v. Che); of dark place of‏ שאול grace, or‏ God's wrath (like She’6l) 88°; 61. 143°=La 3°.‏ ad. =secret place, secrecy (of plots) Is 29”.‏ T [ wr] vb. shatter (BAram. 220 shatter; NH Pi., || משבר‎ ; Syr.\ vee forge’'a metal, Ar. 36 make dark,’nin יום לילה‎ Am 5°; abs. cause dark- - ness Je13” שש‎ 1057, cf. Am 8° (לארץ)‎ 2. - חשק 5 pee drive cattle violently ; As. hasdlu, shatter, destroy Zim**” D]***)—WNiph. Pt. fig. -b3 הְַּהָשָלִים‎ Dt 2 55 all the shattered ones, i.e. those broken down, worn out, sq. 2) FY TAN; others think=y>n. 1 Dyn n.pr.m. head of a family of returned exiles Ezr 25 = Ne 7™, Ezr 10% cf. Ne 8* 10”.

• From A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (BDB) (1907)

  strenuously exert) oneself to Je 9* 20°; abs. of eager and hopeless prayer 72307>Y 5) Moab, Ts 16% (|| ms72, dann waponby NB): of vain Ponsultations, (sq. 2) Babylon Is 47°; subj. * sq. inf. Isr“; Je 6" 15°, always of ו‎ patience ; a of parched soil (abs.) y 68”. Hiph. 2 3 ms. sf. 897 Jb 167; 3 fs, nda Ez 24” (del. G Co), x. sf. PONS Mi 6*; Impf וילאו‎ 16 12°; WHATS 7"; Inf 6. ד דַהַלאות‎ - weary, thaike weary, exhaust, sq. acc. Jb 16° (subj. God); exhaust patience of, obj. God Is 5% obj. men Is 7% Je 12° Mi 6°. ת'-- -; n.f. weariness, hardship‏ תִלְאָז 20% גו א Ex 18°4-, 4 of distress of Isr.in Egypt‏ in wilderness Ex 18° (both JE); from Assyr.,‏ gall); Mal 1°.‏ , ראש ||( 3° Bab., 666. Ne 9%; cf. La‏ TR? 34 U.pr.f. Leah, elder daughter of Taban, and wife of Jacob (perh. = wild-cow, Ar. %ש‎ (5) [ef. 2A ewe], D1?” RS¥2" and (doubtfully) No 216 1886, ie also Gray" Names, >< others, 5 11699189 ו‎ As. li’at, in sense mistress ; on poss. relation of axd to לוי‎ ve (לוי‎ —mother of Reuben, Simeon, Levi, J nate Issachar, Zebulun and Dinah; Gn ees ee (ch. vv) 30°94 15 t. eS לב‎ 3-7 eat 4 68 49°! Ru qe G .\)6( ₪. vb. cover, only Qal Pf 3 ms.‏ אטז aban 2 8 19%, rd. perh. OND, fr. DY‏ אַתפָנִיו We Dr Bu.‏ ond Ju 4", ete., v. לוט‎ ord gently, v.OS sub DON p. 31 supr.‏ לאט of. Ar. dT, DI‏ מִלָאכָה ‏ מִלְאֶף 4/0 ) לאך messenger, Eth. ain: send a messen-‏ גפ 4 521 מלאכה ger,v. TAA: be sent, wait on, minister; PAA: = Heb. NPD ; cf. Ph. מלאך‎ messenger; NH FNPD, Aram. N2NDY, as in Heb.)

