Living Out Your Identity

As I was driving to work the other day, listening to one of Dan Allendar’s recorded sessions from his Wounded Heart series, he made a statement that really caught my attention: 

When you take away hope, you take away your identity.
Once you stop desiring, you stop dreaming.
Once you stop desiring and dreaming, you stop becoming. When you stop becoming, you live a flat, dull life of the status quo.  You settle for becoming a survivor.  You get up everyday and do the same old things over and over and over never truly loving any of it or living out of your identity.
Dan Allendar, Wounded Heart

Living out of your identity is a concept that most of us would say that we agree should happen but we’re not sure how to do it. From an early age we’ve been told what to do and what to think and haven’t necessarily figured out who we are and what we think. Constant noise in our lives gives us little room for thoughts of our own. Or if we do think, it’s usually in problem-solving mode rather than in considering what is really important to us.  Over time, we wake up and wonder why we feel  so “lost.”

Consider today what it would mean to live out of your identity. What is truly important to you? Are you making time in your life for what’s really important or are you more driven by the tyranny of the urgent or the relentless demands of doing the expected or “responsible” thing.

Begin by writing down the top 5 things you value most. Post those things somewhere in your home where you will see them often. As you make decisions throughout your day, ask yourself, “Will this decision honor my values?”

As you begin to live intentionally on a daily basis according to what you value the most, you will gain a new sense of “living out your identity” and from that will come a sense of peace and freedom. 

Author: Lori Tibbits, LPC with permission to post at Miller Counseling Services, PC