Groundhog’s Day…

Have you ever found yourself enduring another Groundhog’s Day surrounded by the same troubles and difficulties? You are challenged by some aspect of life that appears to repeat itself in endless iterations. It’s not long on the job before you start to experience the same problems you had in your last job. Or you got yourself into a new relationship only to discover similar challenges as you had in your last relationship. What is it about you or your way of living that results in the same lessons presenting themselves to you? None of us want trouble, especially the same trouble, yet here we are on Groundhog’s Day exasperated by the same stuff. There must be something we can learn about facing the same challenges year after year. There must be a reason we are presented with the same test. Do you want to get out of the GroundHog’s Day phenomenon? If so, you have to be willing to learn something new. You have to eventually understand that there is some aspect of your life requiring revision. I’m guessing most of what we go through in life is nothing more than a repeat performance of some aspect of life we haven’t yet understood, let alone mastered. If we want something different, we have to do something different. We can break out of our negative patterns; those life-suckers that have kept us bound, but in order to do so we must make a change somewhere. Are you tired of the Groundhog’s Day that is your life? Time to make some changes.

Have you ever considered some of the things you are actually up against in life? In a perfect world all effort would be rewarded with equitable results. Those that worked harder would receive more than those who worked less. Equity and fairness would rule the day and folks would get what they justly deserved. However, that is not how life works at all. The world we live in is terribly unfair. Injustice reigns supreme. The playing field is far from level. There are folks who have invested 10 times the effort yet received 1/10th of the result. What is the difference maker? When you boil it all down, considering we all face similar challenges, the difference can be answered by the question, “what do you expect?” Your expectations, good and bad, form the basis of the life you live. Good expectations produce good results and negative expectations produce negative results. You may have great expectations in some categories of life, yet have poor expectations in other categories. When you find yourself challenged by some Groundhog Day scenarios it simply means you have more to learn. None of us are perfect and none of us have mastered every aspect of life. Repeat lessons, usually negative, that never come from God, come about because our opponent is using the same tactics to defeat us. He plays upon those areas of life where we have developed wrong beliefs and exploits them. Those wrong beliefs can take many forms. They are strengthened by our experiences in life. In this way they perpetuate themselves. We expect such and such because we have often experienced such and such and we receive what we expect. Enter the lesson. Our job when confronted with the lesson is to figure out why. What are we doing in our thinking and subsequent actions that perpetuates the problem? That is the hard part. None of us wants to think we are doing something wrong, even when that wrong is nothing more than fear and negative expectation. The reason some people prevail is because they expect to, nothing more and nothing less.

The most basic question to ask yourself is always, “what do you expect?” Think about your job. Think about your relationships. Think about how you are living and answer the honest question, what do you expect? Chances are what you expect (not just say) and what you get line up fairly well. If you expect trouble it will come. If you expect to be treated unfairly, you probably will be. Think about what you are thinking about. Are you constantly playing scenarios in your mind whereby you have been treated poorly and seek recourse? Who are you fighting with in your head? What kind of internal conversations are you having? These all point towards your expectations. I’m not trying to simplify these experiences as they can be very complicated. But, at the end of the day, your life will play out how you expected it to, good or bad or somewhere in between. The challenge or the way to finally master the lesson is to change your expectations. Change your mind. Catch yourself thinking incorrectly and change your thoughts. Just because something has always happened to you does not mean it is truth. Oh sure, it seems true due to the preponderance of evidence, but the evidence you are weighing is always past evidence. No one could ever change or overcome anything if past evidence was the reality. You can change the pattern and you can start to get better results, but you have to decide that for yourself. Expect something different. Expect good results.

The real culprit behind all negative expectations is fear. Fear is negative expectation. Fear looks for trouble that isn’t there and won’t stop looking for it until it’s found. Fear is always wrong no matter how it is portrayed or disguised. Repeat negative experiences point towards fear. Fear that has not yet been overcome. As long as you harbor fear in some category of life is as long as you will be challenged in that category. Not getting something you want and/or desperately need? Look for the fear. Being treated unfairly and unjustly? Look for the fear. Fear is the enemy’s only weapon and if he can get you to participate in it, watch out. You must rid yourself of fear whenever and however it shows up. What you secretly fear will eventually manifest itself into your life. Fear is due to ignorance or wrong teaching. If you have fear, and we all do to some extent, it is due to not understanding something or else being taught incorrectly. Both can be remedied by instruction. If you want to beat fear and escape from perpetual Groundhog’s Day, you have to learn what is true. I think sometimes we make things too difficult by thinking we have to change ourselves. The whole world has convinced us and continues to convince us that we are in constant need of revision. The lie is that we are somehow deserving of our challenges or else did something to bring them upon us. Maybe but maybe not. It’s not that we are so bad but rather that our thinking is bad. Or rather that we have accepted things that aren’t true and and as such accept the negative result as well. What a quandary!

There is a solution and we have access to it. We don’t have to spend too much of our lives consumed with the same negative lessons. We can rise above the challenges. We can claim the victory that God would have us to get. Be very clear, none of what is happening to you is God’s will or worse punishment for your misdeeds. Yes, you have been told that but it is not true. God sees all and wants you to win. He wants you to see evil for what it is and no longer be blinded by appearances. He wants you to know where your trouble really comes from and learn a different way to think. And, He will help you get where you need to get. Have the convo! Talk it over. Get it straight. There’s nothing you will ever be confronted with that is bigger than God or bigger than His ability to help you. He doesn’t like Groundhog’s Day either. There is a way out of the madness and it is there for you if you want it. Be honest and get what you need. Enough is enough. You can win. It is your mind and they are your thoughts. It’s time to make some changes, it is time to expect positively, it is time to expect good results, no matter the quandary! Let’s do this…

Just some good thoughts.