{"id":1271,"date":"2018-04-23T05:00:46","date_gmt":"2018-04-23T10:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/?p=1271"},"modified":"2018-03-20T20:35:13","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T01:35:13","slug":"opening-ourselves-to-our-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/2018\/04\/opening-ourselves-to-our-story.html","title":{"rendered":"Opening ourselves to our story"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/files\/2017\/08\/IMG_0656-e1521594179516.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1072 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/388\/2017\/08\/IMG_0656-e1521594179516-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_0656\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>It can be easier sometimes to stay closed off to others and even to ourselves. Things we haven&#8217;t processed yet or are frustrated by can keep us locked inside.<\/p>\n<p>When we are closed off, sometimes it is for a good reason. We may need to be protective of ourselves during a difficult situation.<\/p>\n<p>But we cannot forget we are meant to bloom. It may seem like it&#8217;s taking a lot of time, but things grow in the way they are meant to grow.<\/p>\n<p>You will grow even more when you open yourself to your story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It can be easier sometimes to stay closed off to others and even to ourselves. Things we haven&#8217;t processed yet or are frustrated by can keep us locked inside. When we are closed off, sometimes it is for a good reason. We may need to be protective of ourselves during a difficult situation. But we&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":591,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Opening ourselves to our story - Through the Lens of Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/2018\/04\/opening-ourselves-to-our-story.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Opening ourselves to our story - Through the Lens of Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It can be easier sometimes to stay closed off to others and even to ourselves. Things we haven&#8217;t processed yet or are frustrated by can keep us locked inside. When we are closed off, sometimes it is for a good reason. We may need to be protective of ourselves during a difficult situation. But we&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/2018\/04\/opening-ourselves-to-our-story.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Through the Lens of Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-23T10:00:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-21T01:35:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/files\/2017\/08\/IMG_0656-e1521594179516-225x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"eelliott\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Opening ourselves to our story - Through the Lens of Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/2018\/04\/opening-ourselves-to-our-story.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Opening ourselves to our story - Through the Lens of Faith","og_description":"It can be easier sometimes to stay closed off to others and even to ourselves. Things we haven&#8217;t processed yet or are frustrated by can keep us locked inside. When we are closed off, sometimes it is for a good reason. We may need to be protective of ourselves during a difficult situation. 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