Are you stuck?

It is interesting how we if we betray ourselves or the intuition that we feel that we can get stuck.  One of the first women psychologist came up with the Grief Cycle.  The only way to get out of it is by having hope!  I have felt stuck and many different times in my life.  It is exciting to know that in order to be free, and unstuck from the chains that weigh us down, all we have to do is go to the Lord in sincere prayer.  At times this can be more difficult than others to swallow our pride.  But the more often we practice going to the Lord in Prayer the more often we are able to do it and get unstuck.

Maurice Harker is a psychologist and he says that depression is so convoluted.  While we can spend a lot of time in sadness, we can also spend a lot of time in other parts of the Grief Cycle.

We typically start in Denial.  To me this is the self denial.  If you have read Leadership and Self Deception or The Anatomy of Peace by the Arbinger Institute then you can better understand this concept.  An example is shared that seeing someone that you dislike tripping and slipping their pouch of money, when you see this your first thought/response is to help them pick it up.  But you don't want to, there are several different options that can betray the self. You can quickly avert your eyes  and act like you didn't see it. Or just think mean thoughts, or laugh etc.  But by choosing to deny the original thought we are committing an act of self-betrayal. When this happens - to me - is when we get on and can get stuck in the grief cycle.

Denial - Bargaining (Thinking Stage) Which can lead to a tiny fretting cycle (uninspired thinking)- Anger - Sadness - Resolution

At any point in the cycle we can find hope (inspired thinking), by repenting and/or praying.  We can break free from the depression or chains that are keeping us stuck in one of these area.

For me I have noticed that I can spiral down at any of these stages, or I can choose to have hope.

That Maurice Harker explains the Grief Cycle in this awesome video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItHpUmNx0_s&t=20s