Counselor's Corner: Focus on What You Are Doing Right

Are the thoughts about yourself centered on what you are doing right more or on what you are doing wrong more? Do you tend to focus on your failures instead of any progress that you have made?

→Choose to magnify your progress not failures. Choose to magnify your strengths not your weaknesses.

Focus can be defined as what you concentrate on the most or the center of your attention. 

We all have faults, weaknesses, and have made mistakes. The problem is when the enemy places a magnifying glass over each one of your weaknesses, and your focus becomes distorted and all you can see are the negative aspects about yourself.

Focusing on your deficits can cause discouragement, defeat, and depression.

Focusing too long on what is wrong with you can cause you to shrink back and not go forward, and this is exactly where the enemy wants you-stuck in the past and living in defeat of your past mistakes.

If God has forgiven your sins, He does not keep reminding you of your failures.

The enemy will attempt to get you to focus on all that is wrong with yourself. There are some key things to watch for and to recognize when the enemy has your focus distorted on the negative areas in your life.

1.      Your focus will turn to your circumstances more than to Jesus, and your circumstances will appear larger than they really are. When your focus shifts to all the distractions, chaos, and upheaval around you it is easy to feel anxious, uneasy, irritable, worried, and fearful.

2.      Confusion instead of clarity. You can doubt yourself, your strengths and your abilities because the enemy has you focused on what you have done wrong.

3.      Past hurts and insecurities are magnified. What you thought you dealt with in the past gets rehashed. This rehashing is an attempt to weaken you and to cause you to doubt what God is doing in your life. The past is used to hinder you as you attempt to move forward and enter a new season in your life. The enemy will try and derail progress and growth.

This week CHOOSE to focus on your strengths, your victories, and your good qualities. Write out what God shows you about yourself and CHOOSE to believe Him. CHOOSE to completely forgive yourself of any past mistakes and CHOOSE to love and nurture yourself. Be good to yourself. Don’t let the enemy erect lies in your mind about yourself, he is the accuser of the brethren.

Counselor's Corner: What to Do if You Are Stuck in a Rut?

I thrive on routine and structure, but sometimes I find myself getting stuck in a rut doing the same things over and over again. Once you get stuck in a rut, it can be difficult to change because we are creatures of habit. If you are type-A like I am, any change from the “schedule” can be disruptive. When we live doing the same thing week after week, life becomes stale and boring. Sometimes, we need to change things up a bit to get the zest back in life. Relax, type-A’s I know just the thought of too much change can cause hysteria, but a few minor changes you can manage.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.”

-Albert Einstein

There are times we can get stuck in a rut because we fear change. We don’t want to go back but we don’t want to go forward either, so we keep doing the same old things hoping for something different. Ruts are familiar and predictable. You may not like what you are getting, but at least you know what you are getting. Understand your comfort zones and what keeps you in them. Comfort zones can keep you stuck in a rut.

If you feel you are stuck in a rut, start making small changes in your daily schedule such as taking a different route to work or eat dinner at a different time. Don’t try and make huge changes in your daily schedule, too much change at once can be overwhelming. Make achievable goals for getting out of a rut, many times people stay in aa rut because they are overwhelmed by the changes they need to make to get out.

What small change can you make today to get you out of your rut?