4 Steps To Escape From Your Monsters! ...kind of dark post at first...
Do you believe in MONSTERS?!
Step One to escaping your monsters is believing that there are monsters!
It can be easy just to pretend there are no monsters. We can avoid dealing with negative things in our lives, or we can place the blame on ourselves and wallow in condemnation.
1 Peter 5:8 says,
Control yourselves and be careful! The devil, your enemy, goes around like a roaring lion looking for someone to eat. (NCV)
Other versions say "devour", whatever version you use it's clear we have an enemy who wants to hurt us. To ruin us even. To place us in a state of fear, anger, or shame that discredits us and isolates us from others and from God.
Step Two to escaping your monsters is to identify them!
I think each of us is susceptible to different "monsters". We each have different internal designs that cause us to be susceptible to different negative thought patterns that take us into scary places.
What do your monsters look like?
In full disclosure, I deal with all kinds of lies...
Follow Your Heart! But On The Other Hand...? [PENDULUM POST]
I'm learning to discern more. You'd think I'd be better at it by now, but it turns out I'm still learning. For me, following my heart means having the "courage" to call things out when I see them. I have the compulsion to set things right. I feel culpable to say what I see, especially as a leader. I almost always feel I am missing the mark if I don't say something when I hear or see something out of line.
(Feels kind of judgy when I say it like that... maybe because it sometimes is judgy and that's where the Pendulum Process needs to come in!)
Is it always right to say something?
Is it never right to step in?
Sometimes it is "courage" that is needed and I do indeed need to speak up. After all, Proverbs 9:8b says,
"... But correct the wise, and they will love you."
Yet, at other times we are encouraged to be wise by not speaking up. Proverbs 10:19b says,
"...if you are wise, you will keep quiet."
So what's a gal to do? Let's take a look at the Pendulum...
What If The Answer Is Closer Than You Think? [spoiler alert - kinda gross story]
So, it's come to this. I went to Costco to get a hearing aid! I KNOW RIGHT! I can't be getting older, I should be able to hear for a lot longer... and all the things.
When my appointment finally came around it was way shorter than planned for two reasons.
1- they said that asymmetrical hearing loss was a medical red flag and I needed to go to an ENT specialist before moving forward.
2- they threw me a curve ball and said my good ear was completely blocked and they wondered how I could hear out of it at all.
(This is where the gross part comes in.) They told me never to clean my ears with a Q-tip but to use soap and hot water in the shower.
So, I tried it.
It didn't work!!
My "good ear" then became my bad ear! I must have dislodged the build-up and really messed up my ear. I couldn't even hear my blow dryer from that side that morning. With only the hearing from my bad ear, I was nearly deaf. It felt like people were teasing my, moving their lips but not saying anything....
Playing With Matches!
Marriage was God's idea in the first place! He's the one who said it wasn't good for man to be alone.
The desire to be matched with a spouse is God-breathed.
Playing With Matches explores God's plan for a man and a woman to discern if they are a good match.
If you, or someone you know, is looking for a Christian guidebook of sorts, Playing With Matches shares Godly principles for dating and is chock full of real-life stories to learn from!
What's Up With Your Middle?
Let's talk about middles.
We all have them. We are all in the middle of something.
Maybe we are literally traveling, but more likely we are in the middle of a project, or a life change, or making a decision.
Every actual accomplishment has a start and a finish.
It's the middle where the work happens though. Or where we get stalled out.
In Proverbs 4:11 God says, "I am guiding you in the way of wisdom, and I am leading you on the right path."
It's a matter of discernment isn't? Figuring out how He is guiding us takes savvy. We get an inkling of where we should move toward something and we either heed it or we don't.
There's discernment needed for timing too. Sometimes we put things off that we should invest right away, or we jump the gun and put our energy into something too soon.
But most often we lose heart after we get started and stall out. Middles can be costly or boring or just plain take too long.
Good...
Your "Best Saturday" Self
Some Saturdays are filled with stuff to do, or places you have to be, but those are not the ones we are talking about here. Let's focus on those wonderful Saturdays when there's white space... They are probably rare, but also probably wonderful.
