Good Morning Warriors of Words, Thought Transformers,
I can't believe it is Day 19 and the last entry I made was Day 11. Have I mentioned that time is in actuality moving more quickly? I can't seem to find enough time in my days to write -not to mention we had a holiday mixed in there and I unplugged from the internet for the weekend. With all my driving to doctors, physical therapy appointments, chiropractor appointments, etc--I feel wiped out at the end of my day and the last thing I have been wanting to do is write.
However, I have discovered that I really like having the opportunity for self care in the evenings so about 7:30 or 8 p.m. I close down my computer and go into my room and do a little light stretching (in recent time, the light stretching has gotten a little lighter due to all the healing I have been finally receiving--YES finally found good people to work with!). This journey is helping me to reconnect to me in different ways some are old-new ways.
Yesterday's snippet I emailed out is below. My writing is in the blue-grey and the words from an article called, How to Stop Negative Thinking are written in italics and in white. I had some good self discovery in just writing out my snippet yesterday.
Today, I’d like you to view Negativity a little differently. I’d
like you to see that there are, in fact advantages to thinking negative.
Yep, I just said that there are advantages to thinking negatively.
I didn’t say there are necessarily “positive advantages to staying negative,
but I did say there are advantages. For when you stay negative it creates
the energy of stagnation, lack of change, which keeps you safe and protected.
Hmmm, what does that mean? Well, take a look here at a snippet from the
article: How to Stop Negative Thinking below. Under each
section, I wrote some questions down for you to journal about. The least
this can do is get you thinking.
Thinking 'the worst', expecting failure and
betrayal, seeing downsides where others don't, even seeing positives as
negatives - all convey a kind of insurance policy. "If I expect the worst,
then I won't be disappointed when it happens."
This used to be such an easy
trap for me when I was a kid, I had a lot of disappointment growing up so in my
early 20’s I always thought that way and when things went right, out of
nowhere, I would be “surprised”. Think over your life and experiences, in
what areas/situations have you(do you) done this?
Another
'advantage' to negative thinking is the 'I told you so' syndrome. For some, it
can feel more important to be proved right in their negative predictions than
to have good things happen (and therefore be proved 'wrong').
Wow, another reminder of how I used to think too. This
“habit” started when I was in my mid-20’s, perhaps because my ego started to
get a bit bigger and I saw what people thought when I (or others) was wrong so
I was determined to be right. Interestingly, what I also discovered is that with my car accident and not being heard by doctors, being mistreated by doctors---I found that I really want to be heard! Therefore, I almost got caught up in this "told you so" syndrome. Mind you, I have never exaggerated about my symptoms and body pains --if anything I downplayed much of it, but still not being heard made me want to prove to them (the doctors) how bad I really am which again would have gotten me caught up in that "Spiral of Hell" as I like to call it.
How does this play itself out in your life? By the way, there are people in my life (friends) that always think they are right and will actually argue with me when I know what I am saying is right--they are so afraid of looking like they are wrong--they will go on and on--and I finally just give in to them and say ok. (of course, they (friends) don't realize that I am doing that--and some (others observing) may view that I am being a pushover, but really it is simply because I realize they too "want to be heard" or want to "feel important", and perhaps that is the only way they feel heard is if they are "being right" whether they are or not.)
Before
I get too positive about negativity, here's a thought: The habit of thinking
negatively doesn't just predict how likely someone is to become depressed, but
also predicts how likely they are to suffer all kinds of other illnesses later
on in life as well. I'm not suggesting that negative thoughts alone
produce illness, but they don't help.
The
most common negative thinking mistake… to describe himself as a 'realist'. Of
course, anyone who strongly holds a belief think they are being 'realistic' in
holding it, whether it involves green men from Mars or honest politicians.
The
'more realistic' proclamation is a favorite of cynics everywhere. And in a way
they are right. But only because thinking negatively causes us not to try - or
if we do try, to give up sooner - so the negativity itself influences results.
Self-fulfilling prophecies really do happen. Research has even found that what
we believe about our health can have more bearing on how long we live than our
actual health.
This is a favorite of those around me all the time!! I used
to get caught up in the trap of listening to people tell me to be
realistic. I am quite the believer of love, imaginer of big dreams and
seeker of truth, but I have met more than my share of people who freely offer
their opinions on my life, and are “trying to look out for me”, “just
don’t want me to make the same mistakes they did” or “really believe the worst
will happen”. Now, those people I just mentioned really do believe they
are trying to help me, and that would be fine and all if I didn’t/don’t allow
it to get in my head and mess with my dreams, goals and aspirations. But,
unfortunately sometimes they did/do and it undermines what I am trying to
do. If there is one area that I need to work on---it is likely
this. I do think friends and family can be a culprit of this;
however, I do also believe they have the best interests in mind. It would
behoove us to choose to accept where their intention is but risk making our own
“mistakes”, that is, if there are mistakes to be made. One way, I learn
to counteract this is to go into my heart, not my head, and find my truth
there.
So,
negative thoughts can plague us even when things seem to be going well:
"It's too good to last!" Negative thinking distorts perception.
Now,
to really do this journal entry/exercise justice would be to really look at
your life, experiences, interactions and reality honestly. No one is
there to judge you—not even you (if you remember, this is a no-judgment
zone)! The more honest you are with yourself the more you will be able to
transform your life.
In love,
EstaRa
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