RE-STORE: Coming Back to Your Blueprint One Step at a Time (Part Three)

This post is Part Three of a three-part series exploring how we can use "healthy compartmentalization" in different situations and interactions. Each post builds on the last, contributing to a larger picture. So, while each one stands on its own, they're really designed to be read together as a cohesive whole. Parts One and Two are already available, and I encourage you to read all three and even revisit them once you've worked through the whole series. 

In Part One, we explored what healthy compartmentalization actually is and what makes it healthy rather than avoidance. We also looked at your first opportunity to choose: choosing kindness toward yourself. If you missed it, you can catch up here. 

In Part Two, we got hands-on — choosing your own personal organizational system, placing it on the left, and practicing how to store triggering thoughts, emotions, and physical responses there so you can stay present in the moment. If you missed Part Two, you can find it here. 

Part Three is where it all comes together. 

A main focus at Blueprint Heart & Mind – and when I meet with clients – is wholeness and restoration. Restoration is a thing (noun); the action (verb) is the word “restore.” We want to get back to the original design, the blueprint, whatever it is that has gotten distorted.

Notice that word “restore” can be broken apart into a root or base word and a prefix: 

RE-STORE. In other words, to store again but in a different way.

When you move things to the left to store them in your organizational system, you don’t want to leave them there forever. You’ve stored them temporarily, but now you need to re-store them in a way you had not previously done. Remember, the intention was always to return.

You’ve placed an emotion, thought, or physical response in your organizational system on the left, and when you are no longer needing to be present to another person and you have a moment, choose to create time and space to go back to that object that you stored. 

When you go back to take out that item (or more than one if that applies to you), move it so that it’s now in front of you rather than off to the left. And I want you to choose a lens of curiosity. 

This is another way to be kind to yourself and to begin making changes to the language you use toward yourself. So, when I say a lens of curiosity, what I mean is to ask yourself and God questions like: 

• What’s possible here?

• What’s a way of seeing this that I haven’t previously seen?

• What emotion is coming up that I’ve stuffed? How can I look at this emotion differently this time?

• When a situation like this happens in the future, is there a way of handling it that I didn’t know in the past?

• What new thing am I learning about myself in this moment?

And I want you to take any of the answers to any of these questions that you’ve asked and move them to your right. Store them in a different organizational system of your choice but keep it on your right. 

Your brain stores “past things” on the left, and it stores “future things” on the right. And here’s a really interesting thing about your brain (and my brain!), it doesn’t know the difference between reality and what you imagine. So, if you use your imagination to practice or rehearse different ways of navigating these scenarios, your brain will respond as if that’s reality. And when you are in very real situations where you’re feeling provoked, your brain will know how to respond because it’s already responded that way because you’ve practiced or rehearsed it! You’ve already told your mind, emotions, and body, “This is how we handle this.”

Your brain listens to what you tell it. So, practice or rehearse how you’ll navigate the emotions, thoughts, and physical responses that may present themselves in the future. 

The more you practice or rehearse, the more this will become a natural part of how you think. Your thoughts will influence your beliefs, and you’ll live differently from your new beliefs. It will become second nature, so to speak, and you’ll begin to notice that this is helpful not only for you but also in any relationship or situation that’s important to you. 

You’ll notice a difference in your conversations, and you’ll notice a difference in yourself - in your thoughts and in your emotions. 

You’ll notice movement toward wholeness and restoration. 

You’re moving back to your blueprint, and that’s what you'll be able to help others do as well.

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This is where the series lands, but it's not where your journey ends. In fact, this is really just the beginning. The more you practice RE-STORE-ing, the more natural it will become, and the more you'll begin to see real movement toward the wholeness and restoration you were designed for. If anything across these three posts stirred something in you or you'd like to talk through what you're noticing in your own heart and mind, please contact me! Send me an email or schedule some one-on-one time with me. And consider subscribing to my blog where I regularly share helpful tools and encouragement for your journey back to your blueprint!