Food, Faith & Freud-Putting things in the right order.

I'm currently co-facilitating a therapy group using a curriculum called Seeking Safety (SS). SS is designed for individuals who have experienced trauma or used substances. Rarely, however, do we ever discuss trauma or substance abuse. Instead, we focus on coping skills. The creator of the SS curriculum believes that healing comes in three steps: first is learning how to be safe by developing safe coping skills. Only after these skills become natural do you move on to step 2: processing the trauma. Finally, individuals learn how to re-connect to the community and give back. You have to put the good coping skills in before you have the strength to keep the bad out.

The same principle is found in Christianity. Many Christians are quick to point out the sin of others, but this is not what Jesus did. He told the woman at the well about living water before he confronted her sin (see John 4). I'm sure that Jesus knew all about her life when he first saw her, but he did not speak of it until after he told her about living water. Jesus knew that when we try to do things in our own power, we will fall back to depending on our own bad coping skills. If, instead, we drink of the water that He gives us, we will have the strength to take the bad things out.

I think that putting the good in before taking the bad out is a formula we can apply to various parts of life. Personally, I tried for years to avoid junk food and cut sugar out of my life. I would not buy it so that I wouldn't be tempted, only to end up on a midnight run to Dairy Queen to get my chocolate fix. When I stared eating healthy, I did not have a goal of taking junk food out, but of putting healthy food in. It wasn't until later that I realized that when I made sure to get enough healthy fats, protein, probiotics, etc, in my diet, I didn't crave the "bad" foods I'd tried for so long to avoid.

Try putting the good in before addressing the bad. You can do it through pointing out the positive in those around you, in how you spend your time, or in the thoughts you have toward yourself. How might this principle change your life?