8 Rules to Help your Spouse Heal from Infidelity

 

PLEASE NOTE: This article was originally published in 2015

I am sure you have heard the saying, “Once a cheater, always a cheater”, but that is not always true. In my experience counseling couples recovering from infidelity, I have observed that cheaters fall into one of 3 main categories. First, there is the Narcissist. This type is the serial cheater who has no remorse and may even feel entitled to cheat, simply because he or she wants to. This is the type who probably will continue to cheat, whether he or she is caught or not. The second type is the addict. This person is either addicted to sex or addicted to the excitement of having “the forbidden fruit”. This type may actually have remorse but may need professional help to stop. Finally, the third type is your average person. There may or may not be marital issues, but this person usually enters the slippery slope of befriending someone of the opposite sex. The “friendship” grows very important to this person. The cheater may begin by sharing personal information about the marital issues and there may be more and more time and energy invested into the “friendship” until the cheater slides into an emotional affair, a physical affair or both. Most of the time, this person has remorse and when faced with the possibility of losing his or her marriage, he or she desperately seeks to heal the marriage. If you are reading this and you have cheated, and if you fit into category number 3, please take the following rules of infidelity recovery seriously, that is, of course, if you want to save your marriage.

Rule #1: Immediately cut contact with the other person (OP).

This is rule number one for a reason. In order to be fully emotionally available to your hurting spouse, you must not be emotionally connected to the OP. You must cut contact completely and fully. I will use the analogy of the alcoholic. In order for an alcoholic to stay clean and sober, he must never take another alcoholic beverage again. He must remove himself from the people, places, and things that tempt him. He must learn new coping skills so that the need for alcohol disappears. You must sever the attachment you had with the OP completely so that you can emotionally re-attach to your spouse. Remember, you took vows with your spouse, not the OP. You owe the OP nothing. He or she knew you were married when he or she chose to have an affair with a married person. Just like all of us, the OP must deal with the consequences of his or her choices and actions.

 This rule gets a bit tricky if the affair partner was a co-worker; however, if your betrayed spouse is too tortured by you working with the OP, you may need to find other employment. I am not suggesting that you quit immediately. I understand that finances may be tough and you cannot leave your present job until you find another one, but if you want to save your marriage, you may need to consider this. While you are still in your present job and if you still work with the OP, you must take all measures to limit contact to work-related issues only and never communicate outside of the workplace. Make your boundaries clear and known to the OP. Again, remember, you took vows with your spouse, not the OP, and you owe the OP nothing. In her book, Not Just Friends, Dr. Shirley Glass explains that a committed relationship has walls (or boundaries) that protect the relationship from harm. When one enters into an affair, the affair partner gets a window into the marital relationship, while the spouse has a wall of secrecy between him or her and the affair relationship. To heal your marriage, the window and the wall must be reversed. We will return to this analogy again.

Rule#2: Allow complete access and transparency.

Transparency means it is time to open the books, figuratively and literally. Give your spouse access to cell phones, email, and social media accounts. Give your spouse all of your passwords. Not only should you expect your spouse to check on you for a while, you should want him or her to check. Basically, your betrayed spouse must catch you “being good” in order to be able to trust you again. 

I often see a lot of resistance from cheating spouses on this rule. They believe they still have a right to their privacy. They do not want to be treated like a child and they feel insulted, because they “swear” they have ended the affair. My simple response to these objections is this. Do want your privacy or do you want to save your marriage? You saying “I swear” now means nothing. You have destroyed the blind, unconditional trust your spouse once had in you. Your spouse’s world has been blown apart by your lies and betrayal. This is an extreme situation and extreme situations call for extreme measures. For now, you must give up your “right” to privacy. I promise you that if you do this, after a period of time of being caught being good, your spouse’s need to check up on you will diminish. People who have nothing to hide, hide nothing. Is this not the least you can do to help your spouse heal?

Rule #3: Be accountable.

This goes along with being transparent. Basically, being accountable means being where you say you are going to be when you say you are going to be there. It means following through with your promises. It means having an explanation if you are late and not meeting questions with defensiveness or resistance.

