Nurturing You to the best You
Likewise, the maternal instinct is one of man’s most powerful forces. Right from conception, bonding between mother and child begins. As the umbilical cord continually provides everything a foetus needs to thrive in the womb, the bond develops Many psychologists believe that after the cord is cut, a whole new level of physical and emotional attachments begins.
Breast feeding strongly fosters the early postpartum maternal bond through touch, response and mutual gazing For the most part, a woman’s nurturing instincts remain throughout her life. These instincts enable her to do whatever it takes to nourish, care for and protect her child, without regarding her own needs.
In his book ’DADDY LOVES HIS GIRLS’, T.D. Jakes writes: ‘This nurturing instinct is what can cause a woman to cleave to a relationship that is diseased and hold onto an issue that is dead and decomposed… nurturing a problem not only means you keep it, it also implies that you are feeding it It is drawing strength from you. Just as a child has no way of getting food in the mother’s womb, except from her A woman car nurture things that deplete, wear and tear her down, yet she keeps pouring emotion, attention and energy into it. Watch out for what you nurture.
To nurture a better you:
1) Let the past be past. Many times a woman hold onto negative experiences for so long that they turn into a myriad of sickness and disease As long as you keep nurturing your past, you remain there.
You are a nurturing being, but you must neuter old pain and scars. Make a decision about your today and tomorrow—now do you want to spend the rest of your life? Let your ugly past be an opportunity to help others who have gone through what you have gone through or worse. Put your good past before you as a memorial that it can only get better! Step out into new things.
Dr. Myles Munroe writes: ‘It is always better to fail at something than not to excel at nothing at all. Get up and try again. The journey to recovering your potential is the ability to move beyond your past and to use it to inform and improve your future. ‘The choice to move forward or not depends on you.
2) Get to know who you are. Who are you? Why are you here? What Is your purpose in life? Where are you going? If you don’t know where you are going, any road will lead you there. Why are you alive? What are you living for? What do you want to be remembered for? Unless you squarely confront these questions, you are likely to end up at mediocre. Edwin & Nancy Cole write: ‘We aren’t so likely to be manipulated and entangled in a mess if we know who we are and can genuinely believe in ourselves.’
3) Watch your words. Death and life are m the power of the tongue’ (Proverbs i8:22). Your words programme you, either for success or failure. Scientists have proven that what a patient says about himself or herself is what determines whether the patient will recover or cross eternity’s threshold. It does not matter how much good or bad people say about you What really counts is what you say about yourself. You can be your very worst enemy or your best encourager. You are the prophet of your destiny. What do you think about you? What do you say about you? Nurture what you think and say about yourself. When you speak right words, the mind relays positive messages which take effect in your whole being But if you keep telling yourself things like Tm fat, I’m ugly, nobody loves me your brain releases negative impulses to the rest of the body to act just like what you have spoken.
4) Surround yourself with people who nurture you.
People make the mistake of putting up with those who constantly inhibit their values. Women who have particularly grown up in abusive backgrounds end up surrounding themselves with that abused image ‘When we don’t value ourselves, we tend to attract people who support that devalued image.'(T.D Jakes). You attract who you are. They say, show me your friends and I will show you your future. You and I increase or decrease by association.
5) Always mentor and be mentored. The more you submit to being mentored by those who are more experienced than you in an area, the more you nurture and grow in that area. The more you in turn pour out to others what has been poured into you, the more room you create for more to be poured into you. Y6ur life Is in great danger the moment you think you have arrived. Always stay teachable, and ready to learn from others.
It has been said that the sky is the limit. However, if you are up high, you will realise that there is more sky above the sky that you see. To every nurturer, the sky is not the limit.
The writer is a trained counsellor.
It does not matter how much good or bad people say about you. What really counts is what you say about yourself.
END: PG38/40-41