* Have you been feeling like you are not understanding the path your life is suppose to take?
* Do you feel that you try to do your best and you still feel less than?
* Do you overburden yourself with things to do, what others think, or with anything in general?
* DO YOU FEEL LOST?
Last week, in church, I blogged my response to the sermon about letting go.
This week I am also responding because there is something else that I resonated with it and I bet will with you as well.
Talk about having a path, a focus, following the faith you try to lead.
Three Metaphors: Glasses, Learning to Drive, Usain Bolt
Josh equated it to wearing glasses. Which I do. (So I totally got the metaphor). If you wear prescription sunglasses or glasses you know that if you take them off you can't see anything right. Everything is blurry and unfocused. You can trip over something. You can run into something. You can miss-see something in a way that is not it's true form. So when we put on these glasses we are able to see clearer the path that is in front of us when we are driving. You can read the sentences in your book better. You can walk on the sidewalk, even see the leaves clearly. I remember the revelation of how bad my astigmatism was when I thought I was able to see the leaves, but when I first put on glasses, I could see the little veins on the leaves-- I could see all the beautiful hues in the leaves as well. It really was a revelation. If you have 20/20 vision, you get the metaphor but you totally may not understand it. So let's go with another one.
Josh also equated it to learning to drive. For me, this also worked with being on the track team. If we hyper focus or focus on too much as once, like looking behind us, in the mirrors, turning side to side, then we often lose focus of the path we are driving, literally. We can make sure someone doesn't crash into us, but we can't be so sure that we won't crash into someone else because we simply aren't looking forward.
Josh also talked about Usain Bolt because he was dubbed a prodigy from a very early age. He was going to be the fastest person in the world and break many records. He achieved part of that and in doing so also got an incredible amount of fame. Of course, with fame comes all the good and bad that goes with it. He was well known. He achieved part of his dream. But he lost his focus. Started eating fast food a lot (affecting his health) and going to bars. He lost his path because he stopped driving and took off his glasses.
The reason why I am blogging about this is because I felt it was potent at certain points for me. During it I felt lead to being told to "let go of him". This kept getting repeated to me. That was some hard crap to hear while I am trying to imagine a straight highway (I-5 in California, if you will) and how I can re align my busy, traffic-like, bumper to bumper streets with lots of red and yellow lights kind of life into I-5 where things running smoothly.
I have struggled for many years with lots of things. Most important being my worth, being loved, allowing myself to feel hurt when I need to, and just knowing I am beautiful the way I am. Things that a lot of people struggle with. I have felt that I want to make sure that I am loved. So much so that I lost the pathway to real true love in myself and to me. It hasn't been easy for me to learn to have to let go of something so badly I wanted and would do anything to fix.
We are a fix it culture. Looking at our feet instead of looking at the finish line and figuring out how to get there. THAT is what we need to focus on. I can't tell you how many times even in track and field I would literally look down so I didn't trip. The one time I looked up, I tripped. Remember that well. That being said, that is track and not life. Life you need to look up. You need to have a goal.
Why Focus on the Finish Line?
When we focus on the finish line, we can see clearer our lives and our paths both in faith, family, work, love and anything you can name. Having been a person who loved making lists in the past, I don't know how I lost direction so bad. It is like I was listening to the wrong GPS and going down a path that was forced instead of being natural in the path that is unique to me.
You should focus on your "finish line". What is something you need to work on?
How to Focus on Your "Finish Line".
Honestly, meditate. Take some time for yourself whenever you get the chance. Grab paper and pencil or pen. Make lists. Write. Process. When you are able to meditate and process, you can move forward. Just the meditation and processing part of it will take a while. Depending on what it is that you are trying to work on, it can take a day. It can also take weeks or years. So be patient with yourself. Be kind to yourself in the process (I wasn't and it prolonged it).
What are the goals you are hearing that you need to change or listen to more closely? Write those down! Don't let them slip. Think about how you are going to get there. Write that down!
Think about the slip ups you have or things that keep you from those goals. When they do, weed them out. Make the conscious effort to change it. It will take work. It will be painful. But it will also be worth it!
Can you make more than one goal or finish line? Yes. Be conscious though how much you can really work on at the same time though. That is super important. If you over burden your process, you will quite. Don't set yourself up for failure.
Be realistic in your goals. Write them down somewhere. Keep track of them.
It is also okay to screw up, be sad, restart, be human!
What is something you are going to change and plan how to change it today?
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