In Peter Scazzero’s book, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, he offers a vital exercise to access what is going on with our souls. He calls it the Exploring the Iceberg exercise. It comprises of four honest questions to ask yourself to identify what is lurking in our souls. The purpose is not just to name what they are but also to lift it up to the Lord.
Fours simple questions ask yourself:
- What are you mad about?
- What are you sad about?
- What are you anxious about?
- What are you glad about?
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
These questions should help you name your fears, hurts, joys, and worries and lift it up to our heavenly Father. Because whatever you can’t name has power over you. Until you can say, “I’m afraid of this.” You will not release it from the power it has over you. What stays in darkness doesn’t get healed. Name your fears, sorrows, and hurts to Name who has the power over them. Name your anxieties in the presence of God. Name what is happening inside of you, knowing that “greater his he that is in you than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Name the joys to praise of God in thanksgiving.