My worst enemy is my own thoughts!
I am a great dramatist! But only in my own mind. I rehearse interactions with people over and over. I’m quite sardonic, tragic and full of pathos. Unfortunately, the vast majority of my rehearsals never come before a true-life audience.
Unfortunately, the majority of these rehearsals played in the theater of my mind are negative.
my thoughts under water pressure
I’m venting bitterness. I’m being vindicated from all those who have insulted me. These incessantly replaying scenarios are unhealthy. Their product is discouragement.
When I get discouraged, I flatline.
I need to get victory over my
Break out of your mental prison. Art by Zeno Frudakis
demons. The Bible says: We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. — 2 Cor. 10:5 NIV. It is easy to succumb to disgruntles. It requires immense effort to keep optimism when surrounded by a howling storm of negativism.
Break through the clouds over your mind!
The answer to the litany of complaints in your brain is NOT imagining dramatic conclusions. The answer is to silence them. Raise rank and disburse orders to shut up all the negative minions mocking you. You can gag the suckers, but it takes an active decision on your part. You must force them.
Mustard Seed Budget 
Damn, that’s cool story-telling!
thanks for the big compliment!
What a awesome reminder of the will to win the fight over the demon that reside within with the word of God, thanks.
Thanks for your encouragement!
I like this. I often find myself in the same imaginative scenarios and this helps!
May God help us!
It does take an active decision on your part. I know from personal experience and a lifetime of negative thoughts, fear and worry. I learned to trust the Universe/God, but I also had to play a part, and very actively I began to replace any negative thought with positive thought. In particular, I replaced negative thought with positive questions (in order to get answers). These questions were along the lines of “What are your ten most favourite things right now?” or “What is the BEST outcome for this situation you would like to see?” When you ask yourself a question, your mind tries to answer it, very neatly taking you out of whatever negative thought had a grip at that time.
What surprised me most about taking this course of action was how quickly it shifted me from a fearful person to a positive one. In two weeks the positive instruction became automatic – meaning I no longer had to monitor every thought but automatically looked for positive things in my life whenever a negative thought crept in. From there, positive things began to happen. My health and energy also improved – just by removing the tension. And now my career is taking off. I am also meeting more positive people, so it’s like the whole thing has put me into a positive spiral.
A lot of people feel they cannot control their thoughts and let them roll on, but it can be done. For me, it was not a tight grip to block such thoughts, but a redirection that flowed more easily, channeled into positive questions that I had to focus on to answer.
It most certainly is worth the effort.
Congratulations on such good results! one thing that has helped me is writing down everyday at least one thing for which I can thank God. Then I review daily those things, and they add up to quite a pile! So I ask myself, why are my musings downcast if really so many things are wonderful? My mind gravitates toward negativity, and I need to retrain it to go to good! Cheers!
Yes! Gratitude is hugely important. I wake up every morning now, thankful for what I have and grateful for all the wonderful things in the world. When you start looking – or writing things down – it’s astonishing how fantastic everythng is. I also go to sleep at night, giving thanks for my day, no matter what my day has been like (although none of them are negative now). It has turned my life around.
To give an idea of how bad I was with my thoughts, I used to “move in” with a woe. I could spend an entire day on one single negative thought, and I don’t mean any problems I was actually facing (of which there were many), I mean any horrible “maybe” that came my way, such as “What if my husband dies in a car crash?” Before the day was through, I’d have gone into vivid detail – the police arriving, identifying the body, funeral arrangement, relatives from interstate, losing the house, putting our pets down because I couldn’t afford to look after them – the whole nightmare. I’d be in tears, living the worst day of my life when none of it had happened!
When I was trapped in thughts like that, PLUS the actual negatives we experienced in life, I found I had no time for anything else. I could not see anything else. I only knew fear.
So… yes, my mind gravitated towards negativity, too. I did try “positive thinking” before, which tended to fall by the wayside. It was the positive questioning that kept me in the right groove. Those first two weeks I needed to really work at it, then it got easier. Every time a “What if…?” began, I’d jump on it with a , “Quick! Name ten really beautiful things you can see right now!” And I made sure I answered.
Good luck with your thoughts (and all you do). You are already way ahead, simply by being aware of that negative tug on your thoughts and emotions, and by wanting to take command of that and change. I love that you share this, I believe it helps a lot of people who want to change also – the whole lot is rather fantastic, if you think about it. How many people don’t even recognize their thoughts as negative, but just live in fear? How many people don’t bother to think about how they think? And of those who do, how many just assume they cannot “help” it?
You are an explorer. You look at these things and try different things, and you’re not shy of sharing the honesty that is you. That’s hugely positive. Way I see it, you’re already a winner. 🙂
Oops! I thought you were a guy! Funny how the mind works. But as you said here “my husband” I realized I was wrong. Then, I wondered how I made such an error and realized that A.D. doesn’t indicate gender. I suppose I could have researched a bit more. I guess I had a stereotype that science fiction writers are men. Of course, that’s nonsense, and I don’t even know where I got that idea from… Cheers!
