Have you heard . . .
• For every action there is a reaction – Newton’s Law
• You reap what you sow – Galations 6:7
• What goes around comes around – Karma
Do we hear these things and think they don’t apply to us? Are these sayings so commonplace they’re like white noise? We can know “about” things, but if we take no action there is no real knowing.
Some time ago Louise Hay told me “You Can Heal Your Life” – if I paid attention to what my body tells me, take responsibility for my life and know that what I think about myself “becomes the truth.” For me it started with the affirmation “I am willing to change.” My early journals are filled with affirmations from Florence Scovel Shinn’s Your Word is Your Wand, and Norman Vincent Peale opened the Bible for me with The Power of Positive Thinking. So started my walk through self-help, psychology, philosophy, theology and new age texts. My mom got me the t-shirt “so many books so little time.” Yep – me to a T. Best of all is trying out what I read. We have to do something to see something!
Recently the library introduced me to Dr. Daniel G. Amen; a psychiatrist and brain disorder specialist. According to Dr. Amen, I need to “kill the ANTS” – Automatic Negative Thoughts. I’ve burned through three of his books, starting with Change Your Brain, Change Your Life. Along with insights on how our brains work, is his insistence on ridding ourselves of negative thoughts – they make us “fat, slow and stupid.” Okay! I whole-heartedly agree. And I love that he shows the science of his claims.
Some days it’s a challenge to be the one wearing the rose-colored glasses looking for the silver lining and the pony in the pile of poo; it seems to annoy folks. And a balance must be struck to be empathetic to people with real issues. I know I’ve pissed off more than a few people. Of course I have my junk days when all I see is crap – and yes! bad things happen to good people. But I remind myself that happiness is a choice. Every day I get the chance to choose. And now Dr. Amen has shown that this is real – and the neurons in my brain REALLY are changed by how I think. Thanks Dr. Amen!
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Michael A. Singer says in The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself “that the best way to free yourself” from the incessant noise in your head “is to step back and view” it objectively. “Don’t think about it; just notice it.”
My favorite reminder comes from my dear friend – she says:
“Thought – Word – Deed”
