Detoxing Your Thoughts

Many of you are familiar with the 12 step programs for those with chemical addictions.  Well, an unhealthy thought life is just another type of chemical addiction or habit.  It involves good or bad chemicals being released in our brains and affecting our spirit, soul and body.  So today we are going to talk about "Detoxing" our thoughts.

I do want you to know that this is not just something that I believe is a good thing, but something I have done in my own life.  I am not perfect and never will be but when I look at where I used to be and where I am now I would say I am definitely a recovering negative thought addict.

In my 20's and 30's I was a very negative, depressed person.  Most people would not have known that as I wore a great 'happy" mask.  In my 40's life got a little crazy and many of life circumstances turned my very even keel little world upside down and I had to make a decision.  The decision was if I continue to be depressed and negative then these events were going to destroy me.  I would not be able to cope.  Or I could decide to begin to work on my thoughts and create with God's help a more positive, healthy way of coping and looking at life even in the mist of very difficult circumstances.  I really believe that decision has saved my life in many ways.  I know my health is better because of it but I am a more emotionally stable and healthy person also as a result. 

Again, I want to stress I still go down those trails of negativity sometimes but I usually catch it before it goes too far.  The key is not to eliminate negative thoughts because that is impossible but the key is to control them and catch them before they grow.

For example - I used have an negative, unhealthy thought enter my mind.  Maybe a worry or someone offended me or I became anxious about something then I began to FEEL the emotion of it, then it could be hours and sometimes days and at the worse weeks that this thing would consume me.  Now when that thought enters my mind and the emotion or feeling begin to erupt,  I am very aware - to the point that I begin to battle it immediately - On the occasion I allow it some growth it still doesn't form to adulthood :)  probably stop it in the toddler stage. 

The awareness of your thoughts becomes a habit over time - a very good habit. 

Next post we will talk about some questions we need to ask ourselves before we start the DETOX process of our brain.

Proverbs 23:7
For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.