This rule becomes difficult for some cheating spouses because it can get tiresome having to detail every move that is made. This can be scary for some.  I recently counseled a couple in which the husband was the cheating spouse. He really resisted this rule. He told his betrayed wife that he did not want to spend his life “living under a microscope”. In his case, he still felt a lot of shame about what he had done, and having to be accountable for every step he took just fed his feelings of shame. I understand that adults in a committed relationship do not think they should have to tell their spouse every time they run an errand or go to lunch with some coworkers, but this is a different circumstance. That would be true if the trust your spouse had for you was still intact, but it is not and that is your fault. Are you willing to help your spouse trust you again so you can save your marriage? How is this rule looking now?

Rule #4: Answer all of your spouse’s questions completely and honestly.

This rule is sometimes difficult for the cheating spouse to understand. He or she may wonder why the betrayed spouse needs to hear all of the nitty-gritty details of the affair. Often, the initial inclination for the cheating spouse is to leave out details, downplay certain events, or do something that is referred to as “trickle truthing” (Glass, 2003), which is the act of admitting to the details of the affair little by little to avoid the distress of the betrayed spouse learning the entirety of the offense. A cheating spouse has many reasons to trickle truth. He or she may think he or she is protecting the betrayed spouse from further hurt. He or she may be protecting himself or herself from further shame, or he or she may even be protecting the OP to some extent. Let me be absolutely clear here. You are not protecting your spouse. If there are details you have not revealed to your spouse and they are found out some other way, the damage that will result will be far worse than your spouse knowing the entire truth of your betrayal. Each discovery of new information or details sets your betrayed spouse back, so answer the questions as they are asked, no matter how difficult and uncomfortable it may be.

Let me share what one of my clients told her husband when he could not understand why she was asking so many specific questions about his affair with a coworker. She told him this, “I feel as if another woman is walking around with knowledge of my husband that only I should know. I feel as if she has stolen a piece of you from me. The only way for me to feel that I have you back fully is if I know everything she knows.” As hard as it is for the betrayed spouse to hear the intimate details of your affair, you need to be completely honest and specific about what you did. If things do not make sense in the mind of the betrayed spouse because you left out significant details, he or she will try to fill the gaps in their mind. Sometimes what goes on in the imagination of the betrayed spouse is far worse than what actually took place. Not only are you not protecting your spouse from further pain by hiding details, but you are also actually causing more pain and turmoil for your spouse. As hard as it may be, you must answer the questions about the affair, honestly and completely. That way, your spouse will know that you are able to tell the truth, no matter how difficult it is for you. That is how you earn back trust.

Rule #5: Allow your spouse to set the pace of recovery, NOT YOU!

The process of recovering from infidelity for couples is a very long and hard one. There are many ups and downs, bumps in the road, and setbacks, for both the cheating spouse and the betrayed spouse. The one who cheated may feel deep remorse and he or she may feel as if they have done everything they can do to help the hurting spouse. All they want to do is put their egregious act behind them and move forward. That is all well and good, but that is unrealistic and unfair. Experts agree that it takes at least 2-5 years for a couple to get past an affair and return to a state of normalcy within the relationship again (Bercht, 2004; Glass, 2003).

Here is an example from another couple I counseled; we will call them Jack and Karen. Jack cheated on Karen and the affair ended when Karen found out about Jack’s infidelity when she overheard him talking on the phone. Jack was very patient and nurturing at first. He answered all of Karen’s questions, but he grew impatient after a while. Karen started to ask repetitive questions. At times, she argued with Jack because she did not like the answers she heard, and this frustrated Jack to no end. One day, out of sheer exhaustion and exasperation, he asked, “How long is she going to keep me hanging on the cross like this?” My response was, “As long as it takes.” I then shared an analogy a colleague once shared with me, “You see your wife is struggling to climb the mountain. You have already reached the top and you are tired of looking down the mountain since you want to keep moving, but your wife is struggling to get to the top. She is stuck. You cannot yell down to her from the top saying, ‘Hurry up and get here already. We need to keep moving forward!’ You have to get down there and help her climb.” You inflicted trauma upon your spouse. Why do you expect him or her to suffer in silence? It does not matter if your affair lasted a few days or a few years; you betrayed your spouse and it is going to take a lot of time and work for your spouse to resolve the trauma and grief over the loss of the purity of the marriage. This you must accept. Your betrayed spouse dictates the timeframe of recovery; not you.

