Defeating Mind Monsters
There is a monster creeping around the corner. And we all battle them. They are mind monsters – negative thoughts consisting of lies we believe about ourselves, our life and our future.
Negativity can creep up in our lives without us even realizing it. Sometimes the negativity causes us to be quiet, irritable, stressed, or restless. If you are going to live a vibrant life then you have to learn how to get rid of negative thoughts. The first key is really awareness. Our thoughts can almost be on auto-pilot without even realizing it. These negative thoughts can way on our spirit and pull our emotions down. Before we know it, we get into a downward spiral. Things suddenly become worse than they really are in reality.
Awareness helps us to get in tune with these emotions well before we get further down in the funnel. Once you are aware of the negative thoughts you can begin to take steps to get on the right track. Here are some things that I do when I want to get rid of negative thoughts.
How to defeat Mind Monsters:
Feed Your Mind with anything Life-Giving . Your mind is never void of a thought. You can’t “think about nothing.” Therefore, you and I have to choose to fight the mind monsters with life-giving thoughts.
Ancient Wisdom says this: “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” (Philippians 4:8)
Whether it’s a book, online teaching or conversation, fill your mind. It’s going to be filled something. Don’t let your mind “wander” – it’s natural path is negativity. Therefore, be intentional.
Decide to journal and get it all out. Sometimes when we have all of these negative thoughts swirling in our head it helps to get them out on paper. Journaling can be incredibly enlightening as overtime you see the same trends appearing in your life. It also is a way to get it all out. When you journal, do not be concerned with spelling or grammar, just get out when is in your mind.
Slow down and enjoy the moment. Other times our negative thoughts are self-inflicted. By that I mean that we have brought the negativity on ourselves and not because there is anything really bad happening in our life. The negative thoughts come about because we are frustrated with the lack of progress we have in our lives. In times like these, we can benefit from taking a deep breath and just slowing down for a bit. We, as Americans, live life at a rapid pace. We bring on most of the stress in our lives by how we choose to live. Learn the habit of slowing down. Laugh with a friend, play board games with the kids, watch the sunset, spend an evening fishing in a nearby lake. Just slow down.
Go on a walk with a friend. Talking through the thoughts in our head can be a great thing as well. Go on a walk with someone you enjoy being around and tell them everything that is going on between your two ears. Just by doing this you will come up with solutions to your own problems. It is funny how different our negativity sounds when we verbalize it.
So be vigilant and merciless – don’t let the Mind Monsters live any longer. They are sucking the energy right out of your heart and spirit.
They are clouding your perspective of the future.
They are destroying your leadership.
Now is the time to declare war.
Chad Pfeifer 