What no longer serves
There’s no reason you’d know this (except for me sharing it right now), but I got a pretty big item knocked off of my to do list this week.
The tree guys were here. They cut up the newly fallen dead tree (against all odds fallen in the one exact place where it would cause no damage to anything), cut away the large, dead branches that were looming over my roof.
A small pine tree between the driveways and next to the road was too short for the power company to trim but its misshapen crown hung over the road, heavy with potential disruption. Lately a crack had started showing along the trunk.
The dead branches were on trees that were otherwise healthy. For whatever reason these branches died and were no longer serving their purpose of cooperating with the tree’s life. (Granted, I understand that many bugs and birds delight in dead and decaying wood.) Now they hung on with only the potential to cause a very loud thud on my roof (as others have done) or to poke a hole clear through..
As I watched a giant limb being lowered to the ground outside my office, I thought about letting go of that which no longer has life.
Some of our beliefs about life were well formed by what we observed or by what we were taught. Believing them may have even helped us navigate difficult times. The thing is, those beliefs don't help us any more.
Such beliefs keep us from trying for that next level job or making a move we’d like to make, telling us that people like us don't have jobs like that or you'll only screw things up.
Such beliefs keep us in an endless round of saying yes to everything and everybody because our belief says that we can’t say no (and Jesus would be disappointed if we did.)
We don't ask for help because of our belief that we should just know makes us too ashamed to ask. We try to navigate some of the most difficult rapids that life has to offer by ourselves because we have the belief that it’s not okay to lean on others and there’s no point in talking to someone else.
Such beliefs are the dead wood that keep us smaller than we were created to be, that make our lives harder than they have to be.
Sometimes we’re aware of our beliefs that hold us down. Sometimes they are so ingrained in us that they are like that crack in my pine tree, mostly hidden but weakening the structure
What beliefs do you have about who you are and how your life works?
Are they helping you move forward or holding you back?
A coach can help you with whatever is no longer serving you. They can help you identify what you truly believe (as opposed to what you think you should believe) and how you might go about changing that.
Let’s talk about it.