Rule #6: Offer constant encouragement, reassurance, and apologies if necessary.

In his book Relationship Rescue (2000), and on his popular daytime TV show, Dr. Phil McGraw said that the one who cheats is solely responsible for his or her affair. No matter what problems exist in the relationship and no matter how the betrayed spouse behaves, he or she did not make you cheat. You chose to do that. There are ways to deal with unhappiness in a marriage, but I assure you, cheating is absolutely not one of them. Cheating is merely a way to escape and avoid dealing with either marital issues or your own personal shortcomings. Cheating is about ego. It is selfish. Short of holding a gun to your head and forcing you to go outside the marriage, your spouse is not to blame for your affair. Own your stuff fully.

In owning your stuff, you must take full responsibility for your choice to cheat. Forget about the excuses, “I did not mean for it to happen” or “I never meant to hurt you.” Guess what. It did happen by choice; it was no accident. You may not have meant to hurt your spouse, but you did, badly. It will take you fully owning what you did, expressing remorse, and constantly reassuring your spouse that you will never repeat this mistake again for him or her to fully heal. As many times as you think you have apologized, do it again and again if your spouse needs you to. You turned your spouse’s world upside down. You were the one your spouse thought he or she could always count on and you were the one who caused your spouse more pain than he or she could ever have imagined. Do you think having to constantly apologize is hard? Well, think about how hard it is to be your spouse right now. Do you want to make amends and save your marriage? Then get over it!

Rule #7: Protect the marriage.

Protecting the marriage is a multi-faceted endeavor. It involves what I mentioned earlier, which is reversing the window and the wall. The OP must have no access to you or to your marriage and you have to start letting your spouse in on what you did, why you did it, and how you were able to do it. This takes maturity and a lot of introspection. You have to know why and how you were able to go outside your marriage and break your marriage vows. Only when you fully own your behavior and learn from your mistakes can you avoid repeating the problematic behavior.

Protecting the marriage also entails surrounding yourself with “friends of the marriage” (Bercht, 2004; Glass, 2003). This means that you must have people in your life who support your marriage, who support your choice to save the marriage, and who do not try and undermine or sabotage the process. I counseled a couple in which the husband, I will call him Ron, was the cheater. Ron’s best friend was still single and it was obvious that he did not like Ron’s wife very much. Ron’s friend constantly talked badly about Ron’s wife and he frequently encouraged Ron to leave his wife. It confused Ron and deeply hurt his wife. Ron had been friends with this man for several years and his allegiance was split. If you are in a similar situation as Ron, I am sorry to tell you that if you want to save your marriage, you may have to cut this type of toxic person from your life. If people around you do not support you in this very important and difficult infidelity recovery process, then you need to let them go.

Protecting the marriage also means refraining from speaking badly about your spouse. The protective wall around the marriage means that outsiders are not privy to the problems within the walls. That is a private matter between a husband and wife. If you have trusted friends of the marriage and you need to talk, then do so, but only with friends of the same gender. By speaking badly about your spouse to anyone and everyone, you are making yourself vulnerable. Along with refraining from speaking ill of your spouse, you must also refrain from flirting with those of the opposite sex. By doing so, you are not only inviting trouble, but you are disrespecting your spouse. To those who have little regard for the institution of marriage, flirting gives the impression that you do not care about your spouse’s feelings. If you do not care, why should they?

What I am about to suggest is very controversial and many may not agree, but this part of protecting the marriage is crucial, especially in the beginning stages of infidelity recovery. You cannot have close friendships with those of the opposite sex. Under normal circumstances, it may be possible to have a friend of the opposite sex without your spouse feeling threatened or jealous, but these are not normal circumstances, and, do not forget, that is your fault. Do not have lunch alone with someone of the opposite sex, no coffee, no extended conversations, and no social activities with someone of the opposite sex. Do not forget also that you were initially “just friends” with your affair partner. You have already proven that you do not understand healthy boundaries, so it is absolutely unrealistic for you to expect that your spouse will be comfortable with you having a close friendship with a person of the opposite sex now. I will use this analogy to help you understand better. If you are on a diet and you love chocolate, you would not keep fudge brownies in the house. Sure, your resolve may be strong for the moment and you may even be able to resist those brownies, but you are still vulnerable and you still need to learn why you turned to food for comfort. It is much better to keep the brownies out of the house until you fully understand your weakness for chocolate. Sure, you may be able to have a friendship with someone of the opposite sex, but you first need to learn what healthy boundaries entail and you need to understand how you were vulnerable to having an affair. Is it worth torturing your spouse and risking your marriage to prove you can handle such a friendship?  I do not think it is.

