"We're still not where we're going but we're still not where we were.
" - Natasha Josefowitz For those of you who have a really hard time knowing who you are--what you like, what you want, what your purpose is--this post is for you.
I used to be at the same place.
Years ago I could not tell you much about myself-what I liked, what were my dreams, what I wanted out of life.
If you are at a similar place, let me share how you can begin to discover the real you.
There are many ways to begin this journey.
One of those ways that we'll look at in this post is our emotions.
Our emotions tell us a lot about who we are.
Our emotions can reveal to us what is going on deep within us.
Sometimes what emotions reveal is good, other times--well, maybe not so good.
If we're experiencing similar emotions over and over in a similar setting, it may have to do with who we are and how we are uniquely designed.
Emotions that occur again and again indicate that something is being touched deep inside of us--and it may just have to do with our unique design.
Two of the strongest emotions that can reveal what's deep inside of us are anger and tears.
Tears aren't really an emotion.
They are the result of various emotions.
But for this discussion, we'll call tears an emotion.
Anger Let's start with anger.
Have you ever been talking with someone and out of the blue they say something and just like that you feel your anger rising to the surface? That just happened to me yesterday! In that case, I thought it best to quickly walk away.
So, I did.
But I haven't walked away from the emotion.
My goal is to look at that anger, discover what is going on underneath it, then deal with it appropriately.
As we process through anger, we'll often find that a disappointment may be underneath.
As we allow the disappointment to surface, the tears fall and the heart aches.
As we continue to unpack the emotions, we may begin to realize that our reactions reveal more about who we are.
Let's go back to my anger moment yesterday.
I have yet to completely unpack the emotions, but as I ponder the moment, there may be several things going on.
One, it's possible that I have allowed boundaries to be crossed.
That means I may be sacrificing who I am to make someone else happy.
In the long run, that doesn't work.
I cannot make that person happy, but more importantly, if I can identify that boundary, then I have just learned more about how I am designed.
The other thing that could be going on is that the person is making choices that do not align with something that I am passionate about.
That will naturally make me angry.
The anger isn't necessarily wrong.
In fact, the anger is actually very helpful in helping me understand how I am designed.
If I go back to that 'anger' moment, I realize that one of my passions is helping others realize and understand who they really are--so they can live life aligned to their design.
When I see a decision being made that seemingly takes them farther from that realization, something within me will react.
It's part of my design.
Tears The other emotion that tells us about ourselves is 'tears'--those times where we are deeply moved.
It may be from something we hear, or something we see.
Maybe it happens when we're standing on the beach, or maybe it surfaces while reading a book, or when we hear a stirring piece of music.
Such recurring moments reveal more about who we are.
Study those moments.
What is it about the moment that touches us so deeply? It will be different for each of us, but those moments are insightful treasures.
Let me give you an example.
I am in a season of seemingly too many tearful moments.
They come quickly and they come unexpectedly.
Yet, even as I sometimes fight those tears, I sense there's something much deeper going on.
I have yet to know what it is all about, but as each of these 'treasured' moments occurs, something else is released inside and I'm learning a bit more about who I am and how I am designed.
What about you? What brings your emotions to the surface? Let's pay attention to those emotions and begin to understand who we really are and how we are uniquely designed.