Welcome to “Coffee with Phil,” where faith becomes tangible and purpose takes center stage. Join Phil in this episode as he explores self-awareness through an unexpected lens: Angry Birds. Discover the parallels between the characters in the game and aspects of your true self. From the OG Red to the explosive Bomb, optimistic Stella to impulsive Chuck, each bird reflects a facet of your personality. Phil delves into how embracing these traits can help you confront and conquer the metaphorical green pigs – the lies, false perceptions, and untrue labels holding you back. So, grab a coffee and journey into self-awareness with Phil.
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- Previous Episode: Episode 52
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Introduction
Well, good day. Good day. Good day and welcome. Welcome to the podcast. Welcome to coffee with Phil, where we have a conversation about faith made real, around living life of purpose on purpose. And look, I hope you sit down for a coffee with me today. Wherever you are.
I wonder what kind of coffee you’re enjoying. I’ve made a few coffees in my time and one of the things I love to do is try and remember how people like their coffee. Coffee is a personal thing and look, even if you have sugar in your coffee, no judgement from me. Well, that’s not always true. Sometimes, sometimes serious judgement, but look I believe a really good coffee.
Good quality coffee is sweet enough not to need sugar, so the only time I put sugar in my coffee is when it’s really bad over extracted, it’s bitter or it’s just bad coffee. And if I ever post a coffee photo online. And you see some sugar, some sugar in the in the in the photo. Then you know it’s my subtle way of saying wherever I’ve tagged, whatever I’ve checked in at don’t go there for coffee cause it’s horrible.
Hey, let’s get into today’s topic. The headline for today’s podcast is learning life from Angry Birds. Learning life from Angry Birds. Well, that’s going to be an interesting conversation, but I just want to say though, this is a continuation from the last episode. Coffee with Phil Episode 52, which we titled See the Real You. And we dove into a subject that’s much, much broader than we could have time to talk about in half hour episode. But te whare tapa whā is a model of understanding around the fullness of health, and it’s about the health of well-being, and I talked to you from my perspective around the four pillars of the House that’s part of the model, te whare tapa whā.
And look, you can get into that in episode 52. Which makes you jump across, and there’s a transcript there for you. There’s some resources for you because obviously the idea of see the real you are for you to know yourself better and therefore, journey in a stronger way this day.
I want us to talk about the Angry Birds. Look. Confession confession from me. Angry Birds is… I mean. Look, it’s something I used to do. It’s something that I might do, but Angry Birds is just a fun story. It’s a game. If you don’t know what Angry Birds are. Sorry. It’s a game for your tablet or your device. You have these little birds, which I’m going to talk about shortly and you try and just destroy the green pigs.
How are angry birds connected to self-awareness
And today I want to talk about how the Angry Birds are connected to our self-awareness. Self-awareness so you could get to know yourself better by understanding Angry Birds better. How’s that for a concept? Look, the game requires you to choose the bird of your choice to destroy green pigs that allow you to advance. And you slingshot these birds. Look, it’s just on the game. You put your finger on the screen, you pull it back and off goes your angry bird with different capabilities.
And as the green pigs are destroyed. Sometimes they take more than one go to destroy the green pig. You know they appear. It’s quite cute. They appear with bruises or bandages because they’re not quite destroyed. And sometimes you get them bang on the head, you get a head pop, and they fly off the screen. Let me say this before you think I’m absolutely wacko. Let me say this, which may give you more evidence.
I want you to see in the game the green pigs; as your lies, false perception of self, and untrue labels that someone’s putting on you. Let me say that again. I want you to see the green pigs in the game that we’re trying to destroy. Are lies that you believe about yourself false self-perception and untrue badges that someone labels you with.
So, we’re going to look at the characters and we’re going to end the characters, we’re going to see the different aspects of you that you see in the game. You’ve got to choose which bird to use in which circumstance, and don’t think that I’m an expert in this, but the idea is that if you choose Stella, she has some capacity, but not as much capacity in the situation that you might need from Terrence. And if you don’t know who Stella and Terence are, do not worry my listeners for I’m about to educate you and Angry Birds and my goal in doing this is that you would see that Angry Birds are connected, in fact, to your self-awareness that will help you destroy the green pigs of your false self.
