And this is going to be the last 10-week LifePoints guided group of this
year, of 2026. And so I'm really excited about it, and wanted to take a few minutes, because this opportunity is going to go beyond simply learning about the mental health tools and the life tools that I am often teaching, and actually have someone to guide you through using them.But hang on to the end of this article espisoe. At the end, I will give you two practical strategies you can use to give your anxiety over to God that you can start using as soon as the episode is over. You can use them tonight or tomorrow morning.
[You may listen to this article transcript and others on the blog at the Faith & Soul Care with Sherry Elaine podcast:]
What Is LifePoints?
But first, what is LifePoints?
LifePoints is a small group. It's a guided learning experience where we meet together through Zoom for six live sessions during the 10 weeks. And there's live teaching, there's time for questions and answers, there's group discussion, email check-ins. There's opportunities for group coaching and support around what you are personally experiencing or going through, if you wish to share.
No one's required to share if they're not comfortable.
And one of the things I really want to emphasize is that LifePoints includes almost everything that I regularly teach about, but then we don't stop there. You know, there are things that I can teach publicly through this public podcast that's available to anyone.
There's things I can teach on Facebook or on YouTube, or I can get up in front of a group. But there's so much more that we can move into when we have time to ask questions and process and actually meet together.
So if you've been wanting more than just information, or if you've been thinking it'd be great to have some guidance and practice, support that I can continue using after the podcast is over, after I've closed the self-help book, after the training is done, that is what LifePoints is designed to provide.
Registration Is Open
And I'm gonna go into just a little bit about what we've learned, but the first thing right off the bat: registration is open now.
We're starting in a few weeks, the week of September 14th, and you can go to sherryelaine.com/lifepoints, or go to sherryelaine.com and click on the LifePoints link.
There's early registration right now through August 31st. It is very affordable, and I keep it that way intentionally because my whole purpose in this is to bring these strategies, to bring them to more people.
LifePoints Is for Women
Now, LifePoints is for women.
And I have had women in my last group across the United States and Canada and the UK.
And in the group, and as I often teach about, we start with calming the body, because so much of what we experience emotionally, it's also experienced physically in our bodies.
Calming the Body and Reducing Stress
We've been under stress for a long time, possibly for decades. Our bodies become accustomed to staying tense. We have a stressful reaction, we tense up, and we keep some of that tension in our musculoskeletal system.
We don't really ever get back to baseline without using some intentional tools.
So we work with simple practices such as progressive muscle relaxation, breathing practices that also help us turn our minds back to the things of the Lord.
And these aren't exercise routines. They're relaxation practices, and they don't require any special equipment or medication or prescription. You can learn them and use them on your own whenever you need them.
And what's important is we don't just learn how to feel relaxed and make a little space and calm down for 10 minutes. We learn how to recognize what the stress feels like in our bodies and how to intentionally respond to it.
We also review and learn prayer methods, specifically ways to pray that give our anxiety over to the Lord.
Prayer and Giving Our Anxiety to God
We connect those practices with our spiritual lives. And we're not just learning techniques to manage stress, we're learning how to bring our whole selves, our bodies, our minds, and our emotions into our relationship with God.
There's a four-step prayer method, prayer journaling method, practicing the presence of Jesus way, and also a way of praying in silence while allowing the Holy Spirit to intercede for us.
One of my favorite things we practice is learning what it actually means to give our worries to God.
Because we know all the verses. We're told to cast our anxieties to Him, to not worry about tomorrow, pray about everything.
And sometimes we read those verses and think, "Okay, but how?"
How do I actually take something that is worrying me and release it to God? How do I pray when my mind won't stop? How do I keep coming back to God when the same worry keeps coming back to me?
And those are the kinds of practical questions we work through.
Decluttering the Mind
Then by the end of the second, early third week, we are talking about decluttering our minds of the thoughts that are keeping us stuck.
Sometimes it's anxious thoughts, sometimes negative self-talk, disappointments, fears, angers, discouragement, ruminating on something that happened in the past, or worry, thinking about something that hasn't even happened yet or may not happen.
And so we learn a process for getting those thoughts out of our heads and onto paper so that we can look at them instead of having them constantly swirling around in the background of our mind, and we learn how to process those thoughts.