Close your eyes with me for a minute and remember that time when you weren't quite sure what to do - the to-do list was blank and so was the calendar and you had that rare thought, "What do I want to do today?"
That's the feeling of Sabbath rest.
It's a time when you just enjoy life, you connect with your Creator and likely His creation, you are not in a hurry, you eat good food, and have the luxury of time for quality conversation. Your soul sighs, "Ahhh....." in the satisfied kind of way.
Your Best Saturday self celebrates a week well spent.
Your Best Saturday self enjoys the present and takes a break from thinking about what's coming up.
There is no worry, anxiety, or concern there. It's a true break from the work week and the...
What's A Gal To Do?
It's not easy to figure out what to do.
We've been digging in to the word "Discernment" as a church staff lately and looking at what it means in our everyday lives. The Bible gives us overarching guidelines we need to adhere to - like "Don't kill people" in the Old Testament, and "Don't even hate people" in the New Testament.
But, you can't just say to do what the Bible says. Sometimes the Bible isn't so clear. Fairly often even it forwards two completely different responses. Here are a few examples:
- Share the truth in love ~ Love covers a multitude of sins
- Judge wisely ~ Don’t judge at all
- Give to everyone who asks ~ Don’t throw your pearls before swine
- Don’t take anything with you ~ Prepare well
- Be the head and not the tail ~ Be the servant of all
- Be angry and sin not ~ Be at peace with all men
You get the picture. Even the same situation in a different season of your life will require new discernment
The Bible points us to a...
Going From "Freeze Framing" To Reframing
Ever feel like someone put you on a hard pause when that "thing" happened? It's like they can't let you move forward. You feel marked forever as not able to do whatever you messed up on.
Or maybe you put yourself on a hard pause and said you will never try "that" again?
Or one more, maybe have you put someone else on a hard pause and in your heart thought "they can't really..."?
At Bridges Coaching, we call this Freeze Framing. It's like when you hit the pause button on a video and the person is stuck as they are, frozen, not able to move forward. The swirling thoughts are all negative and limiting. They don't allow for growth, change, or transformation.
I'll be honest. I have done it myself. I've wondered if I could finish projects, learn new skills, incorporate new habits, be more thoughtful, have patience, or be more...
I'm embarrassed to say that I've freeze framed others as well. I've not asked them to do something they weren't great at the first time, or avoided getting...
What If It's Simpler Than You Thought?!
What's your recurring dream?
- Love to have a family vacation?
- Want to write a book?
- Hoping to be more at peace and sleep better?
- Like to feel healthier and maybe have a little less around the middle?
Whether your dreams are for fun or accomplishment, for physical health or emotional well-being, or to upgrade your personal life or be a better assist to someone else, turning hopes and dreams into reality and memories could be as easy as good coaching!
Good Coaching helps you define the goal, remove the obstacles that have impeded forward movement, and set up a plan with reasonable action steps and clear follow-through.
Maybe it is YOU* that is hoping and dreaming, or maybe you'd like to help others get unstuck. Walking down the Bridges Coaching ROAD helps people get "there".
Where would you love to build a bridge to?
Start here:
*Best Option: Life Coach Certification
Next Best Option: Coach Training Video Course
*Life Coaching: Associate Coaches Connections
...
Got Stuff? (or know someone who does?)
We've all been there... had times when something happened to us? Or when we dropped the ball on a priority or responsibility?
Stuff happens.
So, whether you are dealing with a trauma or a recurring obstacle, a circumstance outside your control, or perhaps just a practice you want to have that you can't figure out have to make part of your actual life, you know what? God is not surprised!
In fact, He loves to meet us where we are at and help us along our way to the nexts He has for us. In Bridges Coaching, we use the Always Circle to help people know where they need to go next.
Jesus said, "In this world, you WILL have trouble, but take heart I have overcome the world." John 16:33b
He confirmed there will always be stuff.
BUT God also promises that He gives us a way out of temptation (1 Corinthian 10:13) and that He IS guiding us (Proverbs 4:11).
Good coaching helps people see what God is offering them!
Then the rest is up to us!...