|
|
|
Words have always been a way for me to express the deepest places in my soul. God inspires me through His creation, through other people and especially through His Word. The life journey I have been on is filled with stories of how God has redeemed many broken places. I am taking my own Freedom Steps from the past to my future and I’ve learned incredible lessons along the way. His inspiration has sparked my own and I can only pray that any words I write will touch places deep within a woman to motivate her forward and create a space to find personal intimacy with Christ. A Heart To Win A Heart To Win Throughout history sporting events have been the epitome of learning about character, heart and perseverance. Even if you are not very sports-minded you can all think of a great sports movie you’ve seen that tells of the main character’s fight to overcome seemingly impossible odds. We all want to root for the ‘underdog’ who seems to be struggling with himself just as much as he is struggling against his opponent. Identifying with the underdog tugs at our hearts because often their story imitates not only their life, it imitates ours. My son is now 17 and he is just about the hardest working kid I know. One day I was in his room and I found a list of 44 athletic slogans from famous players and coaches he copied down for inspiration. As I read through them I couldn’t help but think every one of them could be applied to life coaching. Unfortunately he did not write down the authors of the quotes so I cannot give them credit, but here are a few of the quotes which struck me the most. “Fear is your best or your worst enemy. It’s like fire. If you can control it, it can cook for you; it can heat your home. But if you can’t control it, it will burn everything around you and destroy you.” Believe it or not, fear is not always a bad thing and when it is controlled, it can push you forward. Fear of loss or fear of failure (again if controlled) can serve to push you a little further until you learn to use success as a motivator instead of fear. However unrealistic and irrational fear will only serve to keep you stuck, afraid to look forward and terrified to look back. Don’t let fear use you – use it! “There is no room for negative thoughts. THINK POSITVE!!” A key aspect of life coaching is the renewing of the mind. Negative thoughts and untruths about ourselves and our situation can become so much a part of us that we don’t know how to untangle fact from fiction. It is important to identify negative thoughts and start to think positively. Dispelling the lies from the past and replacing them with truth is essential to moving forward into a more confident, courageous and power-packed life. “The real glory is in being knocked to your knees and then coming back. It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get back up.” It seems that at some time in everyone’s life there is a ‘knockdown’ moment where we just want to give up. I have so much admiration for people who have been knocked down but have gotten back up again. I call this the AHA! moment. This is the moment when a person finally realizes they are better than their opponent (whatever that may be) and they will win the fight to define who they are. Getting knocked down hurts but no one ever regrets mustering the courage to come back to their feet to fight again. A life coach can be in your corner to help you spark a comeback. “Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or the faster man. But sooner or later the man who wins is the man who thinks he can.” The battle of the mind is sometimes the hardest battle to overcome especially if we’ve been indoctrinated into a negative mindset. Persevering means not only getting through the action steps to achieve your goal, it also means knowing the battle can be won before ever stepping onto the ‘playing field’. Just like in athletics, set yourself up for success by telling yourself. “I can win!” and really mean it. There may be some defeats along the way but revel in the small victories instead of dwelling on the setbacks. “As a ‘woman’ thinks, so ‘she’ is” “Work will win when wishing won’t” No amount of life coaching will be effective if you are not willing to complete some action steps to move forward. Hoping progress will happen without putting in the effort won’t get the job done. No athlete achieves success without consistent practice and a conscious effort to better themselves. It is not always easy but often the best things in life lie on the other side of a little hard work. “Basketball doesn’t build character; it reveals it.” ….and so does learning more about yourself. A woman’s character – either good or bad – can be revealed to her through life coaching. If you come across a good character trait, hold on to it! If you reveal a bad one, make a mental note to work on it. Developing even more positive character is just one of the great side benefits of achieving your goal through life coaching. “Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, an hour, a day or a year but eventually it will subside. If you quit however, it lasts forever. Never, never, never give up!” Sometimes life is hard and pain is an inevitable part of the scenario. This pain can be physical, emotional, spiritual or all the above and if left unchecked it can rule a person’s life. Staying consistent and focusing effort forward is hard during painful times but it does help to know that the vast majority of pain in any form is temporary. In my experience I have seen people give up too soon, never even realizing they may be on the brink of a major breakthrough. Hang in there even when the going gets tough. Never, never, never give up. I have to say that my son is one of my greatest inspirations. He’s had his moments of sitting the bench, injuries, pain, struggles, knockdowns and defeats but these have helped develop who he is every bit as much as the victories he has enjoyed. Whether he wins or loses will always take a back seat to the character he reveals on and off the court. On the back of my son’s door hangs his own slogan written in his own handwriting. He sees it every morning as he starts his day. When I see it, I get a lump in my throat because it reminds me that his integrity has been forged through pain. It simply says… “Let no one outwork you today.” I have told you a lot about my son Adam but there is one thing I haven’t said yet. Adam became a teenage father at 16 when he was just a sophomore in high school. His circumstance has certainly changed his life but it has changed his heart even more. He has a heart to win now more than ever and his attitude and faith has kept him in the game when others may have dropped out. His baby girl is the most important thing in his life. He is an incredible daddy…with an incredible attitude. Life can be a very tough ‘playing field’ but attitude will highly determine how effectively the game will be played. You have everything you need to succeed and the heart to win beats within you. How you play the game is up to you.
|
|
|
