“When we are no longer able to change situations, we are challenged to change ourselves.”
- Victor Frankl, Neurologist, author, and a Holocaust Survivor
I write what I’m thinking, listening to my intuition, my feeling, paying attention to notice whatever circumstances compelled my thoughts. It’s a journey to challenge myself. A beginning of a new day, a new month or a new season of life knowing that I have not been this way before. It’s a new adventure, a new start, only this time we become observers, not an absorbers. A new experience in the presence of the Higher Power to guard my heart. (Proverbs 4:23)
What is your heart? Your heart is everything within you. Your core values like – Higher Power, love, integrity, your thoughts, your feelings and emotions. Your passions, your sins, your weaknesses, your history (family, school, church). Your strengths – art, literature, music, law, medicine, politics, science, math, philosophy, religion and etc. We recognize our strengths not selfishly but as good steward, a faithful keeper of the flame.
To guard our heart is to set our boundaries not out of fear but out of love. Boundaries say, “This is me. This is not me.” Without our boundaries, we allow negative energies into our heart. Love of self will transmute negative energies that are trying to come in to disturb your life. Thus guarding our hearts from toxins is vital. Fear fights for rights to own and etc. I was struggling with this last night about land and money. I wanted to respond but held my tongue- a huge step in my life. I knew I couldn’t change her mind, but I can change myself. I know that land and money are like glitter patterns of sun glint on water from sidewalk puddles to the ocean. They vanish when the sun goes down.
We are all experiencing different aspect of a human condition. It’s a challenge to let go of the perception that saying “No” means you’re not a good person. Saying no without fear strengthens your sense of self. Your brain is equipped to change. As you practice saying “No” you are creating new neural-pathway to be yourself and not be controlled by the entitled, emotional vampires who wants to destroy your boundaries. Truthfully, they don’t mean to destroy you. It’s your perception that can destroy your thought life. I challenged my perception. Perception is not reality.
Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional. My choice is mine. It’s private. It’s not open to public debate nor external validation. I will not allow any discrediting remarks to control my life.
We are to be rooted and established in love (Ephesians 3:17). In psychology, it is called internalization. A process that involves the integration of attitudes, values, standards and the opinion of others into one’s own identity, our sense of self. Like work ethics result from the internalization of attitude toward time and effort. Negative opinions internalized can lead to mental disorders like entitlement, narcissism, neuroses, etc. Opinion is just a filter through which we perceive a situation that takes us away from our higher conscience. Higher conscience is basically rising above what we see. An awareness and perception in which we have a deeper understanding of our personal growth and personal development.
Take care of your heart