Study guide

Pick one practice for the week

1. Practice joy on purpose, together Moderate
2. End each day with a short gratitude review Moderate
3. Make room for awe in worship and creation Suggestive
4. Take a broken spirit seriously and get help Good
5. Defuse chronic conflict before it settles in Moderate

Pick one practice for the week

1. Practice in daily doses, not occasional binges Moderate
2. Memorize Scripture by recalling it, spread out over days Strong
3. Take thoughts captive by naming and reframing them Moderate
4. Audit your inputs, because the brain strengthens whatever it is given See note
5. Present your body, too: move it Moderate

Pick one practice for the week

1. Answer the loop with a concrete next step Moderate
2. Run the “whatever is true” test first, then reframe Strong
3. Keep a specific weekly “worthy of praise” list Early
4. Write one gratitude letter a month to a real person Moderate
5. Choose what fills the idle moments Moderate

Pick one practice for the week

1. The ten-minute “Psalm 46” sit Moderate
2. Pray out loud, in your own words, to Someone Early
3. Slow the breath with the words Good
4. Give the 2 a.m. replay a script Moderate
5. Learn it like a skill, and expect it to take time Moderate

Pick one practice for the week

1. The sunset check-in
2. Cool down before you talk, but do not wait days
3. If it can’t be settled tonight, make a covenant to return, and then sleep
4. Guard your sleep as a peacemaking discipline
5. Don’t “stuff it”; bring it into the light

Pick one practice for the week

1. Keep a weekly day, not just an annual vacation Moderate
2. Detach on purpose: close the laptop, silence the work email Moderate
3. Protect sleep as part of the Sabbath Strong
4. Make it worship and fellowship, not just time off Correlational
5. Watch for the slide, and get back on track Early

Pick one practice for the week

1. Name your “lifter” and tell him See note
2. Make the weekly empathy call See note
3. Challenge the lonely brain’s story See note
4. Keep the weekly rhythm of worship and small group See note
5. Use your hands as well as your words See note

Pick one practice for the week

1. Hand tomorrow to the Father on a schedule
2. Make it concrete with an if-then plan
3. Pray at a breathing pace
4. Practice trusting under uncertainty, one small step at a time
5. Don’t carry tomorrow alone

Pick one practice for the week

1. Start soft, and watch your first three minutes Moderate
2. Call a short time-out when you are flooded, and promise to come back See note
3. Do the “neutral third party” exercise after a fight See note
4. Lower the threat with your body: sit down, soften your voice, take her hand Moderate
5. Make the repair attempt, and receive it Moderate

Pick one practice for the week

1. Pray the fifth petition with a name in it
2. When the replay starts, switch to compassionate reappraisal
3. Work through REACH with a brother, once a quarter
4. Write down what “it” was, then mark the date you released it
5. Forgive fully; set boundaries where sin is ongoing

Pick one practice for the week

1. Hold her hand when the news is hard
2. Build the trust before the storm
3. Be there in person for a brother
4. Give ten minutes of warm touch before a stressful day
5. When you can’t be there, be present

Pick one practice for the week

1. Tie one practice to a fixed cue with an “if-then” plan Strong
2. Commit to roughly two months, and don’t quit over a missed day Moderate
3. Let them see it, not just hear it Strong
4. Pair the training with warmth See note
5. Train someone beyond your own house Correlational

Pick one practice for the week

1. Give on purpose, to a face Strong
2. Make the pledge out loud Early
3. Join something that serves on a schedule Moderate
4. Do one small act of kindness each day, and name it Moderate
5. Give where no one will thank you Obedience

Pick one practice for the week

1. Know your own pattern, honestly Strong
2. Keep the daily average low, or at zero Moderate
3. Change the setting, not just the resolution Moderate
4. Tell one man the truth Obedience
5. If you can’t stop, get treatment Strong

Pick one practice for the week

1. Change the road, not just your resolve Moderate
2. Decide before the moment Strong
3. Flee with company Moderate
4. Don’t count on willpower running out, or holding Strong
5. Pursue, don’t just flee Obedience

Pick one practice for the week

1. Name the “enough” before you get the raise Moderate
2. Practice contentment as a discipline, out loud Early
3. Wait before you buy Early
4. Spend on people more than on things Strong
5. Fast from the feed that sells to you Early

Pick one practice for the week

1. Anchor hope in a promise, not an outcome Obedience
2. Practice the “best possible” next step Early
3. Watch for hopelessness that won’t lift Strong
4. Tell each other what you’re hoping for Obedience
5. Celebrate fulfilled desire Early

