I've recently had trouble with a student I've been teaching, and I had been getting frustrated as to what I could do to help her out. She's extremely bright and great at the violin, but our lessons are scattered at best with small moments of learning. I was thinking about what I might do, and felt I should study out what might help. After reading in a book I felt impressed to find and look over, I realized that my student had been acting out because of feeling helpless. She feels threatened when I tried to push her to do better because she had learned that reading notes was too hard for her. The phrase that popped out to me from the book ("Teaching with Love and Logic," Jim Fay and David Funk) was "learned helplessness." My student, let's call her Susan, had "learned" that she couldn't read notes and as a result was trying to take control of the situation by acting out.
This got me thinking about some of the things that I do that are a result of "learned helplessness." I did some more research and found that depression and anxiety disorders often result from feelings of helplessness and an inability to take charge of a situation.
This made me think of how much Satan desires us to believe that situations are outside of our control and that we have no power to act. It's interesting to me how different Heavenly Father's way of doing things is. In the bible dictionary, it says "Ever since the Fall God has been teaching men not to fear, but with penitence to ask forgiveness in full confidence of receiving it." (Fear, Bible Dictionary) Satan would have us be afraid and unable to handle our circumstances from this fear. God would see all of His children empowered to act out of perfect love, keeping His commandments because they love God and their fellow men.
Perhaps it would be wise for all of us to ponder our motivations: do I serve God out of fear, or do I do so out of love? Just a few thoughts to ponder. Love you all, my friends!
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