Bear with me followers…I’m not turning religious on you, I promise. But in a strange set of circumstances, I came across this video on Oprah’s website from pastor Joel Osteen who recently appeared on two episodes of “Lifeclass.”
There are a few things that really resonated with me. First being that we could all do some mental tidying up by catching how we describe ourselves in our everyday rhetoric. Like, I’m too fat. I’m clumsy. I’m unattractive.
I’ll add one more to the list. I’ve had several girlfriends who settle for a less-than-they-deserve guy and before they get married they’ve said, “Who else will love me?”
People! We’ve got to be diligent with what we say about ourselves, to ourselves!
But this video also made me think about forgiveness.
We all have the “Ex-Baggage” from an ex-employer, an ex-spouse, ex-lover, an ex-family member (living or deceased) or an ex-friend. This group probably brought out the worst in us at any given time and there are reasons why they are the former-whatever.
However, have we ever noticed how much of the “Ex-Baggage” we still carry with us? The misjudgments that took place? Those small, irregular parts of us (our weaknesses) that they thought of as being all of us, all the time? Maybe we were labeled, “difficult, demanding, selfish, stupid, etc.”
Perhaps because of that feedback, we intentionally act against it in an effort to constantly prove those people were wrong about us. Yet when we’re still acting on it, in the present, it has a hold on us. The “Ex” is still with us!
It’s time to let it go. It’s not true. It was an unconscious comment made by an unconscious person. My teacher Marco Rojas says, “When you’re unconscious, you hurt people the most.”
People are in denial of their own hurt and they unknowingly lash out. They haven’t taken responsibility for themselves. We have to forgive them for being unaware.
In the additional wise words of Marco Rojas, “Free yourself from the mental slavery.” Have we enslaved ourselves to the wrong people instead of our own authenticity?
It’s time to clean out the “I Am’s” of our past and create new ones that are more in line with who we are today.
In case you want the full 27-minute sermon, it’s posted on Oprah’s website here: Joel Osteen “I Am” video.
This is a very important topic you have posted! It is so true, that we often speak to ourselves in ways that definitely don’t serve us very well. Statements such as, “Who else will love me?” is not uncommon to hear unfortunately. The Right Relationship Starts with You, is a book I wrote, that addresses loving ourselves first. Thank you!
Awesome! I’m soooo checking out that book! As always, thanks for reading! Namaste…