Breaking the Cycle

There is a concept in the Bible that the sins of Fathers and Mothers will be passed down unto the seventh generation.

I began to see the truth in this when I attended Dani Jonhson's First Steps to Success with the team at Crossfit Central.

By way of example:

-A young girl is abandoned by her mother. At 15 years old she tracks down her mother and goes to knock on her door. The young woman immediately recognizes her child and turns a cold shoulder on her. Stepping into the shadows she tells her daughter she wants nothing to do with her. The young girl turns for affection to men. A long stream of them.

-The young girl's son grows up seeing his mother act like a Jezebel and has no idea why she does it... when the boy is 5 their house is burned down by one of his many step-fathers. At some point his real father is dying of cancer and, having nowhere else to go, he comes to live with his ex-wife and her new husband. Seeing his real father emasculated in this way, the young boy tends to mistrust and hate WOMEN.

-The daughter of this young boy (now a father himself) grows up seeing her father womanizing and manipulating and lying to the women he so mistrusts and... tends to hate MEN.

-This daughter grows up not trusting men or the promises God has hmade... She is cold, distant - an ice queen - and the sons of this daughter grow up watching their mother override their father's authority over the household... and tend to hate WOMEN.

-Everyone involed in this situation has experienced abuse in some form and tends to have trouble trusting or loving ANYONE.

When Dani pointed out this cycle at the First Steps to Success seminar I was dumbfounded. They so narrowly cut at my own heart it was incredible.

"But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their fathers—their treachery against me and their hostility toward me..."

"The ego's patterns have to be rooted out, detoxed from our system, before the pure love within us can have a chance to come forth." - Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love

Evaluate Your Thoughts

We are a generation waiting for the breakthrough.



The scene in the movie where we meet the person who fixes us.



The scene in the movie where some person who 'gets' us more intimately perhaps, than we get ourselves, looks at us and says, "it's not your fault." then we drive off into the sunset for California and we are happy.



But all good things in life come from moment-to-moment choices made on account of our beliefs. If we believe we can make money, we will work hard. If we believe marriages can work, we will work at our romantic relationship. If we believe we are worth it we will begin to push away people who don't feel the same.



All of this magic happens because of beliefs you hold in your head. And the beautiful thing? You chose your beliefs. It doesn't matter if you were beaten as a child. You can chose to believe that fathers love their daughters. It doesn't matter if you had a bad year in school, got sloppy, and now believe you are sloppy. You can chose to believe that you are organized.

So stop now and evaluate your beliefs. Do you have any that may not be serving you?

Public example: Britney Spears cheats on Justin Timberlake. He outs her. She begins to believe that she is the nightmarish creature who hurt someone she loved. Rather than see the truth: she is a human who made a terrible mistake. She starts shaving her head, giving children to losers, and can't seem to get a grip on her body. She now fights an uphill battle trying to prove to the world that she is alright. Alright. Think about how incredibly sad that is living the rest of your life just trying to PROVE that you are ALRIGHT.



My beliefs?



Love is.

I am a good person.

I am a good friend.

God loves me.

Friends are real.

People are inherently good.

Love is.

Family is.

Marriage is.

Happines, goodness, and joy are.

I love.

Love is.



And I am the 2010 Crossfit Games Champion.

What beliefs do you have about yourself that don't serve you?

Do you have some forgiving to do?

Who have you attracted into your life with faulty beliefs about yourself?

Who would you like to attract into your life?

Evaluate your thoughts. There are no breakthroughs. Only simple changes that come as a consequence of changing your thoughts.