It's Valentine's Day in two days. Maybe this is a good time to let go of emotional wounds so we can be more loving to others and ourselves. Guilt and blame are the chief inhibitors to feeling peaceful and loved. When we find value in guilt and blame, it is impossible to experience love and inner peace. The good news is that we don't have to remain that way. We can forgive others and let go of the past. That's what we will study in chapter 17. We are starting a new section today that will help us learn how to let go and heal from the past so we can enjoy life in the present moment. Praise God!
5 comments:
Keeping the emotion under control is one of my hardest tasks. I have a friend who is in ICU and has been most of the last 3 weeks. In blogging, in emails, in our conversation, it is very difficult to keep the 'emotion' out of the 'just the facts' situation, as she is very, very ill. We are trying hard to not blow anything out of proportion when stating her current condition. I have never had to totally relay the facts like we have in her case. I have found out that I am one of those who thrives on 'emotion' in the moment. My emotion in relating changes in her condition creates a snowball effect. Her situation gets blown up if we do, and it is bad enough on it's own. Joel's statement "Change the Channel" fits so well. My kids have hammered me for years, "MOM! Take the emotion out of it, and tell me again!" ARGH! So I have been trying.
He mentions letting go of emotion from the past, and we must do so, or the 'nail hole' of a past issue can fester and get bigger than it was meant to be. A reopened wound brings back all those old hurts. There is another situation, and that is the work place. Before I changed jobs last fall I was caught up in what I coined the term "commotion emotion." I was in the midst of about 30 cubbies, all filled with people with their own issues, their own reactions to everything, and I would get caught up in it. It was very hard to put that emotion away, and stay calm and cool. I found it very difficult to 'change channels' and become upbeat, calm, or quiet in the midst of the chaos of emotion, or the 'commotion emotion.'
I work from home now, and just love the peace and quiet, find it much easier to put away the frustrations of a frustrating situation. I am blessed.
Rozan, I also really liked the part where Joel talked about changing channels and not letting our emotions drag us down. He advised us to dwell on the good things of God instead. Kim reminded us a few threads back of Phillipians 4:8, which says to think about "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure". It's natural to feel bad when someone is in ICU. I think God expects us to pray for the sick. I imagine He wants us to have faith that the person will get well and to visualize their healing. Focus on their wellness while accepting God's sovereignty in the situation. I am praying for your friend, Rozan. Thanks for sharing. It's hard to have a friend that is ill so I'll pray for you too. I liked your term "emotion commotion"...lol
Joel says that we need to "take what God has given us and make the most of it." That's hard sometimes because we question why certain things had to happen to us. Whatever happened, we can't let it determine our future. We need to stop reliving our painful moments over and over again. Instead Joel suggests that we use the file system. In one file, put all our victories and all the good stuff that has happened to us...all our good memories. In the other file put all the bad stuff and then throw away the key to the "bad stuff" file. Good advice!
Well, with Valentine's day coming up, here are a few thoughts on love I found in a spiritual magazine.
"The love you seek is also seeking you. Love is in your heart, at the very center of your being – an inherent part of you because you had your beginning in God, and God is love. You are created by God's love, which is unconditional, all-encompassing and totally fulfilling.
How wonderfully reassuring to realize that your desire for happiness and fulfilling relationships is but the love of God in your heart seeking expression through you! Every moment of your life becomes an opportunity to prove God's love by expressing it in all your thoughts, words and actions.
God's love will satisfy every need of your mind and heart. You may have found some experiences in your life difficult to understand, but in every season of trial or change, the love of God is with you to strengthen, sustain and guide you.
'In all these things,' the apostle Paul assures us, 'we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither ... things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God' (Rom. 8:37-39).
You live and move and have your being in God. Your acceptance of God's love is the determining factor between a barren life and a joyful, love-filled, victorious life. Whether or not you express love, God's love is always seeking you, always surrounding you.
When you become still in prayer and meditate on God's love, consciously seeking to let it flow through you, your life undergoes the metamorphosis that love always accomplishes. Realizing that you are a living, responsive, radiant expression of God's love uplifts your heart and fills your life with the goodness of God. By your glowing face, positive speech and loving attitude toward others, the world knows that you are God's love in action, giving and receiving love continuously.
In joyous awareness of God's magnanimous, outreaching love, we pray. Our love enfolds you as you grow in your awareness of God's love within you and let it radiate through you into every phase of your life. We rejoice that you are fulfilling God's will of love in your life."
Have a blessed day!
Oh, I was going to tell you about the illustration for this post. Every year Frank and I volunteer for "Greater Kansas City Day", the opening Day of the baseball season. We are one of the more than 1,600 volunteers that team up with area celebrities to sell special editions of The Kansas City Star. The proceeds of Greater KC Day benefit the Rotary Youth Camp and other deserving children's charities. Greater Kansas City Day is a partnership between the Royals, The Kansas City Star, and Kansas City area Rotary Clubs. I just used this picture because it has a heart on it for Valentine's Day.
I wrote this note on facebook and realized that it went with the chapter on "Letting Go of Emotional Wounds" so I thought I would post it.
Oprah Winfrey and Eckhart Tolle are discussing THE NEW EARTH online, and I've listened to a couple of lessons. I haven't bought the book yet, but I have read Tolle's THE POWER OF NOW on the suggestion of my youngest daughter Tori and got a lot out of it. One the most powerful concepts that I have ever come across is the idea to live in the moment. Omar Khayyam, a scholar and astonomer who lived in Iran from 1048? to 1122 said, "The Moving Finger writes; and, having, writ, moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it." Wayne Dyer in the WISDOM OF AGES writes, "One of life's greatest illusions is the belief that the past is responsible for the current conditions of our lives." When we are fully conscious, we are "plugged in" and aware. We live in the present moment. When Tori had her motorcycle accident, her body started the healing process immediately. Of course, the doctors had to clean her wounds and pump new blood into her. We have to do the same things with our emotional wounds. We have to close them and pump new blood into them. Omar Khayyam says that none of our tears can erase our story so we can't live in the past and expect to be healed. We need to remove all blame and guilt from our minds because it is the attraction to these negative feelings that keeps us from feeling peaceful and loved. When we choose peace through love and forgiveness, all blame and guilt will disappear.
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