Rule #8: Agree to go to marriage counseling.

All of the preceding rules are difficult to follow, especially if the cheating spouse is still rationalizing and justifying his or her choice to cheat. The betrayed spouse has every right to the range of emotions he or she will inevitably be feeling. The betrayed spouse experiences both a trauma effect and a grief response when an affair is discovered. Some betrayed spouses may even suffer a post-traumatic response similar to that of PTSD. The grief comes from the loss of the security he or she once felt. There is a loss of trust. There is a feeling of being violated by the OP. There could also be other fallout from affairs such as sexually transmitted diseases or even pregnancies. So much damage has been caused. With such intense emotions, you most certainly need guidance from a professional to sift through the aftermath of your indiscretion.

It is essential to find a therapist who is experienced in helping couples through infidelity recovery. Dr. Glass addresses this issue in Not Just Friends. Her premise is that if couples are not progressing in therapy, it may not be because the marriage cannot be saved, but because the couple has an inexperienced therapist who may side with one spouse over the other or who may be obviously judgmental. A good therapist who is experienced in the field of infidelity recovery will impartially guide a couple through the process, gently holding the cheating spouse accountable, while helping him or her understand what led him or her to infidelity. Once the infidelity issues are fully dealt with, then and only then can the couple deal with the marital issues. The betrayed spouse must own his or her contribution to the marital issues, but, to repeat, the cheating spouse is 100% responsible for his or her affair.

I would like to end this discussion with some words of encouragement. Couples can survive infidelity. Not only can they survive, but they can also thrive. The journey through infidelity recovery forces both spouses to do an enormous amount of introspection. Both can learn so much about themselves and they may even resolve old issues that needed to be addressed but may not have been had the infidelity not occurred. Relationships are kicked from their complacency, forcing couples to look at what was not working between them. Spouses learn about both themselves and about each other and they may become closer than they have ever been. They learn that marriage is precious and that it takes work, but they also learn that it is worth the effort. No one would ever choose to be betrayed and hurt, but since it did happen, since you, the cheating spouse, chose to go outside the marriage, good can come from this enormous mistake, but only if you do the work and follow the rules to help your spouse heal from your infidelity. Good luck and God bless.

References:

Bercht, A. (2004). My Husband’s Affair became the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me.    

       Victoria B.C.: Trafford.

Glass, S.P. (2003). Not Just Friends: Rebuilding Trust and Recovering Your Sanity After

Infidelity. New York: Free Press.

       McGraw, P.C. (2000). Relationship Rescue: A seven Step Strategy For Reconnecting With

            Your Partner. New York: Hyperion.

Encouragement for the Betrayed

PLEASE NOTE: This article was originally published in 2015

I felt compelled to write this blog post as a follow-up to my previous post entitled “8 Rules to Help Your Spouse Heal From Infidelity.” This post is directed to all of you who were betrayed by your spouse’s infidelity. I read some of the comments that resulted from my blog post and, let us just say, some were very negative. Some examples included, “People who cheat do not love their spouse.” Or “once a cheater, always a cheater” or “if they loved their spouse in the first place, they would not have cheated.” I am here to tell you the above statements are not necessarily true! The focus of this post is not to explain all of the possible reasons someone commits adultery. That is for another discussion. My sole purpose is to encourage those of you who were betrayed and who have decided to stay and fight for your marriage.

