Are you being the best you can be?

Many articles explain how if a person is curious then they will not struggle with the fear of the unknown.

"Think of how a child learns. It’s all through curiosity. “I wonder what happens if I put my hand in the fire.” They’re not afraid because they don’t know any better. But as children grow, they learn not to be so curious and not to take risks, because that might result in pain, failure or rejection. Curiosity dies, fear wins, we lose."  http://ndoherty.com/curiosity- vs-fear/"

The failure to take risk can cause many to abandon success if we look at this scenario of how not being curious can lead to fear. However, we can be curious about something and it can lead us to perform actions that lead us down a path that causes us to get stuck and then we will be afraid to get out of the cycle of madness. 

            "When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be                       tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when                    they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire                  has conceived, it birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."                   James 1:13-15

The curiosity is in the temptation and if we follow the downward spiral of this curious nature it can lead to sin. Before we die we would live a life where habits can ruin us and the motivation behind the habits is fear of not letting the habit go. Therefore, the pattern starts with a curious nature and can cause fear to be what reinforce the pattern that will ultimately lead to death.   

“Curious people do not always perform consequentialist cost-benefit analyses and                 may be tempted to seek the missing information even when the outcome is                           expectedly.” harmful.'Read more:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-                     3529915/Why-curiosity-gets-better-brains-hardwired-seek-answers-know-cause-                   harm.html

Research even admits that it can be dangerous to be curious if a cost-benefit analysis is not done which again can ultimately lead to death. In order to overcome fear of being enslaved to a habit somewhere we have to develop enough strength to want to change. This only occurs from our desperation which is what we must develop first.

STEPS TO ALLOWING CURIOSITY TO LEAD US TO OUR MENTAL PROMISE LAND

• Become curious of how we can develop a replacement for the habit that started with our curiosity.
• Allow faith to empower us to trust a God that has created us to be fruitful, multiply, replenish, subdue and have dominion. 

The goal is to now become curious about the ideas that we will produce. Then we use our curiosity to see how we can make these ideas spread in a positive way. Once we develop what we want we now we can work towards restoring things that have been damaged which produces solutions. We can bring under subjection all the thoughts that make us feel rejected when we exercise our supreme authority through the power of God.

            Whispers of negativity the voices of the past has underlying causes that produce symptoms that behaviorist tries to treat yet the underlying causes are not address. This is where we have to come out of denial and label the negativity as ideas that subtract and not add to our happiness. Becoming curious of the opposite of what the suggestions from the whispers of the past is a nice way to start to address these underlying issues.

“Systematic desensitization is based on the idea that abnormal behavior is learned. The biological approach would disagree and say we are born with a behavior and therefore it must be treated medically.

SD only treats the observable and measurable symptoms of a phobia. This is a significant weakness because cognitions and emotions are often the motivators of behavior and so the treatment is only dealing with symptoms not the underlying causes.” https://www.simplypsychology.org/Systematic-Desensitisation.html

 What is the cause of the underlying behavior? A whisper of negativity that is motivated by a fear memory which causes a person in psychotherapy language to become stuck and this memory is often suppressed. Yet, when it’s time to behave in a productive manner this suppressed memory triggers the fear and hinders progress toward a goal. How do we ignore these suppressed memories and not allow them to dictate our behavior? A spiritual method that can help us not answer the past is by replacing the whispers with spiritual reminders of God promises as we are either in the state of depression or a high anxiety state.

“First, the patient is taught a deep muscle relaxation technique and breathing exercises. E.g. control over breathing, muscle de-tensioning or meditation.

Second, the patient creates a fear hierarchy starting at stimuli that create the least anxiety (fear) and building up in stages to the most fear provoking images.

Third, the patient works their way up the fear hierarchy, starting at the least unpleasant stimuli and practicing their relaxation technique as they go. When they feel comfortable with this (they are no longer afraid) they move on to the next stage in the hierarchy. If the client becomes upset they can return to an earlier stage and regain their relaxed state.” https://www.simplypsychology.org/Systematic-Desensitisation.html

 As this Systematic Desensitization is practiced reciting scriptures is very vital towards fighting these whispers that stimulate fear and direct our behaviors toward undesirable results in our lives. During the deep muscle relaxation technique we can recite the scripture in 2Timothy 1:7. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” As we move on towards the hierarchy phase we tell ourselves we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. (Philippians 4:13) The added part to this is that we expose ourselves not mentally but physically to whatever challenges is presented by actively moving towards our goals. This behavior will replace the images of fear that is derived from the fear memory that holds us hostage from our progress in life. The third phase in the systematic desensitization model helps us practice this one effective step that is mentioned in the bible;

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,¹⁴ I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

As we consider the fact that we have not made it to our final destination we have to keep in mind that we still have to fight. After the Holy Spirit has come into our life with power to override the negative past we must forget, reach and press away from the negative whispers. Only way we can experience this awesome life changing event is when we become curious about changing our past behavior.