Personal Development Archives | Plano Christian Counseling

Joy in the Journey: Strategies to Navigate Anxiety, Spiritual, and Personal Development

Joy in the Journey: Strategies to Navigate Anxiety, Spiritual, and Personal Development

By McCartney Paul|2024-07-18T10:20:14+00:00July 16th, 2024|Anxiety, Featured, Individual Counseling, Personal Development, Spiritual Development|

No matter who we are or what we encounter in life, challenges will be embedded as part of our spiritual and personal development. While circumstances can produce anxiety, God doesn’t intend to hurt us through what He allows in our lives. It is quite the opposite. As we develop fortitude amid struggles, we also encounter the reward of the Lord’s Presence. Always with us, the Holy Spirit is the treasure in earthen vessels who reveals unforeseen blessings in times of unprecedented suffering. Instead of abandoning our anticipation for God’s goodness, the Lord arises when we cling to Him in hope, scattering the enemies of doubt and destruction. When we apply and exercise what the Holy Spirit teaches in life’s classroom, we develop the kind of personal habits and spiritual character that shift spiritual atmospheres and overcome evil. Our obedience and alignment with the Word flood the Light of Christ in our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. He illuminates our ways, dispelling darkness and directing us away from harmful patterns that hijack the life of peace and joy we are created to live (Job 22:28). When we choose to rivet our attention on Jesus, we encounter the richness of a Holy God who makes everything new (Revelation 21:5). The fruit of our development and deliverance may appear differently from one season to the next. Despite it all, our Savior continually elevates us into other realms of His glory and experiences of His manifest Presence (2 Corinthians 3:18). Speak the truth to encourage personal development We assert godly authority when we change our internal dialogue to align with the Father’s original design. Speaking His Truth establishes us in triumph when we commit to saying what He says about us, by faith, not necessarily our feelings. When we do, angels hear and follow [...]

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Understanding the Different Communication Styles

Understanding the Different Communication Styles

By McCartney Paul|2024-06-21T16:54:14+00:00June 21st, 2024|Coaching, Featured, Individual Counseling, Personal Development, Professional Development, Relationship Issues|

Just like our personality or how we view the world, each of us has any one of a number of different communication styles. This is the way we try to convey our ideas, values, thoughts, and feelings and how those are received or perceived. How we communicate is as important as what it is we are trying to communicate. As we talk and interact in the world, we must ensure that our intentions are not misinterpreted and that we do not hurt others unintentionally. Some of the communication styles people adopt tend to have negative effects. This is why it is important to understand the different types to see if one needs to make changes in how they communicate with others or how to handle those people whose communication style is not like theirs. 5 different communication styles There are five different communication styles, namely aggressive, passive, passive-aggressive, manipulative, and assertive. We will discuss each one in this article. Passive communicators Passive communicators come off as easy-going, happy-go-lucky types of people. They prefer not to let their feelings or thoughts be known. It is difficult to know what their stance on important issues is as they can act indifferent to what is being discussed, take a more submissive role, and go with whatever they are told, even if they disagree vehemently. These types of people find it difficult to say no, especially if they find themselves in subordinate roles. They almost seem unsure of themselves, and they avoid conflict by conforming. In terms of body language, they are usually fidgety and avoid direct eye contact. They speak with a soft, almost inaudible voice as if they are not sure what they are about to say. How to work with a passive communicator One-on-one communication They usually feel more comfortable [...]

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Guidance for When You are Questioning Faith and Your Spiritual Beliefs

Guidance for When You are Questioning Faith and Your Spiritual Beliefs

By Plano Christian Counseling|2024-03-15T13:07:36+00:00March 15th, 2024|Coaching, Featured, Individual Counseling, Personal Development, Spiritual Development|

