Jason will be disappointed, but Oprah taught me something last week. She had someone on who wrote this book and the whole thing was very new age-y and "i am my own god"-ish and so I was only half listening. But one thing stuck out to me. This auther said that whether we like it our not, we all have our own mantras--things we repeat to ourselves over and over--and that the majority of the time our mantras are negative and how much better we would live if we could repeat positive things to ourselves.
The next morning, I woke up to the cries of my daughter and I was exhausted. I stayed in bed for a good 10 minutes before getting up and I thought to myself, "I am a horrible mom." Then I got her up, changed her, plopped her in the high chair with some banana chunks and returned to my bedroom to check email. While checking email, I thought, "I am a horrible mom." DING DING. Holy cow! That is my "mantra" lately! Not good. I prayed right then about something that I could replace it with and I decided on "Thank you, God, for this moment." So far, I'm finding it much more peaceful to live in a thankful state of mind than a self-critical state of mind.
It has gotten me thinking about how important it is to control my thoughts. To further drive the point home, this week in Care Group we were studying Phil. 4--you know the part about "whatever is good, praiseworthy, etc, think about such things" and the book I'm reading (Having a Mary Spirit) just got to a chapter about the war within our minds. Here's a tidbit from that: "When we speak normally, we speak at a rate of about 120 words a minute....but when we self-talk we talk at a rate of about 1,300 a minute...and roughly 70 percent of that talk is negative." I love it when God sends "themes" into my life and it's clear what He wants me to focus on. Just thought I'd share my latest thoughts about thoughts...
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4 comments:
I'm glad you are getting a new "mantra", that old one doesn't fit you at all :) and besides that you say such encouraging things to others it makes sense to say nice things to yourself, too.
That's a really interesting fact about speaking to ourselves at 1,300 a minute. Maybe if I was really thoughtful about my thoughts they would be more like Phil 4 thoughts.
Hmm ... I have the same mantra on a biweekly basis, it switches out with "I am a horrible wife" As someone that occasionally wrestles with depression, I know all about negative self-talk. It's so silly, and i know that even when I am doing it, but so easy to believe at the same time. I will definitely have to pray and start coming up with a new mantra too. :)
I think what you said is so true! My mantra lately has been, "I'm too busy." I think I either need to get less busy or tell myself how nice it is to be able to do these things! Thanks for giving me a push =)
I am learning this one as well. I am amazed at how even in a season of such grief, focusing on the blessings of moments, hours is reaping rewards of peace and even some joy. Someone said recently speaking negatives to our self is like an act of violence(abuse) to ourselves. Food for thought!! I think Phil 4 is golden. Love to you!! Happy Birthday to Maizie, too!!
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