So, let’s get into this and have some fun. So, there’s a bunch of characters in the story of Angry Birds, and today I just want to… 10 that’s right, 10 characters, 10 Angry Birds. And I want you to listen to the personality or the strengths of the angry bird characters. And then the goal is to understand that you might carry an aspect of these little creatures that would help you destroy the green pigs.
So, let’s get into this. The angry bird… The OG, his name is red. He’s the OG angry bird. He’s the one that you start the game with. He’s the one that becomes stronger sooner. So obviously, as you progress through the game, from what I can tell in my limited experience as you progress through the game, he gets these extra powers. And I really want to start with red because he’s the OG, but this is your true self. This is why it’s so important for you to see the real you, the OG, you.
And what I want to say right at the start around you understanding the real you, see the real you know thy self, as I said in episode 52 is when you know yourself as the true self, you can lead yourself. Come on. That’s where the gold is. Right here. Right now, for you. If you listened to the first 7 minutes of this podcast. This is the goal right here, right now. If you only get this point, the OG you, understanding you the true you as God sees you. As God sees you, if you understand that you can lead yourself through life and destroy the green pigs in your life.
So, red. He’s the OG when you know the true U, the OG U, you can lead yourself the second character. I want to speak to you about bomb bomb. His name is bomb bomb. And the personality of bomb is he’s not so good at self-restraint and can explode. And can cause mayhem. Well, you might think that this is not a strength, but if you’ve got a persistent green pig in your life, a stubborn trait. A stronghold that’s a false belief. Then sometimes you need to bring in the bomb, and in the game, you send bomb across. And at the right time, when bomb explodes, shifts things and destroys things. So sometimes you need to bring the big guns.
But just recently I’ve had a conversation with someone in my community who’s really struggling with family situation and suddenly messaged me the other day saying, “hey. I think the problem is me. Where did this come from? I think I need to shift it.” And so that person’s asking me to bring a bomb into that situation and when it happens, there will be freedom because the green pig will be destroyed.
The third angry bird, I want you to think about is Stella. Stella is optimistic. She’s optimistic and more than this, she’s excited about what could happen, but she doesn’t know her limits. Now, how often does this get me into trouble not understanding or embracing my God-given limits is what causes me to give fuel to the green pig to overcome me.
And so, what I’ve got to do is bring Stella into the situation and embrace limitations that are around me because God’s put them around me for my own safety. So, optimism is great, but sometimes we need to counter that with limitations.
#4 and the 4th angry bird I want to talk about is Chuck. Chuck is impulsive. Chuck gets himself into deep water into hot water. He speaks without a filter. Ohh, how many times does this hurt us? But let me flip it and say sometimes. You need to take the filters off what you’re saying about yourself because sometimes we mask it with softness. We mask it with lies. We mask it with false pretence, and we don’t actually speak the truth to ourselves when we need to.
And I’d be saying this, you know, sometimes you just need to be honest with yourself. I was. Just spent some time away with my board and we have always had some really frank and honest, robust conversations and one of the sessions we made about me because you know as the leader of the organisation, I’m accountable to the board. And I need feedback from the board and so well, I was like, come on, let’s speak without philtres. Let’s be honest, let’s be robust. We’re speaking in love sometimes the best way to shift the green pig out of your way is to be honest. And it’s what Chuck helps us with.
The 5th Angry bird I wanted to introduce you to is Matilda. Matilda loves to make peace, although any of you out there that think that while I’m a peacemaker, my job is to make peace. Well, sometimes when you try to make peace, you can also be overbearing. You can say the wrong thing at the wrong time. You can insert yourself into the situation when you’re not needed and Matilda and trying to make peace. Sometimes disrupt the process that requires tension in order for it to be resolved.
So, I’m all about peace, but only peace in the right circumstances. And you know, I understand you know the way that I see Jesus in the parables that he tells the stories that always have A twist to them. He was purposely disrupting false peace in order to get to truth, and so have you seen Matilda in operation? You know, sometimes you need to shut down. But you need to understand that Matilda sometimes is about bringing peace.
So, I’m not confusing you. I’m not sure. But what you want to do is make sure that you are seeking peace. But only after you have allowed the disruption that brings the revelation of truth. Sometimes the revelation of truth is masked when we put too much peace in the situation. So, Matilda. Be careful about Matilda.
