What are we saying to ourselves all day long?
Are we replaying old, worn out voices today? Nope. Not me. Not now anyway.
I was in a great mood yesterday. Then, I was driving in my car, and I envisioned a scenario of what might happen. I started playing the event in my mind, and then it drifted into a negative drama unfolding on the screen of my mind. All of a sudden the mood that was so good was gone. I was unhappy!
What happened?
I allowed my thinking to go from great to bad! I allowed it! I caught myself however and I decided to be Happy and eliminate that stinkin' thinking. See if you can catch yourself and the catch the typical events that you are playing in your mind. Try to eliminate them from taking over. Also see if you see the patterns of typical negative thoughts before they become full blown!
My thinking could have clouded what went on to become a great day.
I hope you are having a great day and stop the tapes (or MP3s or CDs) from swirling around and taking over.
PS - Why can't we more often imagine good things happening to us in our minds?
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Self Talk
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2 comments:
My negative "Self Talk" mainly is comprised of:
1. Denial
2. Excuses
I have found that in establishing personal daily, weekly, and monthly goals, I can focus more on the positives, and when these two demons come to mind, I stop the process, by seeing victory in my life, and not defeat!
I am a happier person today, because Al-Anon principles have given me an outline, a direction, and a purpose for all I do, each and everyday.
Peace this Wed.
KevinB.
Since I have been reading this blog I have been much more aware of this negative inner voice. I too catch myself going down that destructive spiral of thought now. It takes work to actively eliminate the toxicity of my mind and keep it from ruining my mood.
You ask "why can't we more often imagine good things happening to us in our minds?" I have often wondered why I forget all of the many of the good things that have happened in my life and constantly replay the bad things over and over in my head.
I think it is because I've had so much bad stuff happen to me that I extrapolate more bad stuff will happen in the future. Past experience is what all people use to predict the outcome of future events.
We learn from our mistakes and so we analyze the bad stuff repeatedly because that's how humans are programmed to learn from the time of infancy. We try to avoid danger to survive. It is an evolutionary survival skill.
Plus, we're always analyzing trying to make some sense out of the world around us. It is an inherent flaw of being human and having self awareness.
Is there such a thing as too much self analysis? The Zen philosophy does not focus on an event as good or bad, it just is. (There is a children's book about Zen philosophy called "Zen Shorts" by Jon J. Muth, published by Scholastic, that I got for my daughter. It is a simple book of short stories and lately I reflect on it often.) I think this gets me back to just living in the moment and letting go of the past. Perhaps this is the point of meditation, to center ourselves in the now and eliminate the busyness of the mind.
Suzanne
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