9/18/24
Last week, in the first part of Not Enough, I told you that I caught myself with a recurring message of “not enough” in several areas of my life: Not enough time, not enough money, not enough friendship connections, not enough purpose, not enough focus, not enough family time, not enough recreation. Not enough. It was going downhill quickly. What you think, you end up creating. Because your thoughts determine your feelings, which determine how you act. And the way you act gets you certain results in your life – the kind of results that you like and some that you don’t like.
Now, if you find that you have a strong message of “it’s not enough” in an area of your life and you say that over and over again, that is creating a deep rut in your mind. Your mind will get fixed on it as fact and it will be difficult to consider any other perspective.
So, last week I told you there are 12 specific areas of your life to look for messages of “not enough.” I added those in the Listener’s Guide for last week, but I’ll mention them here. They include mental health, emotional health, spiritual health, physical health, resilience or growth, relationships, agency, finances, recreation or rest, physical environment, time, and purpose.
So, in each of these areas, we intentionally become aware of what we are thinking. What are you thinking about your purpose? It is abundant, or is it not enough? What about your time? Enough or not enough? And what are you supposed to do when you find that you’re entertaining “not enough” in your life?
There are some actionable steps you can take to prime the brain for a new perspective. Step one is to give equal airtime to it. And what I mean is, your brain is stuck in one narrative, and we’re going to purposely create another one for the brain to consider. So, you’re going to start by listing all the reasons why it's not enough. It might look like you’re complaining and that’s okay. You're allowed to say whatever you want to say because, listen, that's what's going on in your head anyway. So, we might as well be honest with ourselves and just go ahead and put it down on paper. So, make a list of those things of why it is not enough.
Next, you will flip that piece of paper to the other side to give it equal airtime by making a list of why it is or has been enough. You might have to really dig deep here, because you may have already created a scenario where your brain is stuck in the original message. Giving it equal airtime is going to balance your mind. That's what we're looking for. We don't want this negative narrative to be the one narrative that our minds always go to or ever entertain again. The minute we start considering that it actually is enough, or it has been enough and why, then the brain makes a shift. You’ve tasked your brain to consider thinking about something else. And again, just remember, that's how your brain's working. It is constantly wanting to answer questions and solve problems. We’re giving it a new problem to consider and solve. Because if you're not going to offer it an alternative view, an alternative perspective, it's not going to give you one. So, this is literally intentional. You must do this. Because I want to remind you, as we’ve talked about in other episodes, the Reticular Activating System with an idea of “not enough” will create more “not enough.” It just will, because that's just the way the brain works. There’s a proven truth that how you do one thing is how you do everything. How you think about one area of your life, you’re more than likely going to start thinking that same thing about other areas of your life. And then your whole life is going to seem like not enough. And then you seem to be not enough. It’s a slippery slope downhill very quickly that just leads you into despair and hopelessness.
So, we have to stop it before we get to despair and hopelessness, right? Creating a pivot in the brain by giving it that equal airtime shifts the brain to creating something new, to thinking something new - something completely different than what you've already been experiencing.
It seems like such a small thing, but it's powerful to the brain. Now the brain has got something else to prove true – that this actually is enough. This has been enough. This is abundance, right?
And I just want to remind you that you are responsible for what gets into your soul. You're responsible for - not for what's coming at you or thrown at you, but you are responsible if it sticks or not. So, the world is going to offer you all kinds of thoughts - the world and all kinds of people. And you get to decide for yourself what you want to take in to your soul. What you want to believe. What do you want to get agree about? Who do you want to agree with?
Last week, I asked you to consider where the message of “not enough” is coming from. Who is telling you your life is not enough, that you’re not enough? You either get on the train where there are expectations of you to have more, to do more, to look more, to perform more, all the mores. And then your life will look like it's never enough. We will always be chasing the “more” and they will always be expecting more, and you will never be enough.
So here is a chance where you get to stop and say, “No. This is what I've decided for me.” Because you're in charge of you. You get to say what you believe, what you think, what your expectations of yourself are, and what you put in your soul. OK? That's all you. The minute we don't do that, we have lost our power, we've lost our choices. We've lost our agency and our independence 100%.
So after you've assessed each area of your life, you’re going to give it equal airtime. Or for you guys listening, play both ends of the ball.
Step 2: After you've done that, you’re going to need to have, not just a soul shift – mind, will, and emotions - but also a total spirit shift. In the Bible, king Hezekiah was being threatened by the king of Assyria who sent him a letter mocking his God and telling king Hezekiah of all the horrible things he was going to do to him and to the king's people and to his land. He’s basically saying, “Your God is not enough, and you and your people are not enough to defend yourselves against how I’m going to crush and defeat you.” And Hezekiah took that letter, and he spread it out before the Lord. He put his heart out before God saying, “Do you see this? Help!” And the Lord sent a message back through the prophet Isaiah telling Hezekiah of the real truth of the king of Assyria and what He was going to do to him. That’s in Second Kings chapters 18 and 19. So, we’re going to follow king Hezekiah’s example and spread that piece of paper before the Lord so that He can shift our soul and spirit to align with truth.
This world also mocks your God by trying to get you to be more concerned about the things of this world than Him. So, when you spread your letter before the Lord, allow Him to show you where you're believing lies and where you are more concerned about external sources than Him. And allow him to right your wrong thinking. We’re putting it before Him and saying, “See this Lord? Do you see this? You see what I'm working with, right? You see what I’m up against,” and let him speak into it. And He will change everything if you let Him. Because I do believe the Holy Spirit is speaking through our minds all the time to create that perspective shift. When we refuse to attend to it, to look at it, and open ourselves up for it is when we get stuck in those that one track negative narratives.
Friend, our job is to take all these things in our regular normal life, all these places where we’ve bought into the idea that our lives are not enough, that we are not enough, and lay them before the Lord and ask for His help. He will do for us just as He did for King Hezekiah. He's the same God yesterday, today and tomorrow, and He wants to get truth into your spirit and soul.
Hey, if you’d like to have an exploratory conversation around this topic or if you’re just wondering how Life Coaching works, jump on my calendar and let’s have a quit chat. The link for a free discovery call is in the show notes.
Also, don’t forget to get the free, downloadable guide that will help you work through this topic on your own. That link is in the show notes also.
Have a wonderful week, friends. See you next Wednesday for the next episode of Another Beautiful Life.
SHOW NOTES:
This week, we follow up from Not Enough, part one with actionable steps that prime the brain to create new perspectives. These two easy steps will get you out of a stuck, negative narrative and into considering thoughts that bring a sense of fullness and abundance to your life.
Are you wondering how Life Coaching works? Would you like a free, 30-minute session? Click this link to set up a Consult Call: https://calendly.com/triciazodylifecoach/30min
Get the free, printable guide here: www.triciazody.com/guide
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