Terence. is an angry bird who pretends to be tough but is really a softie in the game. He’s like this big lump. He’s like a big cuddly bear, but looks a little bit angry, but actually he’s a real softie and what’s the point in saying this? Look sometimes It’s better to be soft than tough in order to destroy the green pigs. What’s this about? This is about being vulnerable, you know, sometimes we do need to be strong. Sometimes we do need to be firm. Sometimes we need to shout at the green pigs. But there are other times when to destroy the false self that we’ve created around ourselves, sometimes we need to be really soft. Sometimes we need to be really vulnerable. Sometimes we need to be open to others in in order to allow them to love us and to healing.
I was in a situation recently praying with a couple and you we had a great time of ministry sitting around the dining table and at the end of it I just said let’s just sit here and let’s just be vulnerable before God, our father and let’s allow God to love us. You know often as believers; we’re jumping up and down. We’re shouting and we’re giving thanks and praise to God. We’re worshipping him because he deserves it and that is a good thing. But sometimes we do that at the cost of sitting still and not allowing God to love us. And I think that’s what Terence brings is the ability to be vulnerable for the father, to allow him to love on us because his love truly does conquer all things.
And so maybe you should take some time. Because I reckon you got some green pigs, you need to get rid of. The lies, the false perception and the and the untrue labels that people put on you. Maybe you need to be like Terrence, just recognise that even though you pretend to be tough. Being a softie before God is the best thing that you could do.
The 7th Angry bird I want to introduce you to is silver. Funny looking little thing. Silver has a high temper. And can ruin a good plan with haste. But turns on a dime. Very quickly, so shifts directions very quickly and what I like about this little character for us as it helps us, is that we need to be able to… This is where it was used through COVID, so don’t get a twitch when I say this, but we do need to pivot. We need to shift on a dime. We need to turn. Pretty quickly to change our tact. In silver, even though he has a volatility around temper, it’s the volatility that gives him the momentum when he’s shifting direction.
So sometimes when I’m in a conversation, I get a little emotional, a little passionate, my volume increases. I’m getting says don’t shout at me and I’m like I’m not shouting. I’m just passionate. You know, sometimes that needs to be redirected because when you’ve got that passion and the momentum are going for you and you turn it in and in the proper direction, you actually make the breakthrough that you.
And I find sometimes we’re all passionate just about the wrong thing or in the wrong direction, and so. This is where the Holy Spirit is so good, because he can turn us on a dime and put passion redirected into something really powerful. You know, the best example of that is the apostle, Paul. He was super passionate, but he was passionate about killing Christians and what Jesus did when he knocked him off his donkey and led him by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness as he redirected that passion and momentum. then the apostle Paul became the greatest apostle across the evangelical spread of the gospel.
The Apostolic spread of the gospel. So sometimes the momentum redirected is the best thing we could do. So, think about where am I passionate? Why am I passionate? And does the Holy Spirit want to redirect that passion into a new space?
#8 #8 is the angry bird called Hal. Now, Hal’s weakness is that he avoids confrontation. And I don’t like that, to be honest with you, because I embrace confrontation. I see it. I sense it. And whether it’s good or not, I go after it. But you know what? Sometimes that gets me in trouble. So sometimes what I need to embrace is the attitude of how to avoid confrontation. Because it’s not always the right thing. Certainly, it’s not the right timing.
And so, what I’m trying to say to us here is, look, we’ve got to learn who we are to know our tendencies, but we’ve also got to transform ourselves to embrace. Other attributes that will help us in a situation. So, Hal, Hal likes to avoid confrontation. So, if I’m saying to myself, do I need to be like hell right now? Do I need to be the angry bird that avoids confrontation that sits silent in a meeting, or that listens more than talks?
You know, one of the things that I’ve shared with you this year that I’ve really valued in some of the. Conversations I’ve had with people is just finding friends that like to listen without trying to fix you, and that’s what Hal does. Hal avoids that confrontation, and he listens without trying to be the fixer.
There’s a character in Angry Birds called bubbles and bubbles. Looks harmless, cute, small. And it literally just looks like bubbles, but harmless until he’s not harmless. And, you know, sometimes that’s what we need to do. We need to go through a check on high transformation. You may be feeling a little confused about this conversation, but just to understand what we’re trying to do is find the different attributes of who we can be in order to shift into a true us.