Negative comments such as those stated above can undoubtedly make you feel numerous things. One thing we all need to understand is this. People are not all good or all bad. These qualities can exist simultaneously. Therefore, by extension, people can both love their spouse and cheat, mainly because cheating is not about love or a lack thereof, but it is about ego. Basically, good people can make bad choices and bad mistakes, having nothing to do with their spouse. If you believe that a person does not love his or her spouse because he or she cheated, then you are thinking in very black-and-white terms. Black-and-white thinking is a type of cognitive distortion or thinking error. Life is not all black and white; sometimes, there is a lot of gray. Do not be so quick to judge.

Many of the betrayed spouses whom I counsel report feelings of shame and embarrassment and these feelings result from this type of black-and-white thinking. They are basically battling their own pride. They think they are weak because, prior to the discovery of their spouse’s infidelity, they would have sworn that cheating would be a deal breaker; however, once they found out that their spouse cheated, they realized that life is far more complicated and many factors come into play, influencing their decision to stay. They believe that others are thinking how weak or pathetic they are for staying. If you are feeling these things, here is my response to all of the above. You decided to stay and fight for your marriage, which takes an enormous amount of strength. You took your vows seriously. You have decided to take the long arduous journey towards forgiveness. You are not weak! You have nothing about which to feel ashamed or embarrassed. Even if other people are thinking these things, remember that no one really knows what he or she would actually do unless he or she is faced with this situation. No one has the right to judge you, your marriage, or your choice to stay. They do not live in your home or walk in your shoes. Every marriage is unique, as is every situation. Only you know what is right and what is best for you and your family. Stop judging yourself, forgive yourself, and give yourself credit for staying true to your vows.

Hold your head up high. Your spouse bears the shame of what he or she did, not you. You did not cause your spouse to cheat. As I mentioned in my previous blog post, your spouse and your spouse alone is responsible for cheating. Take no ownership of that shame. You did not deserve what happened to you, no matter what problems may have existed in the relationship. Let me put it this way; I would wager that your cheating spouse was not perfect either. I would guess that you also had many unmet needs, disappointments, and frustrations about your spouse, but you did not seek solace outside of your marriage. Why then would you be embarrassed that your spouse did? Stop lamenting and blaming yourself. Not only is that unproductive, but it is also unnecessary.

I bet you are also thinking that you look like a fool because the signs of your spouse’s infidelity were there, but you chose to dismiss them. You are probably telling yourself how stupid you were for not knowing, or for having that gut feeling, but ignoring it. These are understandable reactions; however, you trusted your spouse. You never thought that the person you love would betray you. You are not a fool nor are you stupid. Stop blaming yourself for not knowing what you did not know before you knew it!

As the dust settles and as you and your spouse are hopefully working towards recovery, remember these things. You do not need to make any major decisions while your emotions are so unstable. As a matter of fact, you should never make major decisions when you cannot think clearly. You also need to remember you are not alone. There is much support for you out there. Websites such as www.dailystrength.org and www.beyondaffairs.com offer information and support to help you feel less isolated. You are not alone in this boat. Unfortunately, infidelity has become very pervasive in our society. Of the couples I alone am counseling, about 75% of them are dealing with infidelity recovery. I say again, do not be ashamed that you chose to stay. Staying true to your vows, working towards forgiveness, and fighting for your marriage and family are honorable endeavors. In the event that your marriage still does not make it, please remember this. You did everything possible to save your marriage. At least you can walk away knowing you tried and that you have no regrets. If your marriage is saved, chances are, it will be better than it has ever been. Good luck and God bless!

The Rear View Mirror

 Have you ever heard the saying, "Stop looking in the rear view mirror; you're not going that way"? Think about what that means. Basically, it means that we need to stop looking backwards and let the past go. How many of us spend an inordinate amount of time in our heads, lamenting about past mistakes, regrets, and hard times? If that resonates with you, ask yourself how much emotional energy have you been expending while you are living in your head trying to rewrite history. The past is gone. You cannot change what has already occurred. What you can do is learn and use the wisdom that you gained from the experience to create a better future.

I know, it is easier said than done, right? Yes, it takes effort to pull yourself out of your head and learn to be in the present. Look at it this way. You are putting forth an enormous amount of effort ruminating on a past that cannot be changed. Why not use that same emotional energy on an endeavor that will benefit you and help you grow as a person? 

