React, Re-center, Recreate, Release
by Vicky Nabors
I am no different from other people in that I feel deeply, and these feelings are often expressed through colorful language, primarily when I’m experiencing negative emotions. This habit started during my early teen years, and as we all know, habits are hard to break. As I have pondered this blogging project, I realized the Lent season would provide me with a great opportunity to challenge myself in a way that would move me closer to God.
And I love moving closer to God … it’s the ultimate “feel good/high!”
What I seek to do is sort of layered yet simple. I want to give up profanity. But don’t think for one moment that what I seek to do is as simple as exchanging a curse word for a more acceptable word like “fudge.”
You see, it’s more about meaning/intentions versus feelings versus being God centered. It’s about not having expectations of others, and not judging others. It’s about living in the moment and loving. It’s about walking in the light of God and letting Him deal with the short-comings of others. It’s about giving The Creator all my pains and frustrations so I no longer have to express them through profanity. I sense that when this level of spiritual enlightenment is achieved, life shifts for me and colorful verbiage vanishes. Another goal of this spiritual challenge during Lent is physical health. The use of profanity indicates the presence of stress, and stress weakens the body. I’ve asked my Father to walk with me throughout this journey.
If you’re wondering how I plan to do this, awareness is my method. During Lent, I plan to stay focused on when and how I use these colorful words. After each event, I plan to do the following: react, re-center, recreate, release. First, I will accept the fact that I reacted to something consciously or subconsciously by using colorful language. Next, I will re-center myself in God’s love and remember that He is always active in my life. Then, I will recreate that situation in my mind with a positive outcome. And finally I will release the situation, learn and grow from it. As we know, daily practice is the key to developing useful habits.
Tags: Vicky
February 19th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
Vicky, I’ve been thinking about your wonderful post, and your chosen challenge of “self-editing.” This idea really spoke to me, and I’ll be trying to follow your lead!
February 20th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
Vicky–great post! And yes, it is so much more about the condition of the heart than what words are actually said. It’s amazing how much depth our communication has!