The Power of Patterns

Consider This?

Patterns

Have you ever wondered why some things never seem to go right?  You did all the right things, and planned carefully.  So why are you here again?  Sometimes it is because of unrecognized patterns you have developed over time without even realizing it. It is said “insanity is doing the same things and expecting different results.”

We have patterns and templates built into our minds. The human brain records and stores information about every experience, success, failure, love, and pain.  We record these experiences, and develop patterns of behavior to accommodate that knowledge.   It’s not necessarily the truth, but the truth according to our stored information, faulty or not. Our creative subconscious, whose job is to maintain our version of sanity, affects our behavior to maintain our version of the “truth” even when it is not the truth at all, just our perceptions of events.  We must uncover, and reprogram faulty information in order to achieve the success we seek. 

My first marriage was wonderful in the beginning.  We were kids in love, at 18 and 19, the world seemed full of hope, love, and endless possibilities.  We felt invincible as we faced the future. And secretly, I was ecstatic about finally being in a position to create an environment to live in where I would feel loved. What we quickly found out was that with a new baby, and too many bills, life was not a great big date.    The marriage became rocky, and soon ended. I was alone, bewildered, and broken. My college career was in shambles, and now I had a child. I had to make adult decisions in an adult world.  With all the responsibilities now mine alone; my question was:  how did I get here?  Happily-ever-after was not supposed to look like this. 

I picked up the pieces and started over.  My life as I had known it, when I had control of it, when studying was my only challenge, was forever altered.  My main focus changed to parenting, and providing. Disillusioned and unhappy again, I launched into my pattern of looking for an antidote for my pain. Once again my pattern emerged:  I covered my pain, and reached out for relief.  No one knew that beneath all the laughter was a young, broken heart, searching for answers. As I look back, getting married at 18 was not the first instance of my “pattern” to anesthetize my heart’s pain.  The root cause was buried deep in my childhood. Until I uncovered that “root” I was destined to repeat my pattern of behavior again, and again.

Finally, my search led me to Christ; the one decision to accept him would change my life.  The walk with Christ is an evolutionary, line upon line, precept upon precept walk.  Christ gave me strength to change my built in responses to heartbreak and disappointment. Today I feel happy, well balanced, and face disappointment with a new pattern of victory!

What is the lesson?  Recognizing your patterns is the catalyst for change.  Try it, you’ll see.

Let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
                                                                                                            James 1:4