Setting My Face Like a Flint–Closing Out 2016 Strong

And the Lord Jehovah giveth help to me, Therefore I have not been ashamed, Therefore I have set my face as a flint, And I know that I am not ashamed. Isaiah 50:7 (Young’s Literal Translation)

I’m feeling both calm and anxious at this very moment. As I sit at my parents’ home, I am grateful that all is mostly quiet, except for the “whale” song playing in the background. It seems to calm and/or relax my dad. Although it creeped me out at first, I’ve grown used to it and find it strangely calming also.

As 2016 winds down, I could spend a lot of time and energy trying to figure out how I got into the present situation in which I find myself—living in the basement of a friend of my sister-in-law after selling my condo to help get out from under significant debt. It certainly isn’t where I want or imagined I would be as 2016 comes to a close—but I would much rather spend my time and energy now imagining next steps to get me to where it is I intend to be: living in great abundance, happiness, and health, surrounded by a loving, supportive and ambitious tribe of people who don’t just think but live outside the box. In fact, for us there is no box.

I listened yesterday to an interesting podcast from motivational guru Tony Robbins where he focused on the three keys to a breakthrough:

1. State. Your thoughts and feelings.
2. Story. What you say about yourself. For most of us, it's the BS excuses we have for living mediocre lives.
3. Strategy. The steps you take to get you to specific outcomes.

Again today I came across another blogger whose name I don’t recall, but who follows Neville Goddard’s teachings, and he reiterated the value of changing your state and corresponding story before even considering changing your strategy.

I could easily, I suppose, as many people I know are doing call 2016 a bust as year’s go, but it isn’t over yet. Instead I’ve decided to play this year out until the end believing that anything is possible. Things could totally turnaround overnight. In fact, I’m counting on it. I've experienced some of my best, most miraculous moments under pressure—when all seemed hopeless. I simply have to move beyond the fear and the doubt that’s been plaguing me for several months. I intend to move beyond it, whatever it takes.

There is and will always be a warrior within who doesn’t give up, doesn’t quit, doesn’t take down. There is a warrior within who knows with every aspect of her being that the challenges of life are not overcome necessarily by the strongest, or the swiftest, or the smartest, or the most well-connected, but by the ones who endure always to the end. Or, as Tony Robbins might say “the ones most hungry to win.”

I am hungry, voracious might be the better word, and decidedly determined to end 2016 on a high note. I am also determined to trust myself and know that all the answers and solutions I need right now are already within.

“I have set my face like a flint….,” said the prophet Isaiah, and so say I. I looked it up. Flint is an extremely hard stone, a variety of quartz, often used to strike fires. The beauty in taking full responsibility for your life—the good and the not-so-great—is knowing that the same creative power you used to burn it to the ground can be used to rebuild it better than ever.

I will do whatever I need to in order to be who I want to be, have what I want to have, and do what I want to do, beginning with changing my state—my thoughts and feelings—and my story. “Once upon a time there was a woman who used to be… , but now is …”

Mindset is everything.