Five Steps to Encourage Yourself
We cannot solely rely on others to provide us with the encouragement we need. Waiting for someone else to uplift us can lead to feelings of stagnation and dependency. We must take initiative and cultivate self-encouragement, for it is within our power to motivate and inspire ourselves!
It is important to acknowledge that while others can offer encouragement and are valuable and even provide a temporary boost, true and lasting encouragement must come from agreeing with God and His love and wisdom for you. When we live knowing He is our source we become resilient and able to persevere through challenges and setbacks with unwavering determination. What a gift to our relationships!
Five Steps to Encourage Yourself
Ask yourself, what brings me the feeling of excitement? Now, act on that as much as possible, every moment that you can. Do something and create an experience that will fulfill your passion. This can be a challenge because many of us haven’t allowed ourselves this privilege, but this is the first step to feeling encouraged. Ask God, if you need help with ideas and inspiration. He will lead you to a song, a teaching, an idea to help someone, a way to be creative or enjoy the outdoors…or even new career ideas. The possibilities are endless!
When we are willing to act on the excitement, and passion that God leads us towards, we're responding to it and creating a dialog with God that can continue.
Take any opportunity that matches your excitement and passion, as long as it is full of integrity, and doesn’t harm you or others. Think of an option that contains even a little bit more excitement than any other opportunity or option, act on it first!
The highest excitement doesn't have to come in the form of a project or career, it can be something seemingly small.
2. Now that you’ve acted on your excitement, keep going. Keep doing this to the best of your ability. Take it as far as you can go until you can’t take it any further.
Use all your skills, talents, imagination, and abilities in taking action.
Act to the fullest degree you can act and keep acting on it until you have no more ability to act. When you can act no further, choose the next most exciting thing you can take action on.
3. Keep acting on your excitement and your passion with absolutely zero insistence, assumption, or expectation as to what you think the outcome should be.
Understand that insistence on a specific outcome, or answer to prayer may prevent a better manifestation than you imagined. We simply have no clue what the best outcome actually should look like. Sometimes we might guess, but we don't really know. So by dropping the expectation and the insistence on what the outcome should look like, we allow God to bring us the outcome that actually will work best for what our true purpose being here is all about.
The thing itself that excites you may not need to come to fruition. It may only excite you to get you to take action to create the state of being in which the thing that actually “needs to happen” can do so.
4. Remain in a positive state regardless of what happens.
It is absolutely critical that no matter what happens, even if it's something we technically don't prefer, we have to stay in a positive state because we have to know that that happened for a reason. And that there is a way by staying in a positive state, that we can benefit from that nonpreferred thing happening in our lives.
Circumstances are neutral! We have a choice to determine whether the meaning is positive or negative.
If we choose to remain in God’s promises and decide that He is good, then we open our hearts to experience His redemption.
5. Constantly investigate and improve your belief systems. Flip the fear-based beliefs, and replace the beliefs that are founded and based on God’s promises and His best for you.
I am afraid I might fail. I won't be good enough, people will think I'm nuts, and all these limiting beliefs will hold you back from being yourself and following your excitement and passion. As you replace these with empowering beliefs, this encouragement will deposit massive amounts of courage into you and you'll be filled with anticipation for your future and your relationships!
True encouragement comes when we are connected to God as our source. When we turn to Him, we find an unwavering and unconditional love that empowers us to overcome any adversity. God provides the ultimate encouragement, as He knows our deepest desires, strengths, and weaknesses. In times of doubt or fear, we can trust in His promises and find solace in His presence. By surrendering our worries and seeking His wisdom, we tap into His divine source of encouragement…something beyond our human strength.
God's encouragement is not limited to mere words; it is a transformational force that gives us hope, strength, and an unwavering belief in ourselves and our relationship with Him. When we are connected to God as our source of encouragement, we discover a limitless wellspring of love and support that propels us forward on our journey!
Encouragement is a transformative power, and all those who encounter you, and every one of your relationships will feel the benefits as you choose to keep yourself encouraged.
Hear more about this on Episode 165 of the “All About Relationships” podcast with Bob and Audrey.