Why don’t we achieve many of the things we want in our life?
It’s often because of the story we’re telling ourselves. Our story.
Your wonderful subconscious mind works 24/7 on assignments you give it throughout the day.
What assignments?
Your subconscious continues working on whatever you concentrate on during your conscious hours. It also chews on anything you are worrying about or excited about. And, all these subconscious machinations happen within a framework…the framework of your preconceptions and attitudes.
We could call this “Your Story.”
So, if I see myself as a victim, my story is going to be seeded with images of failure and frustration…most blamed on someone or something other than myself. These are the images that sabotage my journey to success and prosperity, and circle me back to Victim Valley.
The great thing is that I don’t have to remain in Victim Valley…and neither do you.
Here’s how I define VICTIM.
Very
Injurious
Course
Taken on an
Incomplete
Map
Let me give you an example.
In the 1980’s, I experienced a complete financial crash. A vendor to our business shut down without warning, forcing us to close down, so my income went away. But, I had car loans, credit card balances, and a big mortgage.
Why did I have these debts? Well, in part because my dad had been a credit lover when I was growing up, so I thought that was normal.
A perfect VICTIM setup.
I could blame our business’s vendor and my dad for where I was at that moment…and don’t think I didn’t…at least for about a month.
Then, after my 4-week pity party, I started looking through the rubble for way out. I realized that, although it wasn’t completely my fault that I was there, it WOULD be completely my fault if I stayed there.
I asked God for inspiration and ideas, and he delivered.
But he did it by leading me to financial education books and courses I had not bothered with in the past. He inspired me to see different keys from different sources to design an efficient and effective route out of our financial crater.
Four years and seven months later we were debt-free, including our mortgage.
But, there was work on my part. It wasn’t just magic money in my mailbox or a winning lottery ticket.
And, I probably would not have done the work or stayed the difficult course if I had let myself stay in VICTIM mode.
I had to rewrite my story.
My story had been constructed from my life experiences…mostly without the addition of outside wisdom.
To be fair to dad, he was VERY wise. He gave me tons of practical wisdom in almost every area of life…except finances. And to be fair to our business’s vendor, we should have had a plan B for such a loss.
Once I took responsibility and started soaking up wisdom from multiple sources, both spiritual and practical, a new story took shape. And the more positive fruit it bore in my life, the more I focused on it.
We all have “Incomplete Maps” in our internal GPS, and those maps are tilted toward Victim Valley.
Just like updating the map in a GPS, you have to consciously rewrite the map your story follows if you want to get to a better destination. Does this mean you have to deny bad things that people or circumstances have done to you?
Absolutely not!
It simply means that you have the power to reframe and reorient them in a positive direction.
You may be a victim, but you CHOOSE whether you stay a victim.
I reframed my financial crash into a mega learning opportunity, and it not only got us out of our financial hole, it ended up being the foundation of my life’s work and a financially successful business.
How do you update your incomplete map and reframe your experiences?
You’ve probably heard the phrase, “You are what you eat.” That also applies to what you eat mentally and emotionally.
“The one who gets wisdom loves life; the one who cherishes understanding will soon prosper.” That’s from the Book of Proverbs in the Bible. There are 31 chapters in Proverbs, one for every day of the month. If you read each day’s proverb, you’ll be eating wisdom.
I also recommend checking out the self-development teachers at www.nightingale.com.
So, eat healthy and rewrite your story without using the word “victim.”