One way to get your mind out of the past is to replace the negative intrusive thoughts with positive counterbalancing statements. I always look to Scripture to help me with that. For example, Proverbs 4:25 says: "Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze on what is in front of you." The prophet Isaiah writes a tremendous statement about letting go of the past and looking forward with hope to a great future: "Stop dwelling on past events and brooding over times gone by; I am doing something new; it's springing up-can't you see it?" (Isaiah 43:18-19)

The Bible is a great source of positive statements you can use to replace negative thoughts that keep you prisoner to your past regrets. Whether you look to Scripture or not, the important thing to remember is that you have to be active in recognizing when you are in your head rather than being present in your life. You must actively interrupt thoughts that are not productive and that are detrimental to your peace and happiness today. One technique is called thought stopping. You simply picture a stop sign in your mind to interrupt the negative thoughts and then you actively redirect your mind to more positive and productive thoughts, such as the examples I shared. Do whatever works for you, but do something other than indulge thoughts that serve no purpose in your life today.

Wisdom can come only when you allow yourself to learn from the past but not live there. Living in the past and living in regret produces depression, sadness, self-loathing, and misery. Stop doing this to yourself. Forgive yourself, forgive others, and apply the lessons learned to your life so that you can move forward to a hopeful future. It's time to stop looking in the rear view mirror; you are not going that way! God bless!

Trust the Transition

 I haven't written a blog post in quite a while. I think that is because I haven't felt very inspired. I have been blocked. I feel as if I had been stagnating. Life had become so repetitive, just like the movie "Groundhog's Day." I wasn't accomplishing the goals I had set for myself. In a word, I've been stuck. God knew I would not have made a move on my own, so I believe He allowed circumstances to unfold the way they have to free me from the prison of my own making. So now I have been freed and I am scared to death. I have no choice now but to trust that the Lord will turn these circumstances for good and I need to trust that He has another purpose for my life.

A dear friend sent me a meme that gave the message that I must trust the transition. It was exactly what I needed. I am filled with anxiety and fear, but I know those emotions are not from the Lord. I have to trust that He knows the beginning to the end and knew me before I was. He tells me over and over in His Word to trust Him, that He is with me, and that He will go into battle with me and fight on my behalf. 

I feel compelled to share some of the Scriptures to which I am currently clinging like a life raft. In Jeremiah 29:11, the Lord says: "For I know what plans I have in mind for you, plans for well-being, not for bad things; so that you ca have hope and a future." This is a reminder that we need to trust that the Lord has a plan and a purpose for our lives. Another Scripture that has always served as a reminder that I don't always know everything and that I need to humble myself is Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not rely on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him; then He will guide your paths." The following Scripture has always given me encouragement when I have felt afraid or defeated. It is a reminder that God doesn't want us to feel those things because He is always with us. In Joshua 1:9 He says: "Haven't I ordered you, 'Be strong, be bold?' So don't be afraid or downhearted, because the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

I could go on and on quoting Scriptures that give me encouragement and comfort. God's love for us is so evident in Scripture that even through turmoil, I cannot help but feel abundantly grateful for His unfailing love. As a new chapter in my life has yet to unfold, I wanted to share all of this and allow myself to be vulnerable so I can hopefully be of some comfort and encouragement to anyone reading this who may be dealing with fear, anxiety, or sadness. We are all human. We all go through times of trial. Uncertainty is very anxiety-provoking. I am not immune. That said, I know the Lord and I know that whatever the reason for this season of trial in my life, he has a plan and a purpose for it and He will absolutely use it for my betterment because I love Him and He loves me. So please know that God wastes nothing. Trust in Him and trust that he has a plan and purpose for your life too. Trust the transition. It's all part of the process. God bless.

Just be

 As a trained psychotherapist, my job is to help my clients develop the tools within themselves to process their emotions in a healthier and productive way so they can live their best lives. I recently entered a role as a volunteer in which I must put aside my therapist hat and put on a different type of hat. I have volunteered to be a part of a team that supports medical providers when they experience traumatic events. It's called "psychological first aid." Our job in this role is not to provide therapy or even "fix" the problem. Our job is to just be with the providers in their distress, listen to them, validate their feelings, and then refer them for further services if needed. 

