We have been talking about toxic thinking and how living our life in the negativity can actually be damaging to our health. We are working on changing our thoughts to line up with the word of God
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body.
Colossians 3:15
God wants us to have a peaceful heart. We are told to cast all worries and anxieties to Him. He wants us to live a life of peace and happiness. In Matthew 12:34 it says that what we speak is FROM the overflow of our HEARTS. If we are speaking negative and harsh words then our hearts are NOT lined up where they should be. We need to be cleansing our hearts and purifying our minds to line up with God.
Let’s get started…..
We have our list that we compiled of our negative thoughts, we sifted and analyzed through them to see where they were coming from and why they were forming negatives in our brains, today we plan to take action on them and cut them out!!
I gave you some examples of toxic thoughts last post, but do you have more? What are some toxic thoughts that we hold onto? Here are some toxic thoughts and how to remove them from our minds.
Believing that our past determines our future
Just because you came from a poor background or had a rough upbringing it does not self-fulfill who you become. When you became a new person in Christ you left the old you behind. We are now walking with God and He walks within us!! Think about that, if God is “perfect and whole” why can’t we be part of that?? We just need to CHANGE our mode of thinking and STOP believing the lies from Satan. Stop speaking words about your past that YOU think will define your future. Start speaking the word of God instead!!
Worrying about what other people think of you
We can’t sit around and worry about what other people think. If we are lined up with God and ask Him to direct us, then what you do, you do. You leave the rest up to God. Let Him deal with people. Most people probably aren’t judging you as much as you judge yourself. They are doing exactly what you are—so STOP! Do what makes you happy and ignore others.
Feeling you always need to prove you are right
I always wonder why people feel like they need to fight to prove their point to things? Maybe its their own feelings of inadequacy to not feel weak or dumb. Sometimes they don’t want to appear vulnerable. But I think it is much better just to be quiet. Everyone has opinions to things, I say to each his own. Hold onto what is truth and leave the rest alone.
Having expectations of others
This is a HUGE one for I think everyone. We all like to “think” people should respond a certain way, but in essence, people are people. They will say and do things that are hurtful, negative, and wrong. We cannot expect everyone to respond well. It would be nice, but it is NOT reality. Having expectations can be deadly to our happiness–avoid this.
Life is always greener on the other side
This is big because most everyone believes the “if only” statement. “If only I was married to that type of man.” “If only we had more money.” “If only I had______.” This could go on and on, but it is not healthy. If you believe God then you know that He has you orchestrated in your own life. If you trust and obey Him then he will direct you in paths of righteousness. If you by your own doing have made mistakes that are having a huge result on your life, know that God will make ALL things work together for good.
The “what ifs” of your life
Some things in life you can change. You can change if you are overweight. You can find a better job. You can learn more skills to become better as a mother. But there are some things that you cannot change in your life. You can’t change if your husband is not nice, but you can change how you respond. You can’t change that you have to pay rent or mortgage but you can stop resisting it. Resisting the unchangeable does nothing more than frustrate you and make you miserable. So change what you can, and accept what you can’t.
Thinking you can change other people
No matter how much you think you motivate or inspire others, the fact remains that people need to change themselves. We cannot force someone to change. No matter how much you think your talking and encouraging will do the bottom line is, you speak your peace and then leave the rest up to God to do. Once you step out of the way and let the Holy spirit do His thing that is when God can start working. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t see changes, not everyone is at the same place that you are. You took time to get to where you are at, other people will take time as well.
Stop playing the victim
Having the victim mentality is a terrible thing to replay in your mind. You are not a victim. Stop blaming people or circumstances in your life, and start living. Forgive, as God commands so that you can be prosperous in your life. Victim mentality is only an obstacle in life. But we are over-comers!!
Remove those wounds and deal with toxic thoughts. We do this by:
Affirmation
It’s all good to be aware of the toxic thoughts in our brains but it is another thing to eliminate it. Being aware is good, but unless we can continually push against the thought when it comes up, then it will retain a front row seat in our brains.
