As a man thinks in his heart, so is he...Proverbs 23:7
I didn't like that verse at first. I believed that my negative conditions weren't due to the ways I had been thinking. I was not my problem. No, the rough times were due to how people had mistreated me...or...how I had done the same to them. The bad breaks I encountered were not of my doing. So why should I be responsible for my reaction?
Inner peace is reachable every day in every circumstance by every person. Please don't volley your explanation of how I don't understand stress and pain and conflict and heartbreak which lead to towering depression. I might have a bit of experience which would match, even surpass, yours. But, I learned (the hard way) how to combat this gigantic ever-present opponent.
Victory revolves around the way we think. Does this eliminate pain? No, but it stops us from camping there over the weekend. Think with me. People or issues which hurt us not only inflict wounds at their given moment; we tend to rehearse...and rehearse...and rehearse...our injuries. And just where does such take place? In. The. Mind. Our thinking is the battle ground.
Here's what I've experienced; being bent on insecurity, being blue, perpetually counting the offenses against me or mine toward others. We can't undo the past; but we don't have to establish permanent residence there. We have an amazing alternative. Get this: WE ALL HAVE THE OPTION to lead a happy, refreshing, productive life. Yes. You. You hold the key. Open your mind.
But open it to what? Stop replaying the injuries or the neglects or the disappointments. Replace the junk mail with the truth of what's going on with you. Rehash everything that is going right. THINK in healthy format. Who loves you? Name them. Start your list. One? Three? Eighty-nine? Then THINK on these. Forty-two friends are a bigger number than two enemies.
Second, quit giving the negative people air-time in your head. STOP IT! You can, you know. You and only you has access to the control switch. Refuse to tune in to their repetitive, harping, poor-me station. They are exactly like you in places; fearful, frustrated, angry. So don't be carrying their dysfunctions in your heart. Love them, indeed. But do not inherit their displeasure as your own.
Philippians 4:4-8, one more time (and I'll quit sighting it when everyone has it mastered), transforms the way we think which transforms the was we experience which transforms the way we feel. I know. I fought depression and it still creeps in. But I learned through God to quit inviting it in to stay overnight as a guest in my heart.
I'll choose to think about the amazing people in my life and the impossible wonder. For some, I encourage you to drop the excuses as to why yours are the exception to maintaining your depression profile. When we want to feel better about ourselves and about others, it will always be found within the basic training of how we allow our minds to be creatively aware of our blessings.
Overcoming depression, I have discovered, is not theory. It is reality. Be bummed. Be sad. We all hit those walls. But within our thinking processes we are able to conquer day by day. Therefore, I recommend possible actions which might bring favorable adjustment to your life experience:
1. Stop talking about your ailments. We've all got 'em. Well is who you are. If your hand hurts talk about your feet that don't, your heart that doesn't, your ears that hear and your eyes that see and your......
2. Focus on others. Talk about what you like about them....to them. Share your gratitude for their walk, their faith, their successes. They could always use a pep talk and yours would be ideal.
3. Believe that you carry the power to make others have a better day. Give them hope and love and life! If you want attention, sow it. Give it to others. Otherwise, you are annoying the daylights out of those around you by bumming everybody out with your bemoaning whine. Stop it.
Now....go bless somebody and you'll find you have new purpose and meaning in life. Yay you!
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