Are You The Victim of Your Own Self-Talk?

Is you life just a series of “self-fulfilling prophecies”? I am sure you know what this means, but if not, it refers to our ability to imagine that an event will happen to us and then we watch as it unfolds just as we imagined.

Usually when people think of self-fulfilling prophecies they refer to all of the bad things that occur in their lives.

This is because we worry so much about what it will be like when they do finally occur and this just sends out a message that we are expecting the accident, the illness, the lay-off at work, or the breakup in our relationship. And what happens, but what we expect.

I read somewhere that worry is just like praying for something we don’t want to happen.

So, if worrying is a good way to make something occur that you don’t want, then what can we use to make things occur that you do want?

The New Testament encourages us to think on things that are good, lovely, honest, pure and which cause a good report. It says for us to let these images fill our minds and hearts instead of those of gloom, doom and despair.

Often, before they occur, the subjects of our self-fulfilling prophecies show up and occupy our thoughts and they drift down and find expression in the things we say. We find ourselves talking about the things that we are worried about.

So what have you been talking about this past week? Have you found yourself saying any of the following statements?

  • This is the worst week of my life.
  • I expect this will never work out.
  • I can’t imagine how this will ever change or get better.
  • These all result in things not working and maybe even getting worse.

So how do we change this?

How do we make things happen differently in our lives?

One technique that I like to us is self-talk. Many people refer to this as using an affirmation. You might notice that the root of affirmation is “affirm” – to agree to, to say yes to.

Using affirmation is all about saying yes to what do want to happen in our lives instead of what we don’t want.

It changes our focus to one of allowing he good instead of resisting what we don’t desire. This helps us to cultivate good, positive and life-affirming and enhancing expectations.

So here are just a few affirmations that I love to use. Please feel free to leave you comments about any of these and also, if you have affirmations that you use, share them with all of us.

  • I am grateful for all that I have.
  • I am a vessel through which good flows.
  • I am a beloved child of God and I don’t inherit sickness.
  • I attract only good into my life by expecting only good.

Use these affirmations frequently and say them with conviction. Let yourself begin to feel what it is like for these words to be true. And as you do, this will keep you focused on the good,positive and life-enhancing expectations that you wish to manifest in your life.

And my friends, you will attract it!

Thanks Living

I am reading the most amazing book by one of my favorite spiritual writers, Pam Grout. The book is Thank and Grow Rich. The title is an update on the title of Napoleon Hill’s book, Think and Grow Rich.
Too often we think but not about the right things. We think from our old limited beliefs in lack and want and we wonder why we don’t increase in life. Maybe it’s time to try something new — upping our thinking to thankfulness.
There are lots of places in the various scriptures of world faiths that encourage being thankful as the best way to think. Here are just a couple of my favorite ones:
1 Thessalonians 5:18 Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 5:20 Always giving thanks to God for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
To help us get started in our new thanks living way of thinking I want to share the following post from Pam’s website where she describes her new A.A. 2.0 program of creating a new life by giving thanks.
“My name is Pam G. and, as of today, I am launching a brand new chapter of A.A. Unlike Version 1.0, my A.A. stands for Amazing Awesomeness and it only has two steps.
“Step #1: Admit that…..”Something amazingly awesome is going to happen to me today.”  First thing every morning, before throwing off your covers, before leaping out of bed (and it doesn’t take long in this program before participants do leap out of bed with joy and expectation), before firing up the old Mr. Coffee, proclaim to the world that something unexpected, exciting and amazingly awesome is going to happen to you today. It takes what, three, four seconds? Yet it’s one of the most important things you will ever do. The first few minutes of every morning pre-paves the next 24 hours with positive expectations. It sets up a powerful intention, a forecast on which you can focus.
“And it never fails to come true.”
Step #2: Come to believe…..in blessings and miracles. Pretend you’re a private investigator assigned the task of finding all the beauty and largesse in the world. The dominant paradigm might suggest otherwise, but practiced with regularity, this ritual will force you to see things in a whole different way. Instead of looking for problems, be on the hunt for new blessings. Take on the mission each day of reporting back with at least three pieces of amazing awesomeness, three blessings that are different than the day before. I often liken myself to Lewis or Clark, scouting important new territory.
“Because we get out of life whatever we focus on, practicing these simple two steps has the power to override and overturn the accepted paradigm.
“Like Bill W.’s A.A, that has reformed the lives of millions, this new program (A.A. 2.0) can transform a “nameless squad of empty glass thinkers.”

Now It’s Our Turn
I invite others to join me in posting their blessings daily. Be sure to share different things you are thankful for each day. By expecting and looking for a different, more kinder reality, we can, together in one jubilantly mighty whoop, uplift and lighten this tired old world.
I am posting this to my blog and I will begin that day doing step 1. I will post my first sharing of 3  blessings to Facebook on Monday, June 11th. I hope my list will inspire you to share 3 things each day that you are thankful for.

New Intentions Create A New Life

Well, here we are halfway though February. Most people have probably already abandoned their New Year’s resolutions. And this is often a source of guilt in our lives.

But instead of feeling guilty, maybe this is a really good time to set a new intention to have a wonderful life this year.

Let me share with you some suggestions for having a tremendous life this year and every year. I am going to share 5 suggestions, 3 in this post and 2 in my next one. So be sure and watch for the next post. You can get it in your inbox by using the subscribe button.

Here are my life changing suggestions.

Choose Happiness

Often we act as if happiness is something that comes to us from things or people outside ourselves. But there is just not a bit of truth to this idea.

Happiness is a choice.

Happiness is an inside job. It starts inside and works its way out into our world.

We can choose to be happy in spite of all the “stuff” that is going on around us. We can go into that inner space of silence and allow the peace, joy and happiness to well up in our lives. Then, as we do, we can be changed. We can be happy.

Maybe nothing has changed in our exterior world but we have been changed inside. And as we are, then we are the change we wish to see in our world and the world looks different to us.

Being negative is not going to change anything and it will just end up making your life miserable. So let yourself be happy and positive and see how your experience of the world changes.

Change Your Words, Change Your World

We begin inside by changing our thoughts and making a new choice to be happy. Then we let our thoughts change the words we speak.

So speak to the situations in your life and say positive, life affirming words to them.

This principle is found in the Bible where it says, “Let the weak say ‘I am strong.’”

And as you begin to think positive and happy thoughts and you then say positive and happy words you will find your mental computer beginning to be reprogrammed.

Dare To Be Who You Really Are

You are a unique creation and a child of God created in God’s image.

Allow yourself to offer to your world the unique gifts and talents that only you have to offer. If you don’t, then who will?

Be the love that you are.

Be the success that you are.

Be the abundance that you are.

Be the beloved child of God that you are.

And how do you do this?

Choose to be happy. Speak positively and choose your words carefully. And as you do these things, you will be who you truly are.

Check back and see what my last 2 suggestions are for creating a tremendous life. And be sure and share this post with someone you know that needs a boost in creating a tremendous life for themselves.

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A New Word Brings A New Beginning and A New Epiphany

In my last post I shared about Epiphany Sunday and a couple of incidents where I had an epiphany – an “ah-ha” moment. I also told you that in my next post I would share some about the story of Moses and his moment of awareness and also about the word I got for my white stone. If you did not read my last post, you might want to do so before reading the rest of this one.

Moses and the Bush

I always loved the story of Moses and the burning bush. There he was out in the desert and he goes round a boulder and right in front of him is a bush that is on fire. Now the story says that the bush, while being on fire, is not burned up.

Too often, I think, we see this as the most wonderful and miraculous part of the story but I am beginning to understand that the thing we really should see as wonderful and miraculous is what happens next.

Our of the bush, a voice speaks and tells Moses to take his shoes off because he is standing on holy ground. This causes Moses to ask a question we need to ask – “who are you?”

And the voice tells him, “I am that I am.”

You see, ‘I am’ is the most wonderful name for the divine, for God. And it is a name we use so often in our daily conversation without even realizing its significance.

But how do we used the divine name in vain?

We use it in vain when we follow those words with anything that is unlike the true nature of God, things like too old, not smart enough, too poor.

My New Word

I mentioned in my last post that we were given a white stone at church and told that Spirit would reveal to us a new word to place on the stone. This would be a word of encouragement and inspiration from Spirit that would guide our lives.

So what word was I given?

The new word I was given was “available.”

As I thought about this word – available – I realized that while I thought I was available to God, I was really caught up in my own plans and ideas about my life and my purpose. And because of this, I had closed myself off from anything NEW that God might be wanting me to be available to and for. This helped me to see that there were things in my life that needed to end as new things began.

I remember some wise words I was given, “you don’t need to see or understand the whole journey you are on, you only need to be willing and available to take the next step that is right in front of you.”

And the next step that I seem to see in front of me is to share my message and thoughts with people and at the present time, this will be through my blog. This was something I had neglected for too long but now I realize that a blog on the internet has the potential of reaching multitudes of people as they read it and then share it with others.

And so I am taking this step and as I continue to meditate, read, write and trust that God is really in control then I know that I will see the next right step for me and I believe that I will take it as I continue on this wonderful spiritual journey called life.

Share this post with people that need some encouragement. And take time and share your thoughts, comments or any epiphanies that you have had.

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