The Benefits of Asking Yourself Why You Do What You Do…
Do you ever ask yourself WHY you do what you do? Why do you struggle and sin in the areas you do? Why do you get anxious? Fearful? Angry? Depressed? What makes you excited? Encouraged?
Many times the things going on in our lives that we see on the surface are just that - on the surface. If you want to change what’s on the surface, you might first have to look at what’s causing it under the surface.
One effective way to uncover what’s behind our actions and emotions is to ask ourselves “Why?”
I like using a journal to do this. My brain gets too tied up in knots and distracted if I just think about these things. I get lost down rabbit holes and side tracks. When I write down my conversation with myself and God, it keeps me on task and focused. There’s something powerful about writing it down.
I have struggled in the past (and sometimes in the present!) with being a “people pleaser”. I want people to be happy with my choices and decisions and what I can do for them. But that’s not a very healthy way to live. It’s impossible to please everyone and God is really the only One we need to be concerned about pleasing.
I spent time journaling about why I felt this way. Why did I care what others thought? Why was I so concerned about the impression I was making on them? Why did I care if they liked me? What did I think would happen if I didn’t make them happy?
It was a process, but over time I realized that some of it came from things I learned in my family growing up. I had experienced that love was conditional. Even though I intellectually know that God loves me unconditionally, I needed to get that truth deeper than my head. Once you uncover the lie - in my case it was that God’s love is conditional - then you can work to replace that lie with truth from God’s Word.
Romans 12:2 says “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”
Asking “why” helps us to understand the ways in which we are conformed to the pattern of the world. Then we can instead be transformed into being more like Jesus.
Journaling prompts:
1. What’s one area of sin and struggle that you are having trouble finding victory in?
2. Take some time and journal about WHY you do whatever is that you’re having trouble with. Ask yourself questions about it. Is there a lie you’re believing about yourself or God underneath? Is it something you learned growing up? If you were talking with a counselor about this, what do you think he or she would ask you?