A Change of Perspective
byCHICKMELIONfreelance
We have all had our dark days in our lives. Filled with negative events and emotions we would just as soon put behind us. If only we knew how!
It is very much a natural process of living and we are often encouraged to see the blessings in times like these. For how can we test the true integrity of our joy or accomplishments unless we had something to set it against as a backdrop. But in all honesty, who wants to stay there?
It is quite common to be told and I know you have had it said to you, “think positive!” It is what we say when we feel helpless about the situations facing people we know and love who might be experiencing a negative moment in their lives. We say it because quite often we really don’t know what else to say! And it is good advice, but do we know how to apply such sound advice?
There is a Psalm in the Bible (the 77th) and it outlines a pretty dark and bleak moment in the author’s life. His heart is in serious turmoil, he is so troubled he can’t even find the words to describe it. With his grief openly displayed, we as witnesses can watch these negative emotions stew and brew within him and grow like a plague. Doubt grows out of the sorrow, as it so very often does. Doubts of a future, doubts of faith, doubts that God even cares, or anyone for that matter. And if these thoughts and emotions were allowed to continue the negative energy would gain momentum potentially to a destructive level. Like yeast in the batter, that’s what just one negative thoughts can do if allowed to roam free in the head.
This psalm is a beautiful piece of prose. It is so well written, one reading it can actually sympathize cathartically with the man and his plight. We can feel his negative energy, his sorrow and his doubts. Then the author has a breakthrough in his storm, a positive thought is planted and we can feel the healing energy of this positive thoughts with it’s momentum and final victory in the psalm. In reading this psalm you can literally feel the power of positive thinking as if God Himself felt so inclined to answer the doubts of whether He cared or not.
The key to the author’s turnabout was that he recognized the negativity of the energy his thoughts were creating and he willfully chose to stop them dead in their tracks. His future was in doubt, his present was bleak, so he searched the memory banks for a beautiful moment to cling to and he planted the seed to his eventual turn around. Within that seed he found his hope again. Another good strategy is to start counting your blessings. See the good in the day, the situation, even better in yourself. Search hard for them! You may feel an inner resistance from the negative energy, but don’t give up, keep looking at the beneficial thoughts, set as a daily habit even so they are readily available to you when you need them.
Positive and negative thinking are both contagious, all it needs is a bit of momentum on your part. Visualize favorable and beneficial situations. Replace negative inner dialogue with positive words. Disregard immediately any feelings of doubt. If you persevere, you will transform the way your mind thinks. It does not matter what the circumstances are at the present moment, by changing the way you perceive things, you change the way you will act and re-act to it accordingly. Now that’s the foundation your positive habits should be built on. It may take some time and practice to get proficient with noticing your own negativity and then gaining ground with it. Yes you will have to be strong. But strength comes with practice. And in the long run you’ll be a much happier and balanced person for it.
