When I was newly on this path I often criticized myself for the old thinking that would pop in my head, or the negative thoughts that would still try to pull me down. I worked really hard each day to keep my mind on the positive, and sometimes I still need to, with everything going on in the world, plus some personal challenges, I have had to be diligent recently, but I cannot fault myself for the thoughts I think, only for what I let live beyond that thought and give light to. Judging ourselves for what we think only adds to the negativity that may be popping in to say hello.
When I began this journey I made a promise to be open to new things, clearly the old things, the things I used to cling onto, weren’t working, so I started on my journey of “yes,” yes to being open and to try what was suggested or what came to me. I enrolled in a meditation class to try to quiet my mind, hoping for some relief from the constant chatter in my head, and in the first class I sat quietly and began to enjoy the calm until a garbage truck began to back up nearby and the sound of the beep, beep, beep could be heard in the studio. I immediately got angry, how dare this truck interrupt my serenity! Seeing that I, and likely others, began to shift on our mats, the instructor asked us to acknowledge the noise and then let it go, like watching a cloud move across the sky. Well, it took some practice to get that to work but I did get there, and still can, but sometimes, on one of those negative days, it still challenges me. But I always remember the cloud in the sky analogy, and when I do have a negative thought, or a few, I do what I was instructed to do, I acknowledge them, I ask myself if they are useful, typically the answer is no, unless it’s showing me something I need to work on, and then I say, let it go, and I envision them floating away like a white cloud in the blue sky. We are going to think what we are going to think no matter how much we may try to only think good thoughts, we are human, and we do get agitated or triggered from our past, but where our responsibility kicks in is what we do with those thoughts, once we give them life that falls on us, and what we do from that point is our responsibility.
We cannot control what we think, but we can control what we take action on, or dwell on. Focusing on things we cannot change will always bring us negative results, and, will prevent us from moving forward. When we acknowledge these thoughts, ask ourselves where they might be coming from and then excuse them, we are taking our power back and are making a choice to behave in a loving way towards ourselves. When those thoughts pop up for me and I’m having trouble letting them go, I challenge myself to counter them with something positive, or something I am grateful for, that, most times quashes those negative thoughts and gets my thinking back on a positive track. Your thoughts are not the boss of you, so show them who’s boss. SLAY on!
SLAY OF THE DAY: Do you fault yourself and talk down to yourself if you notice yourself having negative thoughts? What is the result? What can you do to change that behavior? Why do you fault yourself? If you think about the last time you noticed your negative thinking, what was that thinking triggered by, or, trying to tell you? What did you learn from it? What can you now to combat it? We all have negative thoughts from time to time, sometimes even more often, but we can change those thoughts or excuse them before they take control of us. It is within our control to choose to not take action on the thoughts that hurt us or bring us down, and when we make a positive choice, a loving choice, for us, that choice continues to pay us back in self-worth and newly earned self-esteem.
S – self L – love A – appreciate Y – you
State Of Slay™ 