The things that we know to be true help us to make sense of our world as we make our way through it. The truths and values that we consider foundational help us to interpret our daily experiences and to make decisions that will hopefully lead to an enjoyable and meaningful life. That is why it can be deeply upsetting and disorienting when our foundations start to crumble, our lives stop making sense like they used to, and we begin questioning our spiritual beliefs. One of the foundations that people build their lives upon is their faith and the spiritual beliefs that are attached to that faith. Those foundations can be affected by various things, and it is possible to begin questioning that faith. Why we question our spiritual beliefs The author C.S. Lewis once wrote that people are not entirely ruled by reason. It is a bad assumption to think that once someone accepts something as true, they will automatically continue regarding it as true until they encounter some compelling reason for reconsidering it. However, we are often ruled by our imagination and our emotions, and these can sway us from what we may know to be true. Faith, in the Christian sense, is not believing something despite the evidence. Rather, it is placing your trust in God and living like you believe what you have come to know to be true. There are several ways in which one’s spiritual beliefs about what they know to be true can waver. One can question what they believe for many reasons. A fresh experience When you encounter something you had not considered before, or you experience a tragedy, it can challenge what you thought you knew. Your belief has not necessarily been proven false. It may just be that you [...]

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10 Steps to Building Self-Esteem

10 Steps to Building Self-Esteem

By Plano Christian Counseling|2024-01-22T14:18:31+00:00January 19th, 2024|Featured, Individual Counseling, Personal Development, Spiritual Development|

Self-esteem is how you perceive your worth. It is self-respect. If you struggle with low self-esteem, you may have trouble in relationships and social situations. Low self-esteem typically means a lack of assertiveness, which indicates you may need help building self-esteem. 10 Tips for Building Self-Esteem Building self-esteem is simpler than you may think. It is not easy; however, taking specific action can simplify boosting self-esteem. Here are ten steps to building self-esteem. Accept where and who you are now. There is much unhappiness in trying to return to being the version of yourself you used to be. The version you were before the loss of a family member, the end of a marriage, the birth of a child, or the move to a new state. Accepting who you are now and where you are regarding a specific life category grounds you. This acceptance provides clarity for what you want next. Catch negative thoughts. Negative thoughts and demeaning self-talk can do a great deal of damage. Vow to catch these thoughts as soon as you recognize them. Recognize the lie and look for the truth. You can change an old belief into a new one with practice. Flip these thoughts into positive self-talk. Smile. A quick tip for building self-esteem is to smile. Smiling stimulates the amygdala, releasing endorphins that brighten your mood and boost confidence. Notice how others perceive you when you greet them with a smile. You can experience a mood boost by simply smiling when you are alone. Play music. Energetic music, the kind that makes you want to dance, can boost your mood and improve your self-esteem. A song can make you feel like you can take on the world. Create a new playlist with songs that make you feel confident and strong. Be nice [...]

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4 Ways to Experience Effective Coaching

4 Ways to Experience Effective Coaching

By Plano Christian Counseling|2023-11-29T18:44:37+00:00November 29th, 2023|Coaching, Featured, Individual Counseling, Personal Development, Professional Development, Spiritual Development|

You know that you want to improve certain aspects of your life, be it career or personal. You've researched coaches and found one that seems to be the right fit. Now you want to get the most out of your time together. How can you make sure you have an effective coaching experience? Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord. – Colossians 3:23, NIV 4 Tips for an Effective Coaching Experience 1. Have definable goals. You may go into your coaching sessions with some big goals, and maybe even some specific goals, early in your time with a coach you want to make clear, definable goals for your time together and apart. Effective coaching will help you determine the best sequence of dreams and make smaller milestones toward the big goal you are trying to achieve. Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible. – St. Francis of Assisi 2. Set deadlines or milestones. These could be private and rather arbitrary, but by setting a deadline you create the pressure you need to achieve the results you want. The deadlines can be milestones or stepping stones. Examples include: “By the end of the week, I will…” or “In three months I need to finish…” Finding an approach that works for you can help you maximize the effectiveness of your coaching experience. Have a plan to celebrate those milestones. Maybe you watch a TV show after you accomplish your goal for the week. Perhaps you plan a coffee date with a friend after a certain deadline. Deadlines can be used to reward as well as drive you toward your goals. “Remember to celebrate milestones as you prepare for the road ahead.” – Nelson Mandela [...]

