Seed of Discord, Negative Mind and Overcomer's Confidence

Our mind is the inhabitant of random thoughts. All the time our mind is busy thinking. According to a study, the mind thinks between 60,000 – 80,000 thoughts a day. That’s an average of 2,500 – 3,300 thoughts per hour. It is definitely a huge number. 

Negative thinking is a thought process where people tend to find the worst in everything, or reduce their expectations by considering the worst possible scenarios. If we do not keep track of our thoughts, we become prisoners of our minds yielding to most calamities going on in our world, nation's, countries, state's, cities, family and most homes today.

Negative mind is also the devastating brain behind, relationship broken, marital collapse, business liquidation, families on fire, structures broken down, brother fighting against brothers, sisters against sisters, mothers in law versus sister in-laws and what have you.

“There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” : Said William Shakespeare. There are times, when we believe our thoughts are true when in reality they are baseless, not shared by others, and sometimes even irrational. E.g my borthers wife is a witch. Such thoughts invariably lead to anxiety, anger or depressed feelings, and cause us to disappoint people, plant a seed of discord in the family and even lose friendships.

To preserve your integrity, you need to break those chains of negative thoughts that stop you from achieving your dreams. To be candid, no human being born of a woman is completely evil, it is the defective thought process, spirit wise and  psychological environment that is responsible for some of the things we do. The devil existing in unseen world is our common enemy, not fellow man.  Turning off an unending flow of negative mental chatter is one of the best things you can do for your overall happiness and mental health capable of  spilling over to your off-spring as a goodly heritage rather than a curse.

Our thoughts are interlinked with each other. Did it ever occur to you that you saw an object and then you became lost in your thoughts unless someone jolts you to come back to reality?

 Sometimes any object triggers an old memory and you start thinking about it, which further pulls out another memory of an old event from the memory data bank? That is how our train of thoughts goes on and on.

 Thoughts are like water, flowing freely, making a stream. The more we let them freely flow the bigger the stream becomes, which gradually turns into a river, and then if we drift with the flow, it can become as powerful as an ocean.

There is a general tendency that we indulge in negative thoughts easily. Whenever we encounter any situation our mind starts thinking about the negative outcomes. 

Negative thoughts make us believe the world is a dark scary place with little room for sunshine and happiness. Our mind is inherently wired to have such negative thoughts, as its main purpose is to protect our well-being and keep us away from danger. That is why it triggers an alarm of fear to guard ourselves before going into any new situation.

Dr. Aaron Beck, the founder of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), referred to these thoughts as ANTs – Automatic Negative Thoughts. These thoughts invade our minds like ants. We need to shake them off and Squash the ANTs. But as you know ants may look very small and insignificant but when they invade as a group, it is hard to fight with them. It is essential to tackle with them carefully. It is best not to resist these thoughts, because, it is often said that the more you resist the more it persists. Hence, it is better to accept these thoughts as a friendly reminder of our brain that is meant to protect us from danger. For example, if you feel nervous before a meeting, list down the areas of improvement, work on the areas and convert your nervousness into excitement.

Another and very effective way of conquering ANTs is to turn them into PETs - Positive Empowering Thoughts. Change your self-defeating, negative thoughts into something more uplifting and encouraging. 

Bad homes, family or community are destroyed by crisis. The good ones survive a crisis. But great  individuals, homes  or nations are empowered by a crisis. When the people in your family are quarreling,  fighting, it's hard to figure out what to do. You may be feeling sad, ashamed, or even angry when it happens. Whatever your feelings are, what you probably want most is for the fighting to discontinue. To avoid creating room for harmful negative thoughts and set your mind on becoming a channle of peace, joy, blessing or things to be grateful for.

 Proverb 6 :15 – 19 pointedly identified six (6) basic things to hate, seven that are detestable to God Almighty: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.” This invariably means we should avoid tempting the devil to tempt us, keep our mind constructively busy , obedient to God's words and evil thought will flee, peace will spread around our body , mind and spirit and there will be a restoration of the utopian conditions of  your home, family and so forth.  Because the gospel of God's grace challenges and changes everything , to His power nothing is impossible. Evil thought will give way to excellent spirit. 

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.” ( Isaiah 11:6-8)

Attai Stephen, Lokoja