But then in the middle of the 10 weeks of learning, we start to shift, and we go even further, moving beyond just anxiety and negative thinking into creating more purpose in our daily lives.
Moving Beyond Anxiety: Purpose, Joy, and Motivation
Because I don't want LifePoints, and I don't want Faith & Soul Care, my ministry, to simply be about managing anxiety and negative thinking.
Because the goal is not just to get ourselves calm enough to make it through another day.
We want to learn to experience more joy and purpose and motivation and intentionality in our everyday lives.
And so this is where a lot of the strategies that come out of positive psychology—we learn about these.
We start asking questions like, "How do I get motivated again? How can I trick my brain to get motivated again? How do I create days that actually feel purposeful?"
And so this LifePoints group gives us an opportunity to slow down and take a look at that and make some adjustments.
Your Self-Coaching Manual
And at the end of the 10 weeks, you will receive what I call a self-coaching manual.
And this is the part I love because we're gonna end. This wonderful group that we have is going to end. And so what happens when you're finished with the coaching sessions, when you're finished with the group and something comes up?
Well, you're not going to have to figure it out from scratch.
You have the self-coaching manual, and it will take you through the prompts that you have just learned and been guided through.
So you will have that to turn to, that you can continue using long after the 10 weeks are over.
Two Practical Visualization Strategies
Now, I said I'm going to give you a practical strategy that you can start using tonight before I close.
Remember, SheriaLane.com/lifepoints is where you would go to register for this group that's starting, and all the information is on there, including the times that we meet.
But I don't wanna leave you without giving you something practical that you can use right away.
So I want to give you a couple of visualization strategies to help you release whatever is burdening you to the Lord. And they're very simple, but they can be very powerful.
- Visualization One: The Heavy Sack
And so the first one is to imagine that you're carrying a large, heavy sack.
You can do this visualization in the mornings. You could say, "Okay, I'm gonna do this each morning after I brush my teeth," or before your day gets started, or you can do it in the evenings or before you go to bed.
But anything that you're worried about—you have a stressful meeting coming up, maybe there's a difficult conversation you need to have or a deadline approaching.
Maybe someone you love or care about is going through something really difficult, or maybe you are waiting on some medical results.
What you wanna do is, all of these things, picture the concern and imagine that it is a rock, a heavy rock, like a landscaping rock.
And you put it into the sack, and you're holding the sack, and you put the next thing into the sack.
And you hold up your arms, and you hold that sack like that laundry sack in your arms, and you feel the weight of it.
You feel the weight of those worries and concerns and stresses.
Then you visualize Jesus standing about five feet or so in front of you, and then you visualize yourself actually tossing that heavy sack of worries.
You're actually casting it to Him, and you feel the weight come off of you, and you see Him catch it.
And you visualize Him smiling at you and saying, "Thank you for giving this to me."
And He says, "I've asked you to give me your worries. Let me carry these for you."
And then you let go.
You've given it to Him.
And the visualization strategy helps to calm your mind and actually know that you've released it.
- Visualization Two: Releasing the Balloons
Another similar visualization is balloons.
You imagine that you have helium balloons, and you take each balloon, and you write whatever is heavy, what you're worried about, on the balloon.
Again, that upcoming meeting, a conversation, something you're worried about within your family, your finances, your health.
Whatever it is, you write each worry on a balloon, and then you imagine yourself, you visualize yourself holding those balloons.
And then you take a breath, and one by one, you imagine yourself releasing the worry and the burden that is on each balloon.
And you visualize them going up, up in the sky, up towards the heavens, where you are releasing them to the Lord and His mighty angels.
They've got it.
They're gonna guide your steps. They're gonna guide these concerns in a way that the Lord knows is best.
Those balloons are your prayers going up and being received.
Closing
Again, it starts the week of September 14th.
Registration's currently open, and this will be the last guided group of this year. The next one won't be until early 2027.
And I just hope that if you are able, I would love to have you join me.
Take care, everyone. I'm going to sign off for now, and I hope to see you soon.
Until next time...
Gratefully,
Sherry Elaine
--> Sign up for my Free Anxiety-Emotional Breakthough Foundations e-course this summer!
--> Enrollment is OPEN for the LifePoints 10 week group coaching cohort starting mid-September!
