Last week I talked about the "I give up" life theme, and I am
betting you were able to relate, at least to some degree! Am I
right? Last weeks message prompted me to think about how victim
life themes like, "I give up" often come from a deeply rooted
fear-based story.


Such life limiting stories permeate our families, our societies,
our cultures. They have been believed wholeheartedly, and never
questioned, for generations.


Another life-limiting story that we may find ourselves living out
is the old story that says, "I am not enough".


It may evolve over time from simple themes that eventually become
our beliefs about our lives and ourselves, for example:

As Children:

Our parents don't have enough time for us. We decide it's our
fault. We think that they withhold from us because we are not
lovable enough. We feel undeserving. We feel unloved, unacceptable
and we expect others to find us lacking and unworthy of their
attention or affection.


Therefore we behave in negative ways. Based on our belief that
we're not enough, we fail to see that we behave in ways that
provoke negative responses from others. Their response to our
negative actions end up proving our beliefs about ourselves and
life. We seek attention and belonging in other less positive ways,
possibly through street-gangs, drugs/alcohol or promiscuity, thus
proving our belief that we're not enough to deserve more.


And/or:

We decide we aren't smart enough or that we don't have enough of
the right resources to succeed in school. We rebel, drop out of
school, or drop the ball on classwork. We make poor grades and
refuse to even explore, much less get involved, with the
opportunities that our school may have to offer. We lower our
expectations for ourselves and life, and become 'under-achievers,'
or complainers/blamers in life. We blame others, our parents,
peers, teachers, government for our deprivation and 'ill-fated
future,' and use our 'I am not enough' story to justify our need to
be 'rescued.'


As Young Adults:

We see a world where there is a lack of enough good men/women
available for us to find right partnership. We settle for
relationships that do not meet our desires/needs.
We say yes to being chosen by someone even when we don't feel the
same towards them, just so we can claim we have someone in our
life. We abandon our checklist of what we want in a mate in our
desperation to find a mate, for fear that we will end up alone. Or,
we do the opposite; we become super picky and find fault with
everyone we meet. We are so sure there is no one suitable for us
that we only see what we don't like and we miss the opportunity for
genuine relationship.

And/or:

We believe we can't make enough money to live on so we settle for
jobs we hate just to 'get by.'  We opt for job security & benefits
over job satisfaction and personal well being. We end up resentful
of "having to live like this." We complain to all who will listen
about how unhappy we are at work and how we have no choice. We look
for ways to avoid work, feel no sense of accomplishment in what we
do and work the bare minimum of what is expected of us. Our life
theme is one of "just getting by." We hate our life. We feel
exhausted all the time and trapped in a dead end job.


In Mid-life:

We don't have enough time to get it all done. We work round the
clock, but still wake up everyday dreading that day's pressing
deadlines. We feel powerless over our lives and overwhelmed. We
rush through meals and our encounters with others. We make excuses
to family and friends for not spending enough time with them. We
won't take vacations, or time off of work, allowing only serious
illness or 'real' emergencies to distract us from 'the daily
grind.' We have great hope that someday there will be enough time
and resources for us so we can slow down and begin to enjoy life,
but we secretly think there will never be enough time for that to
be possible. Life is drudgery.


During Senior Years:

No matter how much money we put aside in retirement, we are sure we
don't have enough to take care of us during our retirement years.
Even though we worked hard and saved, we can't enjoy spending our
retirement funds because we think we may not have saved enough to
last. We constantly worry about our lack of health, future finances
and our declining physical/mental abilities. We become obsessed and
anxious.

And/or:

We don't have enough time left to do the things we want to do. We
believe we weren't successful. We think we didn't do enough good in
the world or perhaps we feel we didn't do enough for our families.
We feel deprived of good health and we feel we don't have enough
energy to do the things we wanted to do and never got around to.
Our lives become increasingly sedentary as we look back with regret
and feel cheated.


From a state of sufficiency, we say such things as these:

I go through my day trusting that I have time to enjoy my life AND
get the things done that are mine to do. I remind myself that I
have time to do what I am doing right now. Such assurance allows me
to give the task at hand my full attention, enabling me to do it
well, with high yielding results that will ultimately benefit me
and my career.

I take time to enjoy my life every day because I understand that
doing so invigorates my spirit and energizes me so that I am better
able to maximize my daily results.

I take time to take care of myself and in this way I work with
Source to provide all the health and time I need.

I trust that I am being perfectly led through life. I trust there
are no accidents or coincidences, and that what does happen is
designed to further me. Therefore I believe I am always provided
for. I question any perception of insufficiency or scarcity as
being distortions of reality. I have all the time I need to
complete my life to the fullest degree. I spend little, if any time
regretting what has happened or not happened in my past. I see my
past as a foundation for more, not evidence of lack. I practice
gratitude for the multitude of opportunities I have in life; for
the love, health and joy that is mine I give thanks.
Lynne Forrest Read her article on  Getting Your Angries Out
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