Moving Past Mental Blockages - What Keeps Us Stuck?
What are some steps that we can take to move past mental blocks so that we can experience more joy and purpose in our daily lives? You know, maybe there's something you really want to do or something you know you should do, and maybe there's a
dream you've been thinking about or a change you know you need to make, whether it's a big change or a small change, or simply a desire to experience more joy and purpose in your everyday life.And yet, you just can't seem to move forward. You just can't seem to cause any ripples of change. And you may know what you should do, and you've thought about it. You've prayed about it, perhaps. You started to make plans, but something gets in the way.
You might find yourself thinking, "What if I fail? I'm too old to start. I'm too young and inexperienced. I don't think I'd be good enough. I don't know where to begin. What will people think? I'm wasting too much time already."
Or maybe you don't even know what's keeping you from getting started. You just know you're not motivated enough to move forward, and you're just kind of stuck, and that's just the way things are for now. You're stuck.
But today, I want to talk about these mental blockages. These are patterns of thinking that keep us from moving toward the life we want to live. And I want to give you, over the next couple of episodes, three simple steps that we can take to first move past those mental blocks so that you can experience more joy, more purpose, more hopefulness.
A Free Faith & Soul Care Resource
Now, before we get started, I want to remind you that there is my e-course, the Faith and Soul Care Foundations e-course. It is available to sign up for this summer, and it is free. Um, we have a new group starting every week, and it is free to sign up.
You just go to sherryelaine.com and click on the link that says Free Foundations. And there's also a direct link in the show notes and on the blog if you're reading this there. If you are struggling with stress, worry, fatigue, disappointment, or burnout, if you simply like support in reconnecting with God and even with yourself, this free e-course is for you.
And again, it's free throughout the summer. We have a new group beginning each Monday. So go to sherielaine.com, the Free Foundations, and sign up.
Feeling Stuck Doesn't Mean Something Is Wrong With You
Now, back to these mental blockages, these mental blocks. And I want to at first say, and this is important, that feeling stuck doesn't mean that there's something wrong with you. And that may be part of what you're thinking, "What is wrong with me?"
[Reminder: You may always listen to these teaching articles, read aloud by the author, Sherry Elaine, on the Faith & Soul Care podcast:]
But oftentimes, the reason we are stuck is because we have developed in our minds a disappointment or we have experienced a disappointment, a rejection, a criticism, or some sort of loss, and we've learned somewhere along the way that it's just safer to not try. It's safer to keep things the same. It's safer to not hope too much, to not want too much, to not risk it.
So we're not just going to try to give ourselves a pep talk and say, "Get over it. You can do it." Instead, we're going to approach this mental block that we have with curiosity.
Curiosity. That is a key word in understanding and moving past these blocks. What, what is going on? I'm curious about my own thinking. And, uh, I wanna give you three steps and three words to go with those steps.
Step One: Notice
And today, we're gonna talk about step one, and step one is notice. Okay? Notice. And that goes from notice the story that is behind your being stuck. Notice the story that's behind your mental block.
And so usually we say, "Why can't I do this?" And we come up with a reason, and that's, that's fine. But typically, the reason we first say is a little too shallow. So ask, "What am I telling myself about this?"
Because underneath your first answer, there's a deeper response and even a deeper response. And somewhere along the way, there most likely is a half-truth, a mistruth, a twisted truth, or a flat-out lie that you have been holding on to.
For example, maybe you want to start something new and you're telling yourself, "I'm too old." Or maybe you want to pursue a dream, but you think, "People like me don't do things like that." Maybe you want to make a change, but you're thinking, "I've tried before and failed, so there's no point in trying again."
Maybe perfectionism is holding you back because you think, "If I can't do it well, I probably shouldn't do it. I should leave it to someone else." Or maybe you just want to know exactly what God wants you to do before you take any action at all.
But first of all, stop for a moment and notice the story. Ask yourself three questions such as this.
First of all, what am I thinking about this?
Go Deeper Than the First Answer
And going back to what your first thought is, the first thought might be, "I'm just not motivated. I'm having low energy. I'm just not motivated."
Okay. That's the outcome of whatever the deeper story is that you're telling. So I'm not motivated because...
Then answer that. "I'm not motivated to move forward in this because..." And then what's the story there?
It could be, "I tried before and I wasn't successful." It could be, "I've seen others try it and they weren't successful." "I don't think others will approve."
And then usually by the third because you get to the actual story.
Okay. So, all right. So you tried before and you weren't successful because...
Oh, and then you find out the story you're telling because whatever that last answer is, "I wasn't successful because..." "I've seen other people not be successful because..." And that's often you get to a point when you, when you, "I'm not motivated because..." When you take curiosity, okay, "I'm not motivated because..." "Oh, I'm curious. Why aren't I motivated?"
Okay. Second loop: because. Third loop: because. You eventually get to the story, or you get to a dead end, kind of, that you just left it there. You just left the, your thinking there and you didn't think any further. You weren't any more curious. So I hope that makes sense.
But what am I thinking? And then when you get to the end, the deeper reasons and story, is that actually true?
And what would be more truthful if it's not true? What would be more truthful and what would be more life-giving about looking at this in another way or telling myself the truth about this or showing myself where the little block is that I could move past, but I haven't.
Biblical Renewal Is About Truth
Now, again, I'm not talking about simply replacing every negative thought with a positive thought. And biblical renewal also, it's not pretending everything's wonderful or convincing ourselves that we can accomplish anything that we want. It's learning to see our circumstances through what is actually true.
Romans 12:2 talks about being transformed by the renewing of our minds.
And that means we can learn to recognize the thoughts that we've left unfinished, the thoughts that aren't serving us. We can examine them. We can be curious about them. We can bring our thinking back into alignment with truth.
So maybe instead of saying, "I'm too old to start something," the truth might be, "I may not have done this before, but I can learn."
Instead of, "I have to know exactly what God wants me to do," perhaps the truth is, "I can pray, seek wisdom, and take the first small step."
Or instead of, "I've failed before, so I'll probably fail again," perhaps it's, "What could I have learned from that last failure and what might I do differently this time?"
Okay. And a lot of times we just hit failure and stopped and didn't, we weren't curious about that failure. Okay.
"Oh, I'm curious about this. What might have made it work?"
You know, what might have had a better outcome? We just stop when we don't immediately get the results that we want right away. But that's actually not the normal path to change. It's not the normal path to long-term change.
Typically, there's a couple of failures and readjustments along the way, and we stop before we've been curious enough to make a readjustment.
Don't Automatically Believe Every Thought
So the first step is to notice the story. Don't automatically believe every thought that enters your mind. Be curious about what you're thinking. Be curious about the reasons you're not moving forward or you're not motivated and find the story behind that that you're telling yourselves.
Because sometimes the biggest thing standing between us and our next step isn't our circumstances, and it's not even really the motivation. The motivation or lack of it is because of this story that we believe.
What's Coming Next...
Okay. So I'm going to hit pause for now and stop for now. And when I come back within the next week, we will go to step two.
Now, step one was noticing the story behind the block and be curious about it.
And step two is calming your body before you try to change your mind and your actions.
All right. So that's what will be coming next. Step two in the three steps to really, truly break through the mental blocks so that you can experience more purpose and joy on the other side of them.
Until next time...
Gratefully,
Sherry Elaine
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