We have spent a lifetime learning how to walk. As infants we strive to take that first step, as toddlers we work to put one foot in front of the other and coordinate our movement, as children we explore our environment by learning what is acceptable and not, and as adolescents we often take several steps in the wrong direction…

It is in these early foot steps we begin to develop a foundation for one self. What dictates the foundation for which we stand on as adults? Often times, this is the very question clients present with in my office. Steps were taken with decisions and choices being made as adolescents and young adults and individuals often find themselves at a cross road. Fortunately, if you have found yourself at this cross road early on, you have an opportunity to assess, reevaluate, consider, and decide how to put your best foot forward.

We have learned a certain way of walking, a certain way of doing, navigating, interacting, and ultimately responding to our external environments based upon our internal cues or mode of operation.  Internal cues are subject to the daily bombardment of our existence as dictated by the environment for which we were raised. Steps are not just about putting one foot in front of the other and hoping for the best result. Steps are fostered and learned from early experiences and validating and/or invalidating environments.

If you have not stopped to consider the place you are standing, find a moment to find a place and stand in it and evaluate how your footsteps dictate your forward movement and direction in life. Do your footsteps align with your hopes, dreams, goals, and growth or are they hindering your forward movement? Forward movement does not have to be accomplished alone. Learning how to put your best foot forward becomes a process of humbling oneself to acknowledge and humbly accept directions taken at past crossroads. It is never too late to stop for a moment and evaluate oneself...as one’s self-evaluation has the propensity for greatness. 

Alexis

I have been coughing for a month and it is probably been the most frustrating illness I have had in quite some time.  I have a cold.  Or, probably more accurately, I suffer from “the common cold”.  I wish it were more dramatic, that descriptor.  Something like “The Phlegmatic Flare-up” or “The Pulmonary Piranha”, because at times it feels as if evil little fish are swimming around in my lungs causing all kinds of pain and mischief.  But, alas, I am left with no other categorization than “I have a cold.”  It’s not a very impressive illness and everyone seems to respond by saying “Oh, me too.”

Sometimes, the most emotionally difficult hurdles to jump are seemingly the smaller ones.  The co-worker that talks behind your back, the friend who stands you up, the spouse that just doesn’t seem to care about what you’re going through to the extent that you want him or her to.  I find that it’s not the dramatic challenges and difficulties that are the most dangerous; it’s the little ones that don’t seem to be or shouldn’t be so hard.  No one can fully understand or comprehend that the small and seemingly insignificant difficulties that we encounter every day are the ones that sap our energies the most.  And it’s during those times that we need to be most on our guard.  You see, the common cold can become pneumonia if it is not dealt with appropriately.  And the small stressors can become roots of bitterness and anger that can lead to bad decisions and chronically bad attitudes. 

Solomon stated in his “Song of Songs” that it’s the little foxes that spoil the vine and the Apostle Paul writes in I Corinthians 10:13 that: “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man [there’s that word ‘common’ again!].  And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”  So my encouragement to you is not to let those “little” frustrations fester and begin to fetter you.  Instead, give them the appropriate attention they need, and then, before God and in the presence of a trusted friend or counselor, allow these wounds to be appropriately dressed and healed and may your physical and emotional “colds” soon be healed!

Jim