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Seen by the Savior: Overcoming Loneliness and the Wound of Rejection

Seen by the Savior: Overcoming Loneliness and the Wound of Rejection

By Plano Christian Counseling|2023-10-28T10:04:51+00:00August 15th, 2023|Coaching, Featured, Individual Counseling, Personal Development, Spiritual Development|

At times, the world can appear as a warm, lively place, brimming with possibility. At other times, it seems cold and full of loneliness. Jesus was fully aware of these contradictions and complexities in the world He entered as well as the one in which we currently live. As the stairway between God and humans, He came to redeem the lost connection (John 1:51). While it seems that many would embrace His gift of sacrifice and salvation, others rejected Him. In a matter of days, those who cheered Him, shouting Hosanna, countered their initial cries, insisting on His crucifixion (Mark 11:9-10; 15:13-14). The pain of rejection is real, and it can produce a feeling of “otherness,” a loneliness that the APA characterizes as affective and cognitive discomfort or uneasiness from being or perceiving oneself to be alone or otherwise solitary. Yet, this jumbled assortment of experience and emotion doesn’t cancel us out of the books that are written about us in Heaven (Psalm 56:8). As the Everlasting Father, God committed to developing us into all He envisioned us to be. The challenge is we may have discounted ourselves because we agreed with those who rejected us. If rejection’s message of disapproval, denial of attention, and love influenced us in childhood or vulnerable times, we may have come to believe that those negative words were true. Jesus knows the range of conflicts we experience in our emotions as He was fully God and human during the time of His earthly ministry. Scripture describes Him as well-acquainted with sorrows and grief, to the degree that people hid their faces from Him (Isaiah 53:3). The prophet Isaiah’s description of the Messiah sounds like someone we can identify with when it comes to rejection and the loneliness that may play a role in [...]

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Slow Burn: Releasing Unresolved Anger and the Right to Revenge

Slow Burn: Releasing Unresolved Anger and the Right to Revenge

By Plano Christian Counseling|2024-04-04T11:13:03+00:00April 29th, 2023|Anger Issues, Featured, Individual Counseling, Personal Development, Relationship Issues, Spiritual Development|

Anger is a normal emotion. We don’t have to fear it; but like fire, we are to handle it responsibly, with caution, maturity, and a sober mind submitted to the Holy Spirit’s wisdom. We bring it to the Lord. As Helper, He filters what is unnecessary and gives insight and understanding of what to do with what’s left. We may have been legitimately wronged, but allowing unresolved anger in our lives has dire consequences we don’t always see. Cain didn’t know that his brother’s blood would cry out from the earth when he killed Abel. God heard it, though (Genesis 4:10-11). Perhaps, no human witnesses were present to observe the traumatic incidents that sparked our anger and the thirst for revenge. God knows all the details. Always present, our Advocate was fully aware and completely committed to righting the wrongs on our behalf. The Father repurposes evil, turning it for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28). We have to yield God’s sovereign position to Him alone. We don’t have the right or the capacity to occupy His throne and administer short-sighted human justice, restricted by the finite realm of what we know, see, and feel. While our feelings are legitimate, our wounded hearts demonstrate true love when responding to God with trust versus unforgiveness and revenge. He does what we cannot. Love breaks the stronghold that hate seeks to establish in our hearts. We may look vulnerable, perhaps even foolish. Some would say that Jesus appeared the same way. Without retribution, He was tortured mercilessly for all of humanity, including those who reject Him as Savior and Lord. His suffering preceded the souls. Glory came later. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:8, ESV Scripture is [...]

