The Negative Zone (Part 1)

The Negative Zone (Part 1)

Romans 7:22-25 “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”

The older we grow, and the more real-world tragedies and challenges we witness, the more we realize how blessed we are by God, and how frequently the negative thoughts in our heads hold us back from these blessings.  In fact, you’ve likely “thought” your way into headaches and heartaches hundreds of times in the past.  We all do this to a greater or lesser extent because of negativity. We procrastinate to the point of failure; we get angry with others, with ourselves, and with the world at large, because of fantasies; and we miss out on many of life’s most beautiful and peaceful moments, because we let those bad thoughts control our lives.

How do you know you are living in the negativity zone?

-When you wake up and immediately start worrying about all the things you have to do, you aren’t really doing anything but adding stress to what could be an otherwise pleasant morning.

-When you fear the potential of failure, and you procrastinate in response to your fear, your fearful thoughts force you to miss great opportunities for success.

-When someone upsets you, this is often because they aren’t behaving according to your thoughts of how they “should” behave.  The frustration, then, stems not from their behavior but from how their behavior differs from our mindset.

-When you think about making a healthy change in your life, like getting into shape, you are initially inspired by the thought of how easy it will be, but that’s not reality.  So when the reality of working hard to exercise and eat right arises you give up.

-When you’re having a conversation with someone, you’re distracted with thought of how that person views you, or about how to respond before they even finish talking, and thus the conversation is unnecessarily draining

-When you move through your days with your minds stuck on other times, places, or possibilities you miss the pleasant surprises and simple pleasures surrounding you.

Sometimes you get out of your own head long enough to focus on the present, accept it, and make the best of it, but it’s not nearly often enough. That’s why it’s time for a change!

To get yourself out of this mess, you need to literally rewire your brain and replace negative, empty mindsets with positive, productive ones.  Instead of saying, “I don’t have what it takes,” you must start saying, “I think I can figure this out!”  And by doing so, you’ll stop saying, “I’m not ready yet,” and you’ll start taking action because the new mindset is something along the lines of “I am ready to learn and grow!”

So if you’ve caught yourself stuck with negative thought patterns like the ones I’ve mentioned, you need to take action as quickly as possible..  The longer you let these little demons linger around, the harder it is to get rid of them.  Let Jesus inspire you to refocus our energy and attention on the right things and start letting them go of the negative energy that is draining you.