Unglued {Part Two}

Yesterday I posted about Lysa TerKeurst's book, Unglued: Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotions.  As women I think we struggle more than men on controlling our emotions and negative self-talk.  Not that men don't ever struggle in this way, but as I tell my boys, "Men are all about the trauma, and women are all about the drama."
 

One of the concepts that Lysa brings out in her book is that of "underbellies".  Every single human being has that sensitive place, the place we try to protect from others.

"In an effort to protect my underbelly, I sometimes get all wrapped up in myself and tragically forget the underbelly of my critic- the place they are vulnerable and what they might be hiding and protecting beneath their harsh words and prickly exterior."

We forget each other's underbellies because we are so wrapped up in our own stuff.  Several weeks ago, in the Sunday School class that I teach we talked about being wrapped up in ourselves.  I brought in a big stuffed animal (a llama to be precise) and some Saran wrap.  I had a student tightly wrap up the llama in the plastic wrap while I explained that when it is all about us and when we are wrapped up in ourselves, we live life small (the llama became much smaller in the wrap). We suffocate in ourselves because we don't look outwards.  We need to realize it isn't all about us...there are others around us that are hurting.  The ones that hurt the most may be the most critical of all towards others. Can we have compassion on them knowing that their criticism of us is really coming from a place of hurt?

Lysa also has Unglued Devotional: 60 Days of Imperfect Progress and Unglued Participant's Guide with DVD: Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotions.