Episode 17 - Divine Identity
Episode 17 - Divine Identity
For the month of July, in the Seasons of Joy Community, we will be using this season to focus on ways to reconnect and care for ourselves.
I believe this needs to begin with understanding our identity.
Many of us struggle with embracing who we are.
This struggle is evident when we compare ourselves to others.
When we feel like something is wrong with us or that we aren’t enough.
When we experience feelings of jealousy.
When we define ourselves by our flaws and weaknesses.
When we worry about what other people think of us.
When we are judgemental or critical of others.
When we base our worth and value on what we accomplish or by our relationships.
When we are longing for the approval of others.
When we just don’t feel like we fit in or that we don’t belong.
Can you see evidence of this identity crisis in your life?
Some people call this struggle the ‘ego’, the ‘natural man’ or the ‘false self’.
This struggle is created by what we believe about our lives and ourselves.
Our false self holds us back from living into and reaching our divine potential.
We sabotage ourselves by closing our heart off and blocking our ability to create a joyful life.
My belief is that the source of this identity crisis is from Satan, our adversary.
I believe that his purpose is to confuse us on who we are and whose we are.
If he can confuse us, we lose sight of where we are going and we don’t show up in the world as who we want to be, and our influence for good is limited.
When we are confused we operate from feelings of fear, contention, lack, comparison, isolation, hate, or shame.
We feel inadequate and believe that we are not enough.
Then we limit our ability to live with purposeful intention and block ourselves from creating a positive influence in the world around us.
But, the good news is that this struggle, this identity crisis, is all part of the human experience.
Knowing this gives us the power to let certain thoughts pass on by instead of letting them take root in our minds.
Replaying certain thoughts or what Jon Acuff calls soundtracks, over and over in our minds turns them into our beliefs.
And your beliefs shape the life you are creating.
For a long-time, I believed that I wasn’t good enough and that something was wrong with me because of the number on the scale.
I compared myself to others and I believed that life would be better if I could just lose weight.
Now I am not suggesting it is wrong or bad to want to lose weight but I was basing my worth, my value, by the number on the scale.
This thought was something that came my way from an early age.
I danced for many years and appearance was a big part of that world.
My size and weight affected whether I was able to participate in certain dance numbers.
I began to make very unhealthy choices because I was trying to achieve a result that would prove my worth because of the thoughts that were playing on repeat in my mind.
I had created an eating disorder for myself and lived that way for many years because of what I believed about myself and my worth.
My belief about my weight weighed me down and held me back from living a more joyful life.
Now I am older and in the midseason of life.
Am I the weight I want to be? no.
My weight is still something that I am working on but it is no longer from a place of shame or inadequacy.
It is from a place of taking care of the body I have been given the best way I can.
Caring and loving it for all that it does for me.
It has taken me a long time to get to this place and I am so happy I am finally here.
Through this journey of discovery, I have learned more about my true, divine identity.
This divine nature is something we were all born with.
We didn’t and we don’t earn it.
Understanding this truth will set you free.
It will open your heart and your mind.
You will know you are living in your divine identity when you are experiencing life from a place of love, humility, gratitude, hope, connection, grace, faith and joy.
Your divine identity is who you truly are.
Nothing is wrong with you. You are not broken. You are complete and whole.
Our Heavenly Parents couldn’t love you more than they do right now.
They created each one of us and provided this earthly experience of agency and opposition in order for us to become who we were meant to be.
We gain experience through learning what it is like to live in our divine self and what it is like to not to.
This is the 50/50 part of life.
This opposition shapes us into who we are to become.
This experience is the best classroom for us to change our hearts and to become more like God.
What would your life experience be like if you understood that you are a divine being right now as you are?
What if you could have peace and confidence in yourself right now?
What if you could believe that you are enough right now?
What if you could celebrate the successes, talents and abilities of others and yourself?
What if you could know that you are here for a reason and that you have gifts and talents that are needed now?
Would you want to discover and develop them?
What if what others think about you doesn’t define you?
What if you could just be you?
What if you could love and accept you?
What if you believed that you belong?
What if you believed that your life experience is the perfect classroom for you?
How could you experience more joy in your life today if you could embrace your divine identity?
Recently, I have been participating in another coach certification program by Brooke Snow.
She also teaches a lot about understanding the difference between what she calls our false self and our true self.
As part of this process, we are invited to incorporate mindfulness and meditation.
Quieting the mind to create space for our divine self to be discovered.
Allowing the Spirit to remind us of who we really are.
I want to offer you some thoughts that you may want to repeat in your mind as you begin to reconnect with your divine identity.
“I am a divine being.”
“I have a divine purpose and potential.”
“I am enough.”
And
“I am loved.”
I invite you to think about those words for a moment.
Let them sink in.
Do they feel true to you?
Sometimes we may not really believe these things and those are the times we especially need to allow ourselves space to move towards these beliefs.
Let’s say you feel like you are failing in your relationships with your adult children. You are believing that you aren’t the mother you want to be or that you should have been.
Or that you aren’t smart enough.
Pretty enough.
Capable enough.
Good enough.
Whatever your false belief is, I invite you to pause.
There is power there.
I invite you to Close your eyes.
Breath in through the nose.
Hold for a few seconds.
Then Breath out through the nose.
Continue this pattern of breathing in and out.
Then I invite to ponder and ask yourself,
What is that belief that is holding me back from embracing my divine identity?
Repeat that belief in your mind and then repeat the following.
“Even though I believe……………………..”
Fill in the blank with the false belief you came up with.
Then repeat……..
“This is my journey.”
“This is my classroom.”
“I am learning.”
“I am growing.”
“I am becoming.”
“I am a divine being.”
“I have a divine purpose and potential.”
“I am enough.”
“I am loved.”
There is power in pausing.
There is power in remembering and understanding who you are.
There is power in embracing your divine identity.
Are you ready to care for and connect with you?
If you are, I invite you to join my new Seasons of Joy Community Facebook page.
Each month, there will be a focus topic and this page is a safe place to learn and support other women of faith as we navigate the different seasons of life. I will be holding workshops and teaching tools to help members of this community to create more joyful connections in their lives no matter their season or circumstance.
Thank you for listening. If you like what you hear, I would love it if you would share it with your friends and family and leave me a rating and review.
If you would like to learn more about what life coaching is, please schedule a FREE discovery call, with me, where we can work through something that is causing you a problem.
To schedule a free Discovery Call, join my Seasons of Joy Facebook Group, and register for my upcoming An Awakening Retreat go to Seasons Coaching.
Have a joyful week!