So, bubbles, bubbles as nice until he’s not. These harmless until he’s not. Sometimes you just need to be not harmless. Sometimes you need to say, hey, look, you need to stop talking like that because you’re being offensive, or your words are hurting me. I remember being in a conversation once and it just it was going down the wrong track real fast and I just said Hey. This is not going well. I just think we need to stop this, and it was quite abrupt. But it got the message across because I think on reflection everyone around the table realised actually that was just a roller coaster steam train going towards a massive crash. Thank you. So, bubbles looks soft, looks harmless until he’s not. Sometimes you just need to stop things.
Finally, #10. There’s an angry bird. This is going to sound really crazy. You’re just probably tripping out now. You think I’m just absolutely bonkers, but Melody cares about those close to her. And she sings over them. And yet we call her an angry bird. That’s weird. Melody cares about those close to her and sings over them. Now you might not call yourself a singer. But what does a song do? A song changes the atmosphere around someone you know. If you wanted to.
We’ve been on a bit of a praised journey at our gatherings at Zion lately, and we’ve been upping the tempo because we’re really trying to shift peoples. Feelings the atmosphere into something of victory and praise. Likewise, if you want to create a more intimate moment with God, you can dial the music down. You’re going to have more soft tones, and you’re going to have that worship and them. That draws us into a submission before God.
What I’m saying to you is you have the ability to shift the atmosphere around you in order that you would access what God has for you. So, what is the point of melody for you? If you’re recognising something negative, shift the atmosphere by releasing what you think God wants to send you from heaven. So, if I’m feeling scared. I need to release his love and his security and his protection over me. From feeling from feeling. And pure, you know, from getting attacked by impure thoughts. They don’t originate inside me. They are attacks. They’re arrows. Then what? I’m what? I’m shifting and releasing is the righteousness of Christ that is mine because of the work of Jesus and my confession in that work.
Transform to meet the needs of the situation
And my faith in him so as a person, melody, you can bring melody into a situation. You do it for yourself, but you also do it for others. You can just really through conversation. Just say. Come on, let’s focus on what God wants to bring to the situation and he wants to bring his peace. Bring his love. You can be confident in him. He’s always present. And in doing that, it’s you’re not necessarily singing a song over them like Melody does, but you’re certainly shifting the atmosphere of your circumstances in order to access what God wants to say about the situation, and in doing so when you access what God says, that’s his truth.
And that, my friends, is destroying green pigs. Well, Arnie Sheed, 10, of the Angry Birds with you. And I think that was a long list and maybe you want to go through the summary and justice say, what can I get out of this?
So, the transcripts there for you to look at because you might not remember all the birds we had read and palm and Stella and Chuck, Matilda, Terrence, Silver, hell, Bubbles and Melody. That’s a big list, but what I want you to do is to recognise that you need to transform. To meet the needs of the situation you’re in, or to meet the needs of the people around you. So let me reflect on this. The game is about a situation, and you’ve got to destroy the green pigs in that situation. Part of the game is choosing which angry Bird Am I going to bring into the sling in order to destroy the green pigs, each bird brings a different attribute and strength which will destroy the green pig.
You need to think about what you need to bring into the situation in order that you would destroy the lies of the devil that are seeking to keep you from the true you. And in doing so, you begin to learn how to live life from the reality of Angry Birds.
So, you might say, look, I just need to be Terrence right now. I’m going to be vulnerable. I’m going to be open before God and allow him to love on me. You might want to be bomb and you might just want to bring an explosion into a situation that’s going to destroy those green pigs. So, I’m putting the responsibility on you.
You know, often we sit in a situation, and we get a little bit down about it and we just can’t find my joy right now. It’s not going my way. It’s not going the way I expected. I’m not happy about it. And you know what the responsibilities on me to shift that? You know, we’ve got the responsibility to do something about it. And so, I’m giving you permission to transfer, to shift the situation that’s in front of you. And I hope that works for you. So, I’m going to sign off now because you’ve got quite a lot to prove. This we’re learning life from Angry Birds today and coffee with episode 53.
This is a really weird one and if you know someone that’s really weird, they might relate to this. Why don’t you share the podcast with them? Because we love to get the word out there. And thanks to the followers, thanks to those of you that are listening, subscribing and. Tracking with the journey.
So, I love having these conversations with you. I look forward to getting back with you real soon. We’ll drop an episode every week, so I’ll be back in your air pods real soon. Until then, God bless you. Have a fantastic week.