This will be a challenge for me given my background and training, but a worthy challenge nonetheless. This is a position in which we are to just lend ourselves to just be with the provider in need. This got me thinking about what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 12:15: "Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep." This is a simple yet poignant statement. As those who just want to help, sometimes the best thing we can do is just be with a person who is having difficult emotions. 

Even in my capacity as a psychotherapist, sometimes my best work has been during times in which I was just being with my client as he or she wept. I was a container for the pain my client was experiencing. Sometimes, that is all a person needs, to know that he or she is not alone in his or her pain. 

I decided to share this with my readers for a very simple reason. I wanted you all to know that you do not have to be a trained psychotherapist to help others. I know a few of my followers personally and I know them to be very kind and caring people. They are always ready to lend a helping hand to those in need. I want them and anyone else reading this who has a heart for others to know that God put you on this earth just for that purpose, to "rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep." That is precisely why He equipped you with a kind heart and soul. 

There really is no mystery as to what our purpose in this life is meant to be. We are to just be with those who need us. No matter what your station in life, no matter how discouraged you may feel because you think you cannot find your purpose, just know that today, right now, you can make your purpose in this life to be a helper to those in need by just being with them. That's it; just be. You have no idea how important that is! God bless!

What has you in bondage?

Tonight at sundown marks the first night of Passover, which commemorates the Lord freeing the people of Israel from the bondage of slavery. The celebration of Passover has layers of meaning. It always makes me reflect upon the things that may have me in proverbial bondage. We become slaves to various things in our lives. We are slaves to stress. We are slaves to time. We are slaves to things in general. We work and toil to collect things and, in the end, those things become meaningless. You know the old saying, "you can't take it with you when you die."

Now is a particularly poignant time for the arrival of Passover, as we all seem to be in bondage to COVID 19. This is one situation in which we all find ourselves and beyond taking the necessary precautions, like staying home when possible, social distancing, washing your hands, etc., we really do not have a whole lot of control over this pandemic. The uncertainty of that and the vulnerability we feel as a result is extremely anxiety-provoking. I am seeing so much anxiety, from my clients, my coworkers, my friends, and my family. I will say this, if it wasn't for my faith, I would probably be scared out of my mind! So allow me to help you reframe the situation so it doesn't seem so grim.

You may be asking what this has to do with Passover; please indulge me. The coinciding with Passover and the COVID 19 pandemic is amazing to me. In the first place, I believe the Lord wants us to use Passover as a time to reflect upon the "hametz" (leaven) in our lives. We are to eat only unleavened bread to remember our ancestors who didn't have time to bake leavened bread because they had to leave Egypt in a hurry, but the Lord had a deeper meaning for hametz. Hametz became a representation of sin. The people of Israel had a very difficult time clearing out their sin, which is why they ended up wandering in the desert for 40 years. Even though they saw the Lord perform tremendous miracles on their behalf, they kept returning to their stiff-necked ways. As it says in Proverbs 26:11: "Just as a dog returns to his vomit, a fool repeats his folly." I don't think much has changed in humanity since then. So, not only are we to clear out the physical hametz in our house, we need to clear out the emotional and spiritual hametz as well.

What better time to reflect than being stuck at home because of a pandemic to reflect upon the things which have you in bondage? Please don't get me wrong; I am not making light of this pandemic. I am simply trying to turn the situation for the betterment of my life and those of whom I love. I believe that is always what God wants for us. I saw a meme recently that said, and I paraphrase: "Ok, I took away the stress of your job. You can't go to the movies, restaurants, bars, parties. You are basically stuck at home. Now, can we talk?-God" I can't help but think there is truth in this.

Rather than focusing your emotional energy on the things over which you have no control, I challenge you to focus inward during this time. Whether you celebrate Passover or not, take this time to look at your life and the things that have you in bondage. What are the things in your life that have taken you away from time with your Creator or a higher power? What has distracted you from spending time with your loved ones? What has you stuck in your head lamenting about the past?

