Negative thoughts eventually fade if we don’t dwell on them or give them credence. This replacement technique becomes easier if you proactively make positive “thought deposits” ahead of time by engaging in activities such as Bible study and prayer. Starve bad thoughts by turning your attention to more healthful ones. Get rid of negative thoughts by crowding them out.Paul calls on us to subject every thought to the filter of whether or not it reflects Christ’s principles and his desires for us. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:4-6) “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. The apostle Paul also offers the following advice, Memorizing scripture and storing up God’s promises give us the wherewithal to overcome debilitating thinking. “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” (Isaiah 26:3) In the Old Testament book of Isaiah, we read this promise: Invite God to actively help shift your thinking toward inner rest.Give your mind rest from things that trigger strong emotions. For example, if the new is giving you anxiety, take a break. If possible, reduce exposure to the circumstance that triggered your negative thinking until your mind can get back onto a more restful track.Ask yourself, “Why did that happen? What could I have done differently? What can I learn for the future?” Learn from the times when you did succumb and allowed circumstances to dictate your response.We can develop pathways of peace for our brain to revert to when challenges to rest come our way. Teach your mind to stay on a life-giving path by regularly practicing a positive mental habit in a variety of situations, starting with the least difficult and expanding from there.The following list contains several additional keys to maintaining a peaceful, restful mind: Rather than saying to yourself, “If I think it, it must have some validity,” tell yourself, “There’s another thought, it may deserve my attention, or it may not.” The fact is that our brains are thought producing machines. But we all know that our brains can produce thoughts that are serious or nonsense, useful or useless, sane or crazy, rational or absurd. We figure that if our brain took the time to generate the thought, it must have done so for an important reason.Thinking is an ability, rather than a reality. The truth is that our thoughts don’t necessarily equal reality at all, any more than the movie. They are part of us, they exist within our heads, which makes them harder to ignore. Our inner thoughts are very different, however. If we watch a scary movie, we know it isn’t real because it is outside of ourselves. Human beings tend to treat thoughts as significant for two reasons: In order to avoid getting drawn into harmful mental pathways, we need to learn to not take all thoughts equally seriously. A short list of harmful thoughts could include exaggeration, catastrophizing (focusing only on the worst imaginable explanation), generalization (one problem means everything is a problem), self-deprecation, forecasting (if today is bad, tomorrow will be worse), and distortion. It can only be achieved by understanding.We can help ourselves to remain inwardly restful by learning to distinguish between helpful and harmful thinking. He has the same dreams, the same hopes and fears. “ If you don't know the guy on the other side of the world, love him anyway because he's just like you.“Peace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time.” - Lyndon B.
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