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7 Ways to Increase Your Motivation

7 Ways to Increase Your Motivation

By Plano Christian Counseling|2024-04-04T11:17:43+00:00January 31st, 2023|Coaching, Featured, Individual Counseling, Personal Development, Professional Development|

We all have goals that we’d like to realize in our lives. Despite this, many of us face challenges along the way as we work toward our objectives. We either do not have the motivation to get started, we do not have the energy to get started, or we do not know where to start. We put things off or come up with excuses. Then, we are harsh on ourselves, labeling ourselves as “lazy” or “slackers.” When we are feeling stuck or have been idling for an excessive amount of time, sometimes all we need is a jump-start or one or two strategies to boost our motivation. 7 Ways to Increase Your Motivation Here are some suggestions that have stood the test of time: 1. Prepare a timer for 15 minutes to boost motivation. You’re probably familiar with the pile of laundry that just emerged from the dryer and has to be folded. Or what about the dishes that suddenly materialized in the sink? Make it a personal challenge instead of wishing in the back of your mind that those things would go away, and turn it into a game. Put a fifteen-minute timer on yourself and see how much you can get done in that little amount of time. When you’re up against the clock, you might be amazed at how many tasks you can finish in a short amount of time. This is especially true when you’re trying to beat the clock. Knowing that there is a finish line to the work is also helpful. It won’t take more than a quarter of an hour to finish. Or, by that time, you will have deceived yourself into continuing the task, telling yourself that you are making good progress and that you would prefer to finish everything rather [...]

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The Root of Procrastination and How to Stop Procrastinating

The Root of Procrastination and How to Stop Procrastinating

By Plano Christian Counseling|2023-10-28T10:32:24+00:00January 31st, 2023|Coaching, Featured, Individual Counseling, Personal Development, Professional Development|

Wondering how to stop procrastinating? Many of us obsess over the things we wish we could accomplish more effectively, frequently, or at all. We occasionally experience feelings of being stuck and unable to advance or move, or else we engage in procrastination. Paradoxically, it feels that looking into what maintains us in this state will simply add fuel to the fire. When this happens, we could feel scared, tense, apprehensive, or bewildered. In this situation, there is typically a feeling of overwhelm. As a result of the overpowering emotions, we experience more paralysis and become increasingly convinced that we are powerless to make the changes we want to see in our life. This procedure prompts the query: How do we stop postponing things? Each of us may have occasionally felt uncomfortable due to sporadic procrastination, but some people constantly struggle with the cycle of overload and procrastination when it comes to the majority of their goals and deadlines. When repeated, it may also start to feel exhausting to pursue our goals and embark on tasks, even if they are necessary. Remember that procrastination is a symptom of a more significant underlying issue. It is crucial to examine the root cause of procrastination to address it. Being overburdened frequently manifests as procrastination. In other words, it could feel impossible to move forward with those responsibilities if we are feeling overwhelmed by what might be expected of us. We need methods for preventing overwhelm to facilitate avoiding procrastination. Fear can drive procrastination. One reason we can feel scared by our responsibilities or what they might entail is that we are overburdened with our ambitions and objectives. Sometimes we may feel that the task is too difficult or that the stakes are too high. This may cause us to become numb or hide [...]

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Self-Development Through Therapy

Self-Development Through Therapy

By Plano Christian Counseling|2023-10-28T10:41:20+00:00November 16th, 2022|Featured, Individual Counseling, Personal Development|

As we grow and as we experience life, there is a constant need for us to develop ourselves. This need comes from the realization that the world around us is constantly changing and for us to keep up, we must embark on the journey of self-development to keep up. It’s not just the world changing around us that thrusts us into the development of the self but our growth and maturity which bring about new responsibilities that require a different and developed version. The word of God says, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.” – 1 Corinthians 13:11, NIV As a way of aiding in the process of self-development, therapy can play a huge role. By definition, therapy is the process by which an individual meets with a therapist to identify and embark on a journey to resolve problematic beliefs, thinking patterns, or relational issues that might be hindering growth. A therapist’s ability to evaluate us and offer an objective look at who we are and what needs to change is important in any journey of self-development. Self-development is an ongoing process that does not end until the day we are no longer on this earth. Granted, starting the journey to self-development can be a daunting proposition, but it can also be a fun adventure because we are challenging ourselves to be the best version of whom we were created to be. How therapy aids self-development People rarely come to therapy for self-development. Most people’s first encounter with therapy is out of a need to overcome emotional, psychological, and mental issues. This, however, is not looked at as self-development. However, if we are honest, [...]

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