9/11/24
Hello friends. Welcome to episode 161 – Not Enough. First I want to thank you for being such a loyal listener and sticking with me. Thank you especially to those of you who have reached out to tell me how glad you are that Another Beautiful Life is back on the air. I so appreciate the encouragement.
Also, if you haven’t already done so, would you kindly rate this podcast and leave a review? That just helps the algorithm suggest this podcast to others who may find it helpful in their time of need. So, you would be helping me continue to do what I believe God is calling me to do, and that’s bring hope, healing, and restoration to the hurting and broken. I’d so appreciate it. Thank you in advance.
Okay, two weeks ago, I told you all about what I feel like God has been showing me in these last 12 months where things in my life have shifted and changed. That is episode number 159 – When God Sits You Down. Hindsight is 20/20, as they say, and now I see things so clearly and really understand what was going on and for what purpose. But in the middle of it, there’s a whole lot of life assessment happening. And like I said in the episode, I was always trying to figure out what in the world was going on. So, I was looking at every area of my life to find answers. And one thing that I feel like was a repetitive message I was saying to myself was, “It’s just not enough.” Not enough time, not enough money, not enough friendship connections, not enough purpose, not enough focus, not enough family time, not enough recreation. Not enough.
I did this for quite some time, I’m afraid to admit. Sometimes we just get so used to thinking it's not enough that we don't even realize what we’re doing and what we’re creating. It's not even on our radar. You’ve heard me say on this podcast more than a few times, “What you think, you end up creating.” This is because your thoughts determine your feelings. And your feelings determine how you act. And depending upon how you act, you get certain results – ones that you like or maybe don’t like. Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” What you think and believe in your heart, you will see play out in your life.
So, you can imagine if I was looking at the various areas of my life and saying, “It’s just not enough,” what the results were going to be. Now, this is not “law of attraction” stuff. But it is fact that you’re going to act in specific “not enough” ways that’s going to prove “not enough” to be true. That’s just how the brain works. Right?
So, to really check ourselves, we need to be intentional to see where we might be thinking “it’s not enough” in one area (or areas) in our life. We’re looking for our level of “enoughness.” Like, how satisfied, how content am I?
Each year I go through a whole Life Assessment with my clients, and we look specifically at 12 different areas of their life to find their level of well-being or growth…or lack thereof – and that includes looking at their emotional health, their purpose, finances, things like that. These are the same things we’ll look at for messages of “not enough.” I’ll lay these out more specifically for you to work through on your own in the Listener’s Guide that goes with this episode. By the way, if you’re not getting these Listener Guides already, you can request them at www.triciazody.com/guide and I’ll send you the link to the whole library.
But the idea is to see, in each individual area, where we’re saying “it’s not enough here. It's not enough. It doesn't feel like enough. It doesn't feel abundant. It's just not enough.”
We want to recognize or to try to discover what is driving the idea that it's not enough. We want to ask ourselves, “Who says it's not enough? Where is that coming from? What messages am I listening to that may be telling me that it's not enough?” And then I want you to take note of what has made you discontented. Then I want you to consider what would be enough. How would you know it's enough? And then, lastly, discover if there something in that area of your life that you can change. Or some element of it at all that you have control over to change.
I'm going to give you an example of when I felt like my physical environment was not enough for me. I was married and in my early 30s. We had a nice house that we were raising three kids in. We picked the lot we would build this house on, and I got to pick out all the extras like tile and paint and the kitchen details. It was just lovely. It was a great house. Everybody had their own bedroom. I mean, it was just perfect for our growing family. But every Christmas there was a fundraiser for a nonprofit called Street of Dreams. You would buy a ticket that allowed you access to tour about a dozen homes that were decked out for Christmas. But these weren’t your regular homes. These were mansions. Multimillion dollar homes. And every single home had a designer come in and deck it out for Christmas. It was over the top and was just amazing.
But the problem was for me, every time I left there, I felt discontented with my own house. I would come home, and I start talking to my husband about “we need this kind of countertop” and “we need this kind of flooring” and “why can't we have this?” And then “my cabinets are horrible.” And year after year after year, I would go and I would always come home and I'd look at my little house and I'd feel like, well, it’s just not enough.
When we start making a note of what it is that's making us discontented, then we literally can change. We can do something about it, right? I was going to this thing that made me covet all these homes and then go home and look at all the things that I didn't have. And so there was an external source that affected by internal condition – not enough. But I can change the external - To also change the internal.
So, I literally I quit going. I just quit going. And I knew that was the very best thing for me.
I love homes, I love decorations, I love design, I love architecture, I love everything about, I love beauty. I just love it. But it's not good for me, right? I was able to recognize that that thing was not good. And when I quit going, it's amazing how my life just completely changed and how contented I was and satisfied and happy.
You can say the same thing about social media. If you hear people taking a social media break, like they will get off of it and they're like, “Oh my gosh, my life is so much better,” right? Because there's so much envy and covetousness watching other people have all the things and do all the stuff. And we start getting discontinued.
The discovery process means that we need to intentionally be aware of what's coming up inside you right when you have these external influences on your life. Is the “not enough” coming from within your own heart and mind? Because I know a lot of people that could go to those Street of Dreams tours and they didn't have the same problem I had. They were just like, “Oh, that's awesome for them, great for them” and they go back to their house and they wouldn't have a problem. They wouldn't complain. I complained.
If you find that you have a strong message of “it’s not enough” in an area of your life, that’s a message that is, when said over and over again, creating a deep rut in your mind. Your mind will get fixed on it as fact and it will be difficult to consider any other perspective – a perspective like, “I have in abundance. I have more than enough,” which brings peace and contentment.
There are some actionable steps you can take to prime the brain to create a new perspective – to get your out of a stuck, negative narrative and into considering thoughts that bring a sense of fullness and abundance in your life. Remember, Jesus said in John 10:10 that He came that you might experience that Zoë life – a life full, real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, blessed – and to have this abundantly, overflowing. Next week, I’ll go more into detail about those next steps to take and show you what to do to create a brain shift for a new perspective.
Friend, we all need tools to manage our minds as we take responsibility for our lives. So, if you discover you have a “it’s not enough” thought about a certain area of your life, don’t let that fester and consume you. Dig in and find out what is driving that thought. And see what other areas of your life “not enough” has permeated. Then come back next week and let’s do some work together to make that brain shift, okay? For abundance sake.
It's so easy for us to get caught in the trap of Not enough, and sometimes we need help getting out of that trap. I’d love to help you. If you’d like to have an exploratory conversation around this topic or if you’re just wondering how Life Coaching works, jump on my calendar and let’s have a quit chat. The link for a free discovery call is in the show notes.
Also, don’t forget to get the free, downloadable guide that will help you work through this topic on your own. I’ll include the 12 areas to assess for “not enough” thinking. That link is in the show notes also.
Have a wonderful week, friends. See you next Wednesday for the next episode of Another Beautiful Life.
SHOW NOTES:
It's so easy for us to get caught in the trap of thinking that something in our life is not enough. Not enough time, not enough money, not enough love, not enough friendship connections, not enough purpose, not enough family time, not enough recreation or rest. Not enough.
Unfortunately, “not enough” in one area permeates all the other areas and can make us discontented and miserable. We can’t see another perspective. We can’t see the abundance that’s right there.
Today is part one of how to recognize the message of “not enough” in your life and what to do about it.
Are you wondering how Life Coaching works? Would you like a free, 30-minute session? Click this link to set up a Consult Call: https://calendly.com/triciazodylifecoach/30min
Get the free, printable guide here: www.triciazody.com/guide
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