cactus spikes
Do you ever feel like a cactus? Like your spikes are out all the time - always ready to protect and defend yourself from the bad that could come at you?
We were in Phoenix last week (praise the lord for some warmth and sunshine… it may be March but we’re still below zero up here in Alaska). We were hiking around and looking at all the cacti, and I couldn’t help but think that I can relate so much to that cactus life. I live with my spikes out - always ready to self-protect just in case. (My kids related to the cacti as well, but in a totally different way - see photos below).
My mother-in-law was teaching about identity that same week, and she said something that I haven’t stopped thinking about ::
The false-self isn’t bad, it allows us to survive. But when we live in our true identity, that’s when we thrive.
Donna Winship
Those spikes are for survival. We’ve trained ourselves to react to fear/anger/hurt with self-protection. And just like cacti, a lot of us have probably even evolved to the perma-spike status.
Our brains and bodies are so conditioned to the spikes - it’s almost like we can’t even choose when we want them out or not.
Today, on our drive home from school, the girls and I decided not to let ourselves live on auto-pilot. Every single day, when we get home from school, as soon as the car turns off, everyone starts whining, arguing, crying, complaining, and yelling.
So today, before we got home, we took a few minutes to close our eyes and imagine getting home and being happy & helpful. I talked through it a little bit with the girls while they pictured it in their minds - getting home and helping each other carry everything inside, being kind to each other, playing together, having fun, laughing.
And you know what? When we got home, everyone was happy. The entire evening was filled with joy. Not a single argument. Not a single whine. Lots of love. Lots of laughter.
You can go through life with your spikes out, and you’ll survive. Or you can make a conscious effort to choose love - and you’ll thrive.
The girls got these little flip-a-zoo animals from their Aunt Patt on our trip last week. (Apparently I’m not as cool of a mom as I thought, because I’ve never heard of a flip-a-zoo, but both of my girls saw them and immediately knew what they were and they were SO HAPPY!). Nevertheless, we quickly realized that we’re just like these little animals ::
