An Inventory is Not An Excuse

Understanding the cause don't mean we don't have to change

When we do an inventory we're looking for our character defects or shortcomings but lots of other stuff is likely to come up as well.

For instance, we may discover that we really didn't feel as loved as we might have growing up. Or we might uncover a belief we picked up from our parents, like "God is wrathful" that not only doesn't serve us, but isn't true. Sometimes we realize that we internalized past surroundings, like poverty and have let that color our experience today.

Information like this is always interesting, and it may be helpful, as long as we don't use it as an excuse.

Dealing with mixed messages

Here's what I mean: I got laughably confusing messages about money from my parents. My mother essentially said that "men would take care of it." My father might as well have said "it's not nice for women to work and it's not nice to be broke." Is it any wonder I've had some trouble with both money and relationships? No. Does that fact mean I don't have to clean up my act? Of course not.

I like what Wayne Dyer's approach. He talks about riding in a boat and watching the wake... it's the engine that's pushing the boat through the water, but, if we use the past as an excuse it's as of we think it's the wake that's moving the boat forward.

In my case, once I recognized the mixed messages I'd gotten from my folks, I was then in a position to notice and to change my reaction to situations about relationships and money. And my responses were, and are something I can change.

Let go of the story

It's so easy to get caught up in our stories. We all have them... we're the youngest or the oldest in the family, or the boy or the girl, or the tallest or shortest. We were poorly treated, or felt we were.

Each of us is so much more than our stories. We need to be aware of our stories and to own them. We need to recognize they have valuable information but we also must be sure we're not stuck there as we move into becoming and staying Powerfully Recovered!

Love, peace and abundance,