Aug 10, 2018
In a recent session, a client asked “Am I sabotaging my relationship?”
After being divorce and single, she has been in the process of dating. With the guy she is currently dating, she is unsure. She wants marriage and long-term partnership, and she doesn’t know if he does. She wants to have an emotionally mature connection, where they are each committed to trying to resolve conflict constructively. She doesn’t know if he is interested or capable.
In exploring her question, based on her situation (They had a long-weekend get-a-way together. They had some conflict.), we discussed:
Please listen to the podcast episode or read the transcript to hear stories, explanations, and examples.
In “The Big Leap” by Gay Hendricks, he talks about how we all limit our experience through various ways of self-sabotage.
Most of us grow up experiencing a certain level of success, abundance and love. We might call this our comfort zone. As we grow, develop, and we may strive to accomplish more and achieve new levels of love, abundance, and success. However, when we do this, we are often confronted with a threshold of what we are capable of receiving. Gay calls this our Upper Limit.
This is all happening below our field of awareness. Gay Hendricks describes that we have one or more hidden barriers, which are essentially our fears of why it is not okay to expand into new levels of love, abundance, and success.
When these unconscious fears get activated, we constrict. We cut off the flow of energy and expansion.
When I explain this process to clients, I like to use a cup analogy. The cup represents our comfort zone. The water or liquid that is being poured into the cup represents abundance, love or success. We can easily contain the abundance that fits within our comfort zone. However, when the liquid (or abundance) starts to fill up the cup and seems to be hitting the threshold of what the cup can contain, we start reacting and unconsciously stop the flow of liquid because we do not know how to contain more.
Here are some common ways that people cut off the flow of abundance, success, and love (from The Big Leap, by Gay Hendricks):
These are all ways that we unconsciously restrict or limit themselves. I am sure you have heard many stories where someone has accomplished great success and then the next moment they do something to sabotage themselves (i.e. politicians, professional athletes, actors, musicians). Or maybe you can reflect on a memory of your own, where you experienced a great success and then you did something to bring yourself back down.
Gay Hendricks helps us understand why we do this. Most of the time our fear comes from an early experience in life, where we internalized a message that it is not okay to shine or expand.
The goal is to become more aware and mindful about when you experience your upper limit and how to work with it more consciously. Going back to the cup analogy, you will want to expand the size of your cup.
What was I thinking right before I started worrying?” What was I thinking about right before this happened?
Click on this link to access the transcript for this episode:
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If you are interested in developing new skills to overcome relationship challenges, please consider taking the Connected Couple Program or engaging in relationship coaching work with me.