Hello to you, loyal readers, and newly found literary fans!
Today is an update kinda day. A look ahead, and review, kinda day.
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” New International Version (NIV)
Ephesians 6:12
For those of you who subscribe weekly you have been following me up the mountain in recent weeks on a self reflection and learning hike dealing with the issue of follower-ship vs being, or working towards being a leader.
If you do your research on the topic of being a leader you will run into this quote… “He who cannot be a good follower, cannot be a good leader.” attributed to Aristotle.
BUT… I would like to offer this as food for thought… “You cannot be a good leader or follower of others until you are capable of leading yourself, and following your own advice.” ~me
As I’ve been doing the proper repetitions to strengthen and heal my mind I have been given a gift… delivered to me through the wisdom of God.
The gift… the ability to hear voices.
Now hold on. I know what you’re thinking, “He’s gone loony.”
When you struggle with mental illness, such as I, and a host of others do, you do hear “voices inside your head,” you think part of your craziness is because you DO hear voices in your head.
Then someone, a doctor, a therapist or even an aspiring author tells you, “It’s true, you can hear voices, the problem is that the ones you hear in your head only deal in lies, confusion, and fears.”
Lies like, “your worthless,” liar, “you’d be better off dead,” liar, “see, your weird, you hear voices in your head,” liar, I’m not weird… I’ve been blessed.
Recently, very recently, I have heard this voice, “You don’t have to write anymore, it’s not working, it’s ok to take a week off, it’s just a hobby.”
The first time it was very hard to hear, I didn’t even acknowledge it.
The second time was very clear, very distinct. I almost fell back into a pattern of depressive thinking. BUT then…
As I listened to that voice I noticed something. It wasn’t me thinking that. It wasn’t God telling me that. AND… I believe I am a writer now. AND writers write… same as fish swim, birds fly, and the sun shines brightly morning, noon and night! (you just can’t see it at night) It’s what we do.
Then I understood… it was an attack.
Again, God says in Ephesians…
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” New International Version (NIV)
Somebody is trying to block my way and take me off course. But I’ve learned only I… can derail… me.
My mind has been renewed, and… I can hear voices.
I can hear the emotions of a songwriter that he puts into his songs, I can hear the story painted by an artist on a canvas, I can hear other authors, most a long time dead… in their books, articles, and essays… I can hear Jesus speaking to Matthew.
I can also hear the negativity when the enemy has sent an envoy to sow confusion in my mind, when I talk directly with people I am finally able to hear what they are really saying, and I can finally hear myself think.
You certainly can hear voices. You just have to learn who is doing the talking! But… if it’s more than three… you may want to see a professional 🙂
I hope you have enjoyed reading the trek up the mountain as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it. I’m not sure how many more installments I will do on follower-ship vs. leadership… stay tuned.
When you see this weeks article due out on Thursday at 1pm, please pair it up with this article I found concerning mental strength training.
“Your vision of the future should be about who you want to become—not who you used to be. So while you can reflect on the past enough to learn from it, make sure to let go of whatever anger, shame, or guilt is holding you back from moving forward.”
Amy Morin, LCSW
My writing goal is to capture these mental gains and private victories in real time, in order to help me, and you, learn and understand that “yes” being successful is attainable. We just need to learn how to focus on one thing at a time, one rep at a time, and to chase the arrow one small adjustment at a time… in order to attain any goal we set for ourselves.
Especially if that goal is… good mental health, clarity, and personal improvement.
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