How each person deals with their negative thinking is going to be different for everyone. Some people like personal affirmations. I like the movie Evan Almighty where he says in front of the mirror each day, “I am successful, powerful, handsome, and happy.” I use that many times when encouraging my husband. We can smile at it because we know the movie, but the words still hold true in our minds. Whatever we are saying, we can start to think.
Our old pastor would challenge us to speak out 5 things that we were thankful to God for before each service . That was a good way to start speaking positiveness into our lives. We ALL have something to be thankful for—even if it is the air we breathe, the legs we walk with, or the home we can be safe in. Start speaking words of thankfulness instead of words of negativity.
Truth
Another way to deal with negative thoughts is to replace them with truth. Many of the thoughts we have held in our minds have only our own truth attached to them. We have started out with something small and have created this gigantic thing that isn’t even real in our minds. We may have concocted a whole scenario by choosing to latch onto that one negative thought and now it has grown into a full fledged war in our minds. Some people make mountains out of mole hills.
We need to take a step back and look at the situation that is bringing the thought into being. What is the truth about it from another person’s perspective? What about from God’s perspective? Thoughts are based on our own reality and not necessarily in truth.
Visualize
Sometimes it helps to visualize the thought being removed from our brains. I remember back when I was first learned this principle many years ago and it was a freeing experience. I pictured each thought, the negative ones that were toiling away in my mind and I pictured placing them in a balloon. I visualized letting the balloon go and watching it drift up into the heavens. I was giving my problems/thoughts over to the Lord to deal with, they were no longer mine to worry about. Sometimes those thoughts would creep back in, and I would repeat the process, bad thoughts were not something that were meant to be part of my life, but they were something that Satan knew could keep me from moving forward. He used FEAR and WORRY to keep me from experiencing what God had for me.
Darkness comes upon as an illusion. It isn’t real. Once we really believe and say “I don’t fear.” It leaves. Once you don’t accept the negativity, it goes away. When darkness goes away it turns into light. Light is God. You can activate fear or you can activate faith in your life.
Fear is twisted faith
Forgiveness
This is probably ONE of the reasons that we have such big wounds in our minds. Someone has wronged us and hurt us in our past and we just let it sit and fester in our minds. Unforgiveness leads to a whole slew of toxic thoughts. Everything in our life plays on how we forgive others.
Matthew 6:15, “But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
God commands us to forgive others so that He may forgive us. Even if someone has wronged you in the past, don’t let them control you in your future. You forgive and let God deal with them. When we forgive, it allows God to work freely in our lives, if we don’t it blocks that door to God. We want to be open and free so that the Holy Spirit may work in our lives in EVERY aspect.
Why are we doing this??
We don’t have to accept any form of negativity in our lives. But we have to get rid of it. We have to FORGIVE and LET GO. Even if you have long standing unforgiveness that you “think” you have forgiven, if you are reminded of it, then it has not been dealt with. This is damaging your health. Everytime you push down that old unforgiveness and anger, it grows. It grows to create stress and anxiety in your emotions which in turn affect your health. But it does not have to be this way. We have the opportunities to accept ONLY the good information and make it a part of us, and that will help put our minds back into a normal state.
Just as germs and bad bacteria cause our body to focus on protection of our cells, negativity does the same thing to our minds. Negative thoughts shift our bodies focus to protection thus it reduces the ability to process and think in wisdom. This leads to negative attitudes which produce stress and angered feelings inside our minds. BUT if you apply God’s advice not to worry, then your brain responds by secreting chemicals that give you feelings of peace, positive thought building, and clear thinking. Even though you can’t always control your circumstances, you can choose how you will react to those circumstances. This will keep toxic input from permanently living in your brain. But it starts with you. You decide which incoming thoughts will become a part of you.
Have you decided to bear all your toxic thoughts and get rid of them? Do you feel like you have “over analyzed” your brain and dissected out all of the negative toxic parts? It is like a doctor cutting out the bullet from the wound. It is good to get it out, but now you have a wound. Even though it is patched up, sometimes it can still create problems. So what do we do with that? We apply God’s word into our life. that is part 5 of our series.