🙂 I think you got the idea because sci-fi writers ARE usually men. That’s actually why I write under “A.D. Everard” – I don’t want people dismissing my work before they even look at it because of gender. Yes, I know that’s not supposed to happen, but a lot of people automatically think a woman will “most likely” turn out “romance” and that’s it. I dodge the issue by using initials, although my first name (Allyson) crops up occasionally on my blog. I write a rough book and do an immense amount of research, and even get into hands-on experience where I can – all rather masculine traits. No one yet has read my work and “spotted” that a woman has written it (even those that know).
Cheers. 🙂
Oh! I guess that makes sense!
I nominated you for the “Blog of the Year 2012” Award! God bless, Lori
http://lorischulz.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/blog-of-the-year-2012-award/
WOW! Too kind!
Your honesty is appreciated. It encourages us for further efforts to clarity and Peace!
So… I have to ask. How on earth did you get in my head and tap on something real??? I have done this head trip since I was little and slow to make “comebacks” (still am:-). I wrote a little on this in one of my older posts, and its still a constant prayer. Thank the Lord for deliverance and brand new eyes!(And mustard seed faith in His promises of peace, transformation and mind-renewal.)
Thank you so much for the reminder!
Dear Marlow over Shakespeare, Thanks for the compliment. But I’m sorry. I haven’t been in your head. I just got in your blog and perused a bit. You’re 23, and I’m 45. You say you’re making progress on the comebacks, and so am I. I don’t know if that is encouragement or discouragement. Keep at it for Jesus!
I realize that first question was a bit strong and ultimately misunderstood. I meant to convey that this post touched on a stronghold that I’ve had for quite sometime and yet I couldn’t fully explain it the way you have (I woke up this morning and read your was like ‘WOW, this is amazing that someone else knows a little about this.’) I’ve thanked the Lord and l continue to pray when I start picturing scenes where I feel like I am being attacked, and I’ll have a quick witty “comeback” at that moment to defend my pride and unforgiveness.
I hope that clears things up a bit:) Didn’t mean to startle or confuse. Thank you for the encouragement!
No, no, no. Nothing wrong with “get into my head.” I understand perfectly. I just tried to make a bit of contrast: not in your head, yes in your blog. People can relate to each other’s struggles.
Oh great! I was definitely caught off guard with the “I’m 45 and your 23” statement. And I’m pleased to be reading another English major’s blog:-)
Waht’s wrong with being 45?
Everything! Especially the fact that you got to witness the 70’s:-) jk
I was caught off guard because I felt like a kid in a “teachable moment” reading your first response. No worries:-)
I guess I meant to marvel at the fact that I am still learning and if you can master it at your young age, you’ll be lightyears ahead of me.
Reblogged this on Gab & Graffiti and commented:
If you ever had prbl
Again, one of my most frequently-used counseling principles. It’s what you think about that motivates how you feel and what you say and do. “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” (Prov. 23:7).
Where do you do counseling?
In a Christian counseling office north and west of Philly.
Praise God! I love helping people!
Me too. This is a gift at this point in my life. I’ve been full-time wife and mom, full-time teacher, and now a counselor. Wonderful that there’s always something more to do.
Did you get a psychology degree to do it? I don’t have one of those. I was an English major.
I was an English major in undergrad. I got a Master of Social Work degree in order to do private practice counseling. I went back to do that degree when I was 50, so there was quite a time lapse between that and my bachelor’s. An MSW gives an entree into many fields, and I was advised to go that route rather than another eight years to get a psychology PhD. In PA, you cannot do counseling for pay until you have the Master’s level degree and pass your licensing exam. I imagine that’s pretty standard all across the States.
hmmmm, intersteing!
Love this and I love the photos to illustrate. Very powerful!
Just finished rereading Brother Lawrence’s “The Practice of the Presence of God.” This humble, simple man’s prescription for training the mind, heart and soul I quote here:
“…I renounced for the love of Him, everything that was not He; and I began to live as if there was none but He and I in the world. Sometimes I considered myself before Him as a poor criminal at the feet of his judge; at other times I beheld Him in my heart as my FATHER, as my GOD: I worshipped Him the oftenest that I could, keeping my mind in His holy Presence, and recalling it as often as I found it wandered from Him. I found no small pain in this exercise, and yet I continued it, notwithstanding all the difficulties that occurred, without troubling or disquieting myself when my mind had wandered involuntarily…
But when we are faithful to keep ourselves in His holy Presence, and set Him always before us, this not only hinders our offending Him, and doing anything that may displease Him, at least willfully, but it also begets in us a holy freedom, and if I may so speak a familiarity with GOD, wherewith we ask, and that successfully, the graces we stand in need of. In fine, by often repeating these acts, they become habitual, and the presence of GOD is rendered as it were natural to us.”
Thank you humble brother Lawrence. It really works Pastor. God bless.