When I think about rehearsals the first thing that comes to mind is dance performances. As a kid I remember spending hours and hours in the backyard pretending to be a dancer. Even though I had never had dancing lessons it didn’t stop me from pretending, it was so much fun! When it comes to the new seasons of dancing or singing shows on t.v., I enjoy watching the dancing over the singing any day. I imagine how many hours and how much effort it must take to practice and put something like that together so that the performance is a success.
Individuals involved in the entertainment world know how much practice is needed to rehearse lines or dance moves. Individuals who play in a sports team have practice sessions weekly to improve their ability. As a child starts school they spend a lot of time practicing drawing and writing. When you really start to think about it we do a lot of rehearsing. There are wedding rehearsals, concert rehearsals and the list is endless… Rehearsing something over and over helps to perfect what you are learning. You get better at something over time. You may lack the skills in a particular area however after practicing you improve. Not everything is a positive rehearsal. So what happens when you begin rehearsing thoughts over and over in your mind about something negative? You get better at it! You may even start living that negative rehearsal out in your daily life. It becomes second nature and eventually you do not even have to think to be able to think it. It becomes automatic like driving a car.
As a teenager I had morning rehearsals every day when I was getting ready. I would stand in front of the mirror and say to myself ‘You are so Ugly’…… ‘No one likes you’….. It became automatic and believable over time. If anyone happened to pay me a compliment it was quickly ignored as all I believed was what I had rehearsed for so many years each and every single day. At the time I had no idea how destructive those rehearsal sessions were. It became such a part of my daily life that I did not recognise its damaging effects.
What do you rehearse each day? Is it positive or negative? Let me encourage you today to take some time to think about what you are thinking about. So that your life does not take on something destructive which essentially robs you of the freedom to be yourself and the freedom to enjoy the life that you have been given. Life is valuable and precious and so are you!
The Change that changes you 