Recognizing negative self talk and stopping it

Is your mind a growing place or is it a place where Satan has gotcha?

The day is going along just fine when suddenly I get a thought. It is usually a negative thought about someone, something, myself, or my life. If that thought is left unchecked and unmanaged, I begin to find myself in a different frame of mind within a very short period of time…and my attitude follows me.

Whether we fill our minds with negative things or pure fantasy, don’t be fooled: What we think about does affect us…emotionally, spiritually and physically. So what are we to do? We must train ourselves to think the truth, our ourselves, about other people and about God himself.

Think the Truth About Yourself

Maybe you are familiar with the mental tapes that start running as soon as we make the slightest error. Listen to yourself. Do you hear any of the following statements?

• I should just give up, it’s too hard, I am too dumb, not spiritual, too uneducated, I keep failing…..
• They don’t want me involved, I talk too much, too fat, too ugly, don’t fit in….
• When God gave out gifts he skipped me…I can’t speak, sing, serve like everyone else seems to be able to……
• The bad stuff always happen to me…I have a prodigal kid so I must be a terrible mom, I am always getting sick, I am weak, I struggle with things other people only fear……
  

How do you feel when the tape gets stuck and keeps repeating over and over and over?

We are not doomed to such negative thoughts all our lives. We can change what we do with our thoughts.

1. Recognize what influences your self talk. What triggers the negative?
2. Learn to be prepared when the button that triggers the negative gets pushed. What will you do next time that happens?
3. Challenge your thinking. Is what you are telling yourself biblically true? Or are you just habitually telling yourself the negative over and over?
4. What are the consequences of believing the negative?
5. What happened the last time you focused on the negative? Did you like what it got you or where it took you?
6. Reject what isn’t true. Tell yourself truth.

Today’s Truths

“I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Phil 4:13

“God will meet all my needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Phil 4:19

“God did not give me a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline? 2 Timothy 1:7

Today’s Prayer

Father,

Today I start with telling myself the truth that you are Strong, and in your strength I can be too. I am reminding myself that you meet my every need, and that you have not given me a spirit of fear, but the power of your Holy Spirit. Teach me, train me, make me aware of my thoughts, and may they be positive and biblical more and more…as you show me how to make my mind a growing place.