• From A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (BDB) (1907)

  ings were wpon me (=were due from me); perh. y 62’ 77' (to the charge of); with an inf. 2818" nnd Dy) and it would have been incumbent on me to give, etc., 1 K 47 Ezr 10” (accents [Baer], RV™), Ne 13%, ef. 20 12? (Ew RV™); Nu 7°(P) the service of . .. was upon them, Ez 45”, so especially late 1 Ch 9” 23” 2 Ch 25 ,לעולם זאת על ישראל‎ 5 24° Ezr 7"- Ner1™; 18 9° and the government is upon his shoulder (cf. 22”), 2 Ch 25%; y 7 by “nD my shield rests upon God (he has undertaken my defence), 62° "7233 על-אלהים יְשָעִי‎ , d. על‎ is used idiom. to give pathos to the expression of an emotion, by emphasizing the person who is its subject, and who, as it were, feels it acting wpon him: 42° why art thou cast down, O my soul, by ‘DMM and dis- quieted upon me? ול‎ my soul upon me is cast down, "טח‎ 43° La3”; 1317 Dy ְּנְמָל‎ >>) by Dimas iON is my soul wpon me; 142% 7m by 2YNI2 when my spirit faints wpon me, 143° Jon 2°; Je 85 2°31 "2D עָלִי‎ my heart upon me is sick, Jb 14” (ef. Di), Hos 11° נהפך עלי לבי‎ my heart is turned (altered) upon me, ד‎ 8 17% 25% Nes? ‘by *29 450% and my heart took counsel upon me: cf. y 42° I will pour out my soul upon me, Jb 30"; 10% אעזבה‎ עלי שיחי‎ I will let loose my complaint upon me. (Thes apud me, mecum. The rend. ‘within me’ alters entirely the point of view of the Heb. expression, and is incorrect.) Denoting with some emph. the subj. of an experience, Jb 30° nda עלימו אבד‎ Dn 2' his sleep yoy נָהַיָתָה‎ was done with wpon him (cf. Aram. 6 mney N73), 10° Ez 18”; 22° 2 Ch 36% 6. הָיָה על‎ to live 207 )85 upon a foundation or support; cf. Is3', and שף)‎ 600 twos), Dt 8* anea-by, Is 38" (cf. Hi), Gn 27 על חרבך תחיה‎ upon (=by) thy sword thou shalt live (cf. Kazwini*™ ap. Tuch), Ez 33”, ef. v™ = f. Of the ground, or basis, on which a thing is done, as Gn 24° ,על הדבר הזה‎ Ly 72 if he offers it על תוּדָה‎ on the ground of a thanks- giving, Nu 6" in) *צ ,על‎ Ez16% 287 מ‎ 8* bay Sy, g על צדקותינו‎ (with ,15 this use is extended so as to denote explicitly on condition of). Hence (a) the basis being conceived as 3 0 by ,

• From The History of Christian Theology (2008)

  103 Deism and Liberal Protestantism Lecture 29 We’ll start in the 18th century with the most interesting new development in 18th-century religion, which is Deism. But, let’s say a little bit about the 18th century, the era of what is called “the Enlightenment”—hostile to religion in many ways, but you can understand why. T he 18 th century was a period of ongoing intellectual crisis for Christianity. Religious wars in the 17 th century made religious zeal look fanatical and dangerous. State churches, their paid ministers, and enforcement of the authority of dogma were seen as the source of intolerance and religious warfare. The con À icting diversity of religions made Christian doctrine seem far less certain than the rising modern sciences. Theology, which had been the most prestigious of the university disciplines, came to seem increasingly arcane, consisting of obscure dogmas and incomprehensible mysteries without rational basis. Modern physics since Newton presented a view of nature which seemed to leave no room for divine intervention (that is, “the supernatural”). Various movements within the broad intellectual trend called “the Enlightenment” were critical of orthodox Christianity. For the ¿ rst time, atheism and the explicit rejection of religion become a cultural force Christian theologians had to reckon with. Anti-trinitarianism and other forms of Unitarianism spread, the leading edge of a widespread rejection of orthodox Christian dogma. Enlightenment thinkers like V oltaire adapted Protestant criticisms of Papist superstition and priest craft into criticisms of Christianity itself. Whereas the established churches were oppressive, the more experiential forms of Christianity indebted to Pietism and Revivalism were regarded as fanatical and enthusiastic. The authority of religious tradition, including both theology and scripture, came to be regarded with deep suspicion as a form of irrationality and oppression. Enlightenment thinkers used the distinction between natural and revealed religion to understand the diversity of religions, especially Christianity. “Revealed religion” meant any religion based on a purported revelation from