Summary:
The Problem of Unbelief
- Belief is the subconscious connection with your future that impacts everything you think, say and do.
- Unbelief is disconnection from the life you were created for, all that’s possible for you.
- Unbelief comes largely from physiological changes that occur from judging the moment.
This article is dedicated to the Sayers family in Denver, Co. May God fill you with his love, wisdom and courage.
“The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.”
― Robertson Davies, Tempest-Tost
In 2019 I flew to Portugal to study neural-linguistic programming (the study of the subconscious mind and how our words and thoughts influence our reality) with co-founder (Dr. John Grinder). On one of the last days, I was sweeping out my condo on the beach and a gust of wind slammed the locked door behind me. It was 7am and I was in my underwear.
I took a refreshing, lasting (LSDNG – long, slow, deep, nasal, gentle) breath and recalled what’s become the third basic principle of Inner Excellence:
The problem is not the problem, the problem is the state you enter when you think about the problem.
James Loehr, Ph.D., wrote a book titled Mental Toughness Training for Sports that I carried with me everywhere as a teenager. One of the memorable things I took with me: “The correct emotional response to a problem is 75% of the solution.”
After 4-5 hours of ego-testing adventure, the walking-in-public-in-my-underwear “problem” was solved. But what was the problem?
To me, at least initially, the problem was being locked out of my place in my underwear… in a foreign city, with no contacts to provide clothes or a key.
Why was it a problem? Because it was unexpected. And I had plans. And those were not in the plans. But here’s the truth (and principle #1 of Inner Excellence):
All things are here to teach me and help me learn and grow, it’s all working for my good.
The question is: Do I know what’s best for me results-wise? All my clients want to win. And that’s what I get paid to help them do. But the truth is, you don’t know if the best thing for you is if you hit the ball in the water or if it splits the fairway… if you strike out the batter or you don’t… if you get promoted or get fired.
We all have our goals and dreams (and if you don’t, it’s likely because of unbelief), but only God knows what’s best for us results-wise/circumstance-wise.
What if Bubba would have hit the fairway in the 2012 playoff at Augusta National? Louie might be showing off his Masters jacket right now at some South African sponsors outing. But he isn’t and Bubba didn’t. Bubba hit the ball in the woods. And that allowed him to use his amazing creativity instead of his ability to over-analyze.
He wanted to hit the fairway, he got what he was trying desperately to avoid, and history was made as he won his first major.
/judgment/: lay down a negative verdict on a person, circumstance, or result without having all the information.
One of the problems we have is the the desire to not have problems. With this desire comes judgement of our circumstances. This is the real problem. The problem is not the double bogey or giving up a base hit, the problem is the judgement of it.
It’s a problem because judgment does two big things:
1. It creates a negative state where curiosity and creativity is greatly diminished, holding onto the past, focusing on what you got but didn’t want, or wanted but didn’t get, taking you out of the present moment where anything is possible.
2. It creates the energy of unbelief.
Your life unfolds largely according to your beliefs about yourself and the world (and God). In order to keep climbing the thin air of extraordinary performance, we need to constantly expand our vision and what we believe is possible.
Confidence and belief both have a certain feel to it, and so does fear and unbelief. What they all have in common is an energy that is fueled by creativity (which comes from freedom and joy) or by fear–which comes largely from judgement.
How you can work on this:
1. Memorize the three IX principles. Write them on the tablet of your heart.
2. Start observing how often you judge the moment/result/circumstance, and write in your journal…
A. how often you’ve done it.
B. how it impacted your physiology, curiosity and creativity.
C. Remind yourself of IX Principle #1 every time you judge a circumstance or result, and IX principle #2 every time you judge yourself or someone else.
3. Don’t pray so much for better results; pray to become the type of person who has an expansive vision, who is wholehearted and fully engaged… the type of person that is prepared for opportunities. Then believe.
Let me know how it goes.
love Jim
PS.
IX Principle #2: Everyone does the best they can with what they have (in their hearts). We’ll go over this next time!