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EXERCISE THREE
Awareness
A Study in Contentment
by Ron Wilkins
As we progress into our adult years our world broadens as well as the opportunities for emotional pain to be inflicted on us. For many just the fact of leaving home presents numerous emotional problems. This is particularly true of those who may have lived a very sheltered life. The real world can be very cruel and unforgiving and as we enter it e need an entirely different set of coping skills. At the same time we bring with us all of the unresolved emotional problems from our youth. College, the workplace and marriage all involve adapting to whole new world. As we enter this world there are skills that will be well worth out developing. One of these is the skill of awareness.
Walking circumspectly is a Bible way of saying, “be aware.” Awareness is an important part of almost all activities. It’s vital to employment, education, relationships and the games we play. It should be no surprise that it is also essential in developing “Every State Contentment.” Awareness is not to be used as a license to become a busy body in other men’s matters. It is not a call to administer cruel, prejudicial judgment of others. Itis being conscious of all that is involved in obtaining a desired end. Be aware that “Every State Contentment” involves far more than just understanding the concept. Many will quickly come to understand the “how to do it” concept and will not follow through due to one or more f the obstacles to be studied in a future chapter.
The key to this study is found in the words of Jesus recorded in Matthew 11:29, “learn of me.” These words make it clear that the “rest” that comes with contentment requires a learning process. It involves much more than just the mechanics of “how to do it.” It requires a spiritual fellowship with Jesus and all that is His. While this study in contentment focuses on the mechanics of the learning process the need for the spiritual cannot be better expressed than it was by the Lord in John 4:24, “God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him, must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” Asking, seeking and knocking involve both the spiritual and the mechanical aspects of the learning process.
Many will fail this study because they will not be able to overcome one or more obstacles. Others will grasp the mechanics but will fail overall because they lack the spiritual fellowship required to succeed. Still others will fail because they will not make the necessary effort. But those who succeed will enjoy the victory of “Every State Contentment,” and it will be theirs through all eternity.
The first step in awareness is to become aware of just who we are and how we got to our present state in life. This requires a lot of honest soul searching and accurate evaluation of our real selves. The second step is to determine exactly what kind of person we want to be. Becoming aware of these two things will enable us to understand the steps we must take in order to cuange from what we are into what we want to be.
Awareness for the purpose of this study can be defines as being able to accurately recognize and assess a situation, then apply the necessary skills to achieve a satisfactory solution. We will learn these skills as we progress through the study. The processing of emotional pain requires skills equal to the level of pain, High level emotional pain cannot be processed with low level skills. As our emotional pain processing skills increase so will our awareness and our ability to address higher and higher levels of emotional pain.
Awareness will not come all at once; it will evolve slowly throughout the entire study. A couple of areas of awareness have already been explored. We have become aware that “Every State Contentment” is possible and that it can and should be a way of life. Awareness will increase as our understanding of how to achieve “Every State Contentment” progresses.
The “way of peace” was a lifestyle in the first century. Today it is rare. Satan did not snatch “Every State Contentment” from the dedicated souls of the first century church; history reveals that he eased it away so gradually, over time,that few even noticed. Today, “Every State Contentment” holds a “not possible” status in our society. “How to be content” is not being taught any more than how to stop unwanted behavior. It’s not taught in the home, in the school, in the community, and it has even been removed from the preaching list in the churches. It’s long past due that something be done about it.
Calling attention to the need to learn “Every State Contentment” and how to stop unwanted behavior is not criticism, it is a “call to arms.” The truth is that “how to be content” and how to “stop unwanted behavior” should be taught in the home, school, community and especially in the churches. It should be common place, not rare and unusual.
Awareness gradually evolves as causes and effects slowly come to light. Many live their entire lives without ever becoming aware of the true causes of the very things that devastate their lives and block contentment. Even simple problems cannot be successfully solved until the causes or reasons for them are brought into the light.
Awareness brings on not only the opportunity to improve through growth, change an unwanted condition, or avoid an unpleasant consequence, it also brings on responsibility. When awareness surpasses the learning process the weight of responsibility can become unbearable. Awareness needs to progress at a reasonable rate along with the learning process. Jesus expressed this thought in John 16:12, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” He knew that when awareness surpasses the processing ability it contributes to an emotional overload that creates intentional unawareness. Intentional unawareness is when we block out an event we are unprepared to address. When the processing ability is far below the needed level to successfully process an event, the fear of failure increases. Fear shuts down the reasoning process and the situation becomes too much to deal with. Is it any wonder that intentional unawareness is not only common, it is an epidemic.
Awareness that progresses at a reasonable rate with the learning process is always constructive. Awareness that races far beyond the skill level of the learning process adds to stress, fear and emotional shutdowns. This is like the child that enters a danger zone by running far ahead of the parents. Awareness can be a powerful tool that will help open doors to great things, or it can be a major contributor to fear that will shut down the learning process. Being aware of a condition that needs to be changed without knowing how to change it, or how to learn to change it, is a form of fear that this study calls “overload awareness.”
ASSIGNMENT
Take two sheets of paper. Label one “Who I Am.” Label the other, “Who I want to Be.” Use the first sheet to describe the real you as you exist today. This must be an honest review of who you are and how you got to where you are. On the second sheet describe the person you want to become. Again, be both honest and realistic. These sheets are to be kept personal. By admitting where we are to ourselves and then determining where we want to go will greatly assist us in applying the concepts necessary to learn “Every State Contentment.”
QUESTIONS
1. What is a Bible way to say, “Be aware.”?
2. Where is how to be content commonly taught?
3. How can awareness be harmful sometimes?
4. Why will some who understand the concept of how to be content, still fail?
5. Where is the key to this study found?
TRUE or FALSE
1. Awareness is always a good thing.
2. Awareness comes with responsibility.
3. Being aware of a condition without knowing how to improve or correct it can be stressful.
4. Understanding the concept of how to be content is enough to succeed at it.
ANSWERS FOR EXERCISE TWO
1. Those who are the closest to us.
2. Stability, security, trust, encouragement and acceptance.
3. Emotional pain.
4. A method used to escape the emotional pain.
5. The book of Proverbs.
True or False: 1.(T), 2.(T), 3.(F), 4.(T), 5.(T)
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