Keep Your Love On: Connectionনমুনা

Being in relationships with people offers us both comfort and protection from pain as well as the threat of pain. Fear-based reactions to pain are instinctive. This means that they operate on a very different level inside your brain from conscious, rational responses. You execute them without thinking. And because they come so naturally, they seem normal. If you want to replace fear-based reactions with love-based responses, you will need to train your heart, mind, and body to think and make powerful choices.

• When your defenses are triggered in a relationship, does your behavior show value for the other person?
• What are typical fear-based reactions for you? (ex. creating distance, yelling, withholding information, retracting from the other person, etc.)
• Ask the Holy Spirit for ways to respond instead of simply reacting. Get a plan for the next time your defenses are triggered and ask for His wisdom, Shalom, and help.