You Have Learned Helplessness!
There is a beautiful scripture recorded in Psalm 10:12: "Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand O God. Do not forget the helpless".
One of the most poisonous roots of fear is helplessness. Moses felt helpless when God called him to be used to deliver Israel from the hand of the Egyptians. Gideon felt helpless when God called him to deliver Israel. All of Israel and Saul felt helpless against the arrogant taunts of Goliath. Feeling helpless can cause you to stagnate. It can lead you to massive inaction.
There is good news regarding helplessness though. Helplessness is learned. Dr. Martin Seligman, through his famous research with dogs, discovered that helplessness is learned.
There were three groups dogs. Nothing was done with the first group of dogs, as they were the control group. The second group of dogs was placed in a cage with an escape panel. The second group of dogs was repeatedly shocked with electricity. By pushing the escape panel with their noses, these dogs were able to escape the shocks.
The third group of dogs had no escape panel. As a result, the dogs in the third group could neither escape or turn off the shock. No matter what they did, the third group could not escape the shocks.
Next, the researchers put all three groups of dogs in one shuttle box. A shuttle box has two compartments. The first compartment's floor was lined so that it would carry an electric shock. The second compartment was made an area safe for the dogs. The cages were separated by a very low barrier the dogs could leap over.
The first group of dogs, the control group, who didn't receive any shocks were placed in the shuttle box and shocked. They jumped over the barrier into the safe area.
The second group of dogs, who pushed against a panel to escape the shock in the first experiment, were placed in the shuttle box. When they were shocked, three of the dogs looked for an escape panel. When they couldn't find one, they jumped over the barrier, to escape the shocks.
The group of dogs, who couldn't escape the first shocks, gave up. Six our of the eight dogs, didn't try to make it into the safe zone. They had to think there was no hope. They had learned to be helpless.
This learned helplessness will cause you to give up and believe there's no hope.
One of the most poisonous roots of fear is helplessness. Moses felt helpless when God called him to be used to deliver Israel from the hand of the Egyptians. Gideon felt helpless when God called him to deliver Israel. All of Israel and Saul felt helpless against the arrogant taunts of Goliath. Feeling helpless can cause you to stagnate. It can lead you to massive inaction.
There is good news regarding helplessness though. Helplessness is learned. Dr. Martin Seligman, through his famous research with dogs, discovered that helplessness is learned.
There were three groups dogs. Nothing was done with the first group of dogs, as they were the control group. The second group of dogs was placed in a cage with an escape panel. The second group of dogs was repeatedly shocked with electricity. By pushing the escape panel with their noses, these dogs were able to escape the shocks.
The third group of dogs had no escape panel. As a result, the dogs in the third group could neither escape or turn off the shock. No matter what they did, the third group could not escape the shocks.
Next, the researchers put all three groups of dogs in one shuttle box. A shuttle box has two compartments. The first compartment's floor was lined so that it would carry an electric shock. The second compartment was made an area safe for the dogs. The cages were separated by a very low barrier the dogs could leap over.
The first group of dogs, the control group, who didn't receive any shocks were placed in the shuttle box and shocked. They jumped over the barrier into the safe area.
The second group of dogs, who pushed against a panel to escape the shock in the first experiment, were placed in the shuttle box. When they were shocked, three of the dogs looked for an escape panel. When they couldn't find one, they jumped over the barrier, to escape the shocks.
The group of dogs, who couldn't escape the first shocks, gave up. Six our of the eight dogs, didn't try to make it into the safe zone. They had to think there was no hope. They had learned to be helpless.
This learned helplessness will cause you to give up and believe there's no hope.
What learned helplessness is, is the belief that our actions don't matter. We believe that nothing we can do can situations for us. As a result, we settle. We settle in relationships. We settle in our relationship with God. We settle with our bosses. We settle with our businesses. We are doing anything spectacular. We aren't thinking boldly. We aren't moving in faith. We play it safe. We play it comfortable. We settle. We believe we can't win.
There are three things you can do to battle learned helplessness. Lisa Lane Brown, in her book, "The Courage To Win", states there are three things you can do to overcome learned helplessness.
The first, is to accept your feelings, instead of suppressing them. For example, if you're disappointed in not receiving a promotion, you might suppress your feelings by saying something like, "the boss I would've worked for wasn't all that great anyway. People didn't like him". You suppress your feelings of disappointment by making that statement. Suppressing your feelings leads to self-limiting beliefs. You may end up settling. So in this case, accept the feelings you have of disappointment.
Next, is the practice of commitment. This is where you honor your desires. The scriptures tell us that God gives us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4). How do you honor your desires. By creating a vision. Create a vision of your desires, where you want to go and how you plan on getting there. This will empower you and cause you to feel you have control. This will serve to defeat learned helplessness.
Third, practice competence. This is taking effective action towards a goal. Competence is have superior ways of doing things. Become better at what you do. Instead of suppressing the feelings of disappointment of not getting that promotion, acknowledge those feelings. Create a vision of where you want to go. Then gain competence in the areas you need competence in order to win that promotion.
I used a promotion as an example. But those three strategies can be used in any situation.
Determine to overcome learned helplessness as you go from fear to childlike faith.
There are three things you can do to battle learned helplessness. Lisa Lane Brown, in her book, "The Courage To Win", states there are three things you can do to overcome learned helplessness.
The first, is to accept your feelings, instead of suppressing them. For example, if you're disappointed in not receiving a promotion, you might suppress your feelings by saying something like, "the boss I would've worked for wasn't all that great anyway. People didn't like him". You suppress your feelings of disappointment by making that statement. Suppressing your feelings leads to self-limiting beliefs. You may end up settling. So in this case, accept the feelings you have of disappointment.
Next, is the practice of commitment. This is where you honor your desires. The scriptures tell us that God gives us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4). How do you honor your desires. By creating a vision. Create a vision of your desires, where you want to go and how you plan on getting there. This will empower you and cause you to feel you have control. This will serve to defeat learned helplessness.
Third, practice competence. This is taking effective action towards a goal. Competence is have superior ways of doing things. Become better at what you do. Instead of suppressing the feelings of disappointment of not getting that promotion, acknowledge those feelings. Create a vision of where you want to go. Then gain competence in the areas you need competence in order to win that promotion.
I used a promotion as an example. But those three strategies can be used in any situation.
Determine to overcome learned helplessness as you go from fear to childlike faith.
