It is LIGHT that brings about a rich harvest of every kind of goodness, righteousness, and truth.
Ephesians 5:9 (GNT)
There is an alarming statistic that only 2 percent of people succeed in achieving their goals and dreams. That got me thinking. What stops 98 percent of people from accomplishing what they were meant to do? Motivational speaker Tony Robbins says, “Every change that happens in your life will come from a decision. A real decision to cut off any possibility except for what you’ve committed to.”
Healing will only come from an intentional decision where you decided your not going to give up on the “You” you want to become until you see it come to pass!
I believe the 98 percent of people who don’t accomplish the purpose God designed specifically for them, are all plagued by a limiting mindset! They have convinced themselves because of circumstances, pain, rejection, perceived failure – whatever it may be, that they aren’t enough! Every woman I have ever counseled has had some form of an I’m not_________________ enough mentality. (pretty enough, worthy enough, smart enough, good enough…) But what they often don’t realize is this mentality was birthed from a painful experience and it has felt true for so long that they stop questioning why. Painful experiences produce limiting beliefs that are connected to our behaviors today. So my hunch is that 98 percent of people have a sense that they aren’t living the life they want to, but have a hard time pinpointing why.
All healing begins with AWARENESS!
It has amazed me how many times I’ve heard over the years, “I just didn’t realize that was still bothering me” or “I never would have guessed that incident from my past was connected to this.” It is a common experience. We are avoiders by nature. No one enjoys peering into their pain. The problem is, what we aren’t willing to see, we can’t heal. They say ignorance is bliss. I say ignorance is dangerous. Ignorance just means a lack of knowledge and, luckily for us, knowledge can always be obtained. We just have to seek it. This is why light is necessary for healing. Without light, we remain in the dark. Light exposes the painful moments we hold in our heart that have produced limiting beliefs and self-protective patterns that are holding us back.
Healing and the Construction Process
As I mentioned in the last post, healing is similar to the construction process in many ways. In essence as long as we remain on earth, we will all be going through some form of construction. Some of us are in demolition mode requiring a completely new foundation. This simply means, traumatic or painful experiences can create deeply entrenched, negative mindsets that we build our whole lives upon. These beliefs are often planted young and make it hard to accept God’s truth in our heart. In order to heal we have to tear down those beliefs and replace them with an entirely new view of ourselves that is based on God’s perception of us. Others of us are in different phases of remodeling. This is where we are more convinced and accepting of God’s perception of us but are in the process of learning how to walk it out in our everyday life. Understanding where we are and what the process looks like will hopefully encourage you to stay the course and commit to not giving up on yourself until you see the result you are wanting.
At SHINE we believe healing happens in layers and flows in and out of what we call the 4 building blocks to healing: Awareness, Revealing, Rebuilding, and Shining. Each block builds on the next and requires the foundation of the last to accomplish its task. They are not a check off your list and done kind of process. Everyone wants a “just let me get this over with” pass, but the truth is we are all works in progress. Healing requires a committed mind set, and will not follow a straight line. Sorry to burst your bubble, but healing has many ups and downs and doesn’t always look so pretty.
So where do we start?
I love metaphors because our brain learns best when we add pictures to our words. So by comparing healing to the construction process, we get a better idea of what we are working with. The first step in any construction process is site preparation. The builder scans the plot of land, identifying the obstacles, rocks, trees, and debris that have settled on the property and hinder the progress of the project. To begin the healing process we too need to scan the landscape of our heart and be willing to see the debris it holds inside.
Awareness is a key first step because we cannot heal what we are not willing to see. Without being willing to look, we remain unaware of the the obstacles that have piled up within our heart and are holding us back. The debris most often created by our painful experiences is a limiting mindset. These are belief patterns that cause us to limit our actions and paralyze our purpose. Awareness helps us recognize what needs cleared away so that a whole new view of ourselves becomes possible. Without awareness we are led by the products of our pain and it smudges our view of how the designer envisioned us all along. God makes no mistakes. No matter how far we feel we roamed from His design, His vision of us and for us never changes. It is never to late to begin the process!
Task of the Week
What debris has settled in your heart and is blocking you from moving forward in your healing process? Most people don’t even know how they feel. They don’t recognize the negative limiting beliefs they are constantly repeating in their mind. This is vital to begin to take a look at because our thoughts direct our actions. Meaning if I say to myself, “Everyone rejects me”, I will isolate myself or push others away so it lesson the possibility of more rejection. The problem with this strategy is all I end up getting is more rejection! Overwhelming emotions, limiting thoughts, and protective patterns are tied together and have a deeper root that needs addressed.
So I encourage you to begin to look again. Find an emotions list online and write out how you feel each day or pick up some crayons and just start drawing how you feel. Begin to bring awareness to the emotional climate of your life? Then write down the thoughts that are tied to your emotions. What thoughts are driving you? Are you constantly self-critical? Do you feel not enough, too damaged, unworthy, all alone, hopeless? What do these thoughts cause you to want to do? What protective strategies have you put in place that are actually only serving to create more pain in your life? Remember, what you bring awareness to you can heal. Awareness gives you the opportunity to make intentional decisions that change your limiting thoughts and patterns!
Stay tuned for our next blog post as we will continue discovering what the healing process looks like with the second building block: REVEALING.
Bonus: Be sure to sign up and follow our Shine Blog below and we will send you a PDF version of the common limiting beliefs and protective strategies we create that block our healing process!
Be Blessed ~ Be a Light!