Instead of feeling guilty or beating yourself up, just resolve to make a change. Talk to God, or meditate. Forgive yourself and others. Free yourself from your hametz, whether that is anger, shame, stress, greed, or any other trivial pursuit that has taken you away from the things that are most important in this life. Use this time to free your self from the bondage of your own making and become a better version of yourself. Become the person God wants you to be, or at least start that journey. This pandemic will eventually pass. God is in control. Let yourself be delivered and stop wandering in the desert. The promised land is waiting! God bless!

Control: The Great Human Illusion

It is human nature to want to feel as if we are in control of everything in our lives. We want to feel in control of our finances, our safety, our successes, our health, and the list goes on. There may be nothing scarier than the vulnerability of feeling as if that sense of control is slipping away. So many spend every waking moment striving to hold on to that control. Some become completely ruled by the need to control their environments. Under the relentless pursuit of being in control lingers deep-seated fear. The very thing they think will make their lives more tolerable is the very thing that is destroying any feelings of joy and happiness.

I have some scary questions to pose. What if we never really had the control we thought we did? What if we are walking around as these vulnerable creatures who are deluding ourselves into believing we can control everything that happens to us or the people we love? What if we actually have control over very little in our lives? Here is another question; what if accepting that we have such little control actually frees us and lightens our burdens? See what I did there? I switched it on you!

Folks here is the truth. Control is a mere illusion. Don’t get me wrong, of course, there are some things within our control. We can control our behaviors. We can control what we eat. We can control when we go to bed, what we watch on TV, whom we allow to be our friends, etc. The things over which we have little control are the big picture things. Working in the oncology field has really taught me this lesson. I will never forget a patient I met a few years ago. She had just been diagnosed with pretty serious breast cancer and chemotherapy was recommended. She carried on about how she is a vegan and only eats organic foods. She refused to allow “that poison” (chemotherapy) into her body. The doctor went back and forth with her, trying to educate her about treatment guidelines and how the chemotherapy was proven to be effective in clinical trials. After several minutes of this, I interjected. I looked her straight in the eye and praised her for her excellent health habits. Then I said, “So you have gone to great lengths to control everything that has gone into your body. You did all the right things, but you still got cancer.” Her response was a few seconds of silence and then she quietly said, “You’re right.”

You see, her belief that she had control over her health by meticulously controlling what foods went into her body was all an illusion. I am sure that her lifestyle made her feel good and she was probably in generally good health, but there were factors beyond her control that led to her getting breast cancer. When she finally relented, it was because she finally accepted that reality. Once she came to that acceptance and let go of her illusion of control, it freed her to trust in her doctors and participate in her own treatment plan. The burden of believing that she had complete control over the functioning of her body was lifted.

That was but one example of how we are fooling ourselves into thinking absolute control is achievable. When we spend our lives constantly micromanaging and planning every detail, we are the ones who become controlled by our own faulty thinking. Some people fall into the trap of magical thinking. For example, the rituals of one who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are meant to give them a sense of control over their environment. However, what ends up happening is the rituals become all-encompassing and completely inhibit the person from living a normal life. The very thing this person believes will alleviate his or her anxiety is actually the main cause of his or her distress. The ultimate goal for a person like this is for him or her to come to an acceptance that he or she does not really have the control he or she thinks he or she has and then learn to cope with the feelings of vulnerability that brings. What people eventually realize is that while that vulnerability is uncomfortable and even scary at times, that distress pales in comparison to the distress they caused themselves while pursuing the unattainable illusion of control.

I am not suggesting that everyone who wants to be in control has OCD; that was simply an illustration of how the desire to control causes us distress. What I am saying is this. It is ok to acknowledge that there are some things over which we have no control because the acceptance of that truth is very freeing. Rather than spending all of your mental energy chasing the control that you never really had in the first place, you can direct that energy into living your life to the fullest. Instead of seeking control, seek joy. Instead of using rituals to give yourself a sense of security, try praying and asking God to take your burden. There were so many events in my life that showed me how letting go of the things over which I had no control and placing them into God’s hands gave me a peace that allowed me to press forward. If this topic resonated with you, I pose this challenge. Let go of your illusion of control. Realize that there are limits to what you can control. Accept this truth and realize that a good outcome doesn’t solely rest upon your shoulders alone. Free yourself and find peace. Don’t fall victim to the great human illusion. Trust and live your life. God bless!