See Life For the First Time
Today, I'm going to take you into my house to help you see what's happening. I started taking down my Halloween decorations on November 1st, the day after Halloween. I was excited about putting up my fall decorations to get ready for Thanksgiving. I am hosting Thanksgiving at my house. I was excited about getting ready for that. I really wanted to get the fall decorations up on the first of November, so I could forget about that and start planning the menu for my Thanksgiving get-togethers….move on to something different.
We had snow. The weather has been kind of yucky. I didn't really want to take all my Halloween stuff outside, put it in the tubs, and take it back out to the shed. I thought, "I'll wait for a nice day to get that done." We haven't really had a nice day, or if we did have a nice day, I was busy creating content for a course or doing videos or something. It didn't work out. I've been putting off putting the Halloween decorations away. It's been at least eight days. My Halloween decorations are half up and half down. Some are in the kitchen, some are by the dining room, and none of them are outside in the shed. It's a mess. It's all over the place.
It's been so long that I've begun to overlook that mess. I noticed today, as I was walking through my house, I didn't even notice that the Halloween decorations were here, there, and everywhere. I know you've had this same experience where you have good intentions to accomplish something, and it doesn't get done. It's out in the middle of the floor, and you keep stepping over it. I've personally got several projects like that.
I had cataract surgery. This is the first time I've ever had halos in my vision. At night, I see bright, white rays that come out from the light. I didn't have them in the beginning, but I developed them over time. I talked to the doctor; he said there was nothing wrong. It's not going to affect my vision. He said, "they should get better, but if they don't, your brain will compensate, and pretty soon, you won't notice them at all." Seriously, this is a skill that our brain has! It's a blessing for us to be able to ignore things that are uncomfortable or not perfect in our lives. We can begin to ignore the things we can't fix. I think this is probably why some people stay in abusive relationships, or there are a lot of crazy situations where they feel helpless to fix it. We begin to ignore them or accept them as if it's the way things are.
It's a blessing that we're not in pain all the time over the things we can't change. It is a blessing that I don't get completely stressed out because my Halloween decorations aren't put away. But, at the same time, it can be a curse because we can allow this problem to continue going on forever and ever and ever. Then, finally, we start to not notice it.
Today what I would like to do is to help us to be able to wake up our brains to be able to see things as if we're seeing them for the first time. Today, go out of your house and walk outside of your house no matter what the temperature is. Shake off your own identity and then pretend that you are one of your holiday guests coming into your house for the first time. Maybe they haven't seen you for a year or six months. They're walking into your house, seeing you and your house for the first time.
I'm right this moment thinking, 'Yeah, as they're walking up to my house, they can see that I didn't get around to finishing my weeding in my front garden.' But we're not going to worry about that. This is not the time of year to weed. I'm going to concentrate on walking into the house and maybe looking at the front door, the entryway; maybe there's something that could be done there. Then walking into the house and seeing your house for the first time as if you were one of your holiday guests. I already immediately know some of the things that need to change in my house. When you do this, have a piece of paper and a pen handy. You will notice things right away.
Let's just focus on the front door and entry. We're not going to go through the whole house; we're going to take this in bite-size pieces. As you walk in, jot down as many things as you want, but you're going to prioritize the top six…no more than six! This might be something that, as you envision yourself as the host, you could change about yourself. Maybe you've wanted to change the way people see you, but you haven't taken the time to do it. You got to the point where you ignored it. Now, as you are walking in your front door as a holiday guest, you see yourself clearly. It's there. You had been overlooking it. In this exercise, you can pretend like you're yourself opening the door but also your holiday guest opening the door.
Prioritize those top six things that you are seeing for the first time, are the most important to not ignore anymore. When you see through those fresh eyes, you realize, "you know what, this is not okay." Write down up to six things; it might only be one or two things…only up to six. Now, I invite you to choose a day between now and the end of December, okay? You have two months or a month and a half to get these things done. If a guest actually comes over, don't worry about it. You've got your day picked, maybe you have guests on Thanksgiving, but you're not planning on accomplishing one of the tasks until December. Fine. Don't let yourself get distracted. Don't think, 'Oh, I better move up the date.' Be true to yourself.
This is what this exercise is all about, becoming true to yourself, honoring yourself and the things that you know need to be changed. Take the time to put it on your calendar. Pick a day. Minimize the distractions for that day. Block out the whole day on your calendar, or four hours, or two hours or whatever it takes to accomplish that task. Block that out. Honor yourself. Be true to yourself. Do not let other things get in the way of that. What you're doing is beyond accomplishing something you have been ignoring. You're creating peace within yourself. If you have kids, you might even wanna get a babysitter or take the kids to Grandma's or whatever to get that done. Minimize the distractions, turn your phone off or put it on do not disturb. Don't look at social media. Whatever you have to do to minimize the distractions for that time to get that thing done.
Whether you've been ignoring it or if you're cognizant of it, it is causing cognitive distress or dissonance inside of your body. If I, with my holiday decorations, have half of my Halloween decorations taken down, that is causing cognitive dissonance. Whether I'm noticing it or not, those things I can no longer ignore are causing cognitive dissonance. So to return to this place of, "ah, peace, it's done; I honored myself; I got that done when I wanted to get it done." I must make it a priority. I can get back to peace by giving myself space and following through with what I planned. I want to reiterate you're not doing this because you're worried about judgment from your guests coming.
The only reason for this exercise is for you to see your life, home, and entrance…what people see first…the first impression you're giving…for the first time. This is to get your brain reactivated and wake it up so that you're seeing it as if you're seeing it for the first time. There is no judgment, no judgment on yourself, no judgment from others! This whole exercise is to stay true to yourself and accomplish it on the day that you schedule.
Remember, no more than six things. You have a month and a half to accomplish it. Perhaps you could share the six things and the dates you will achieve them with a friend to hold you accountable. We have a whole community to support you if you need someone to share with. Join our Facebook group Partner with God Through Gratitude, Prayer, and Scripture.https://www.facebook.com/groups/partnerwithgod
Think how successful you will feel by getting those (up to) six things completed before the end of the year so that you can have peace, get rid of that cognitive dissonance within you for better health, have peace, and create convenience for yourself, and more happiness through the holidays.