Pick one practice for the week

1. Audit your weekly company Moderate
2. Walk with one older, wiser man Obedience
3. Protect your teenagers’ setting, not just their rules Strong
4. Be the friend who pulls upward Moderate
5. Name the “fool’s company” you need to leave Obedience

Pick one practice for the week

1. Repair quickly after you blow it Obedience
2. Separate discipline from anger Early
3. Don’t let your own history run your home Strong
4. Be the safe adult for someone else’s child Early
5. If a child is in danger, act Strong

Pick one practice for the week

1. Share a table across a line Strong
2. Work side by side on a shared goal Strong
3. Pray for one enemy by name, daily Obedience
4. Do one concrete good for someone who dislikes you Obedience
5. Let one friendship change your picture of a whole group Strong

Pick one practice for the week

1. Quick to hear: listen until you can repeat it back Obedience
2. Don’t vent while dwelling on the person Moderate
3. Lower the arousal first Strong
4. Set a waiting rule for words Early
5. Ask what your anger is for Obedience

Pick one practice for the week

1. Write a lament Moderate
2. Name the feeling in one word Moderate
3. Pray a lament psalm when you can’t find words Obedience
4. Write for several short sessions, not one long one Moderate
5. If the pain is trauma, don’t go it alone Strong

Pick one practice for the week

1. Tie one verse to four moments Strong
2. Recite, don’t reread Strong
3. Write it on the doorpost Moderate
4. Talk of it with your children Obedience
5. Review on a widening schedule Strong

Pick one practice for the week

1. Use the refrain as your own Obedience
2. Ask yourself “why” in the second person Moderate
3. Coach yourself before the hard conversation Moderate
4. Give your soul an instruction, not just a question Obedience
5. Journal in the third person once a week Early

Pick one practice for the week

1. Name what a past trial produced Moderate
2. Reread your body’s stress signals Moderate
3. Ask “what is this producing?” not only “why me?” Strong
4. Don’t wish your children a trouble-free life Early
5. Know the difference between a trial and trauma Strong

Pick one practice for the week

1. Show up when someone is grieving Obedience
2. Turn feeling into a concrete act Early
3. Pray for the sufferer with warmth, not just worry Early
4. Watch for empathic burnout Early
5. Rejoice with those who rejoice, too Obedience

Pick one practice for the week

1. Name the act, not the identity Moderate
2. Move from sorrow to repair within a day Moderate
3. Answer shame with the gospel Obedience
4. Don’t shame your children Moderate
5. Watch for shame that won’t lift Moderate

Pick one practice for the week

1. Confess to God specifically and soon Obedience
2. Have one confession partner Moderate
3. Notice where your mind keeps wandering Moderate
4. Write it out first if speaking is too hard Moderate
5. Choose wisely whom to tell Obedience

Pick one practice for the week

1. Look up on purpose Moderate
2. Take an “awe walk.” Moderate
3. Let creation answer your anxiety Early
4. Read Job 38–41 aloud Obedience
5. Worship with awe, not just familiarity Obedience

Pick one practice for the week

1. Take your worry for a walk outdoors Moderate
2. Aim for two hours a week outdoors Moderate
3. Look closely at one living thing Obedience
4. Move the meeting outside Early
5. Take the family out weekly Moderate

Pick one practice for the week

1. Write down your “one thing.” Moderate
2. Don’t retire from purpose Moderate
3. Keep purpose alive in old age Moderate
4. Forget what lies behind Obedience
5. Tie daily work to the larger call Obedience

Pick one practice for the week

1. Protect seven or more hours in bed Strong
2. Don’t trust your own sense of how tired you are Strong
3. Work your body during the day Strong
4. End the day with a handoff prayer Obedience
5. Keep a weekly day of real rest Moderate

Pick one practice for the week

1. Walk most days Strong
2. Exercise for sleep, not just for looks Strong
3. Train with a brother Obedience
4. Keep godliness first Obedience
5. Treat your body as a trust, not a trophy Obedience

Pick one practice for the week

1. Sing out on Sunday Moderate
2. Learn the words of one hymn a month Obedience
3. Sing at home Obedience
4. Sing with your group Moderate
5. Use music to lift a low hour Moderate

Pick one practice for the week

1. Number your days, literally Moderate
2. Ask an older man how he’d handle it Moderate
3. Invest in your closest relationships now Moderate
4. Practice seeing the other side Moderate
5. Don’t assume age makes you wise Obedience

Pick one practice for the week

1. Make a plan before you spend or invest Moderate
2. Wait before you grab Early
3. Reduce the pull of “hot” cues Moderate
4. Don’t write off a child, or yourself Strong
5. Build diligence in small, daily steps Obedience