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We all have negative thoughts now and then, but we can choose not to dwell there and not to let them control us.
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Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
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The power behind taking responsibility for your actions lies in putting an end to negative thought patterns. You no longer dwell on what went wrong or focus on whom you are going to blame. You don't waste time building roadblocks to your success. Instead, you are set free and can now focus on succeeding.
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Lorii Myers
“
A lot of things are inherent in life -change, birth, death, aging, illness, accidents, calamities, and losses of all kinds- but these events don't have to be the cause of ongoing suffering. Yes, these events cause grief and sadness, but grief and sadness pass, like everything else, and are replaced with other experiences. The ego, however, clings to negative thoughts and feelings and, as a result, magnifies, intensifies, and sustains those emotions while the ego overlooks the subtle feelings of joy, gratitude, excitement, adventure, love, and peace that come from Essence. If we dwelt on these positive states as much as we generally dwell on our negative thoughts and painful emotions, our lives would be transformed.
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Gina Lake (What About Now?: Reminders for Being in the Moment)
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It is better to dwell on the beautiful things in life than the negative.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
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Life is a series of moments and moments are always changing, just like thoughts, negative and positive. And though it may be human nature to dwell, like many natural things it's senseless, senseless to allow a single thought to inhabit a mind because thoughts are like guests or fair-weather friends. As soon as they arrive, they can leave, and even the ones that take a long time to emerge fully can disappear in an instant. Moments are precious; sometimes they linger and other times they're fleeting, and yet so much could be done in them; you could change a mind, you could save a life and you could even fall in love.
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Cecelia Ahern (How to Fall in Love)
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Never give anybody permission to disturb your peace.
Always ignore negative comment.
Dwell on positive thoughts and occupied your mind with songs of praise.
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Lailah Gifty Akita
“
There are many pitfalls in life; one is dwelling on blame.
It’s pointless. Move on.
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Richelle E. Goodrich (Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year)
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Nothing can change the past, including thought. However, dwelling on thoughts about the past does change our experience of the Now. When we drag the past into the present, everything else that belongs to the Now is marginalized and overlooked. All we see is the past or, more accurately, our story about it. All we can ever have of the past is our story about it, and that story is very unsatisfying. Our stories about the past don't feed our soul like the Now does. And worse, any story is usually a sad tale that keeps us caught up in negative feelings, and then those feelings become our current experience of life.
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Gina Lake (What About Now?: Reminders for Being in the Moment)
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I am me because of me. No one else. My decisions brought me here, good or bad. Any my thoughts make up how I feel about myself and others. I can choose to be negative, filled with regret. Or I can choose to be filled with hope....I don't dwell in the past. I don't blame anyone for who or what I've turned out to be, and I don't carry around my hurt or baggage as excuses for how I got here....But today is what determines my tomorrow, and right here, right now is all I can really do anything about. So I stay in the moment- or try to, anyway. It is a constant battle. Being present. Being completely present with the ones around you.
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Rory Feek (This Life I Live: One Man's Extraordinary, Ordinary Life and the Woman Who Changed It Forever)
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Again, we all have negative feelings, but not all negativity produces disease. To create disease, negative emotions have to be dominant, and what accelerates the process is knowing the negative thought to be toxic but giving it permission to thrive in your consciousness anyway. For instance, you may know you need to forgive someone, yet you decide that remaining angry gives you more power. Remaining obsessively angry makes you more likely to develop a disease because the energy consequence of a negative obsession is powerlessness. Energy is power, and transmitting energy into the past by dwelling on painful events drains power from your present-day body and can lead to illness.
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Caroline Myss (Anatomy Of The Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing)
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Something wonderful is about to happen,
and something awful is about to happen.
You can dwell on either one.
It’s your choice.
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Richelle E. Goodrich (Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year)
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Ignore self –doubt and inner conflict. Dwell on positive thoughts.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
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Sometimes, late at night, I tend to dwell on negative times in my life. What I find about writing is, once those negative times and people are written about, I dwell on them less.
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Robert Black
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Your thoughts are you own! What you dwell on the day-to-day will manifest in your conscious mind. Release those negative impulses, hatred towards others, and in turn, you'll find people doing the same.
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Martin R. Lemieux
“
A negative experience is just a story that one allows to dwell in his/her mind. And it should never influence their inner peace or diminish their thrill to shoot for the stars. Remember, it is just a "STORY.
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Jacent Mpalyenkana
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Prayer of Thanks Father, I am so thankful that I can choose what thoughts to dwell on. With Your help, I can reject negative thinking, and I can focus on thoughts based on Your Word. Thank You that I can be a confident, positive person.
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Joyce Meyer (The Power of Being Thankful: 365 Devotions for Discovering the Strength of Gratitude)
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Putting It into Practice: Neutralizing Negativity Use the techniques below anytime you’d like to lessen the effects of persistent negative thoughts. As you try each technique, pay attention to which ones work best for you and keep practicing them until they become instinctive. You may also discover some of your own that work just as well. ♦ Don’t assume your thoughts are accurate. Just because your mind comes up with something doesn’t necessarily mean it has any validity. Assume you’re missing a lot of elements, many of which could be positive. ♦ See your thoughts as graffiti on a wall or as little electrical impulses flickering around your brain. ♦ Assign a label to your negative experience: self-criticism, anger, anxiety, etc. Just naming what you are thinking and feeling can help you neutralize it. ♦ Depersonalize the experience. Rather than saying “I’m feeling ashamed,” try “There is shame being felt.” Imagine that you’re a scientist observing a phenomenon: “How interesting, there are self-critical thoughts arising.” ♦ Imagine seeing yourself from afar. Zoom out so far, you can see planet Earth hanging in space. Then zoom in to see your continent, then your country, your city, and finally the room you’re in. See your little self, electrical impulses whizzing across your brain. One little being having a particular experience at this particular moment. ♦ Imagine your mental chatter as coming from a radio; see if you can turn down the volume, or even just put the radio to the side and let it chatter away. ♦ Consider the worst-case outcome for your situation. Realize that whatever it is, you’ll survive. ♦ Think of all the previous times when you felt just like this—that you wouldn’t make it through—and yet clearly you did. We’re learning here to neutralize unhelpful thoughts. We want to avoid falling into the trap of arguing with them or trying to suppress them. This would only make matters worse. Consider this: if I ask you not to think of a white elephant—don’t picture a white elephant at all, please!—what’s the first thing your brain serves up? Right. Saying “No white elephants” leads to troops of white pachyderms marching through your mind. Steven Hayes and his colleagues studied our tendency to dwell on the forbidden by asking participants in controlled research studies to spend just a few minutes not thinking of a yellow jeep. For many people, the forbidden thought arose immediately, and with increasing frequency. For others, even if they were able to suppress the thought for a short period of time, at some point they broke down and yellow-jeep thoughts rose dramatically. Participants reported thinking about yellow jeeps with some frequency for days and sometimes weeks afterward. Because trying to suppress a self-critical thought only makes it more central to your thinking, it’s a far better strategy to simply aim to neutralize it. You’ve taken the first two steps in handling internal negativity: destigmatizing discomfort and neutralizing negativity. The third and final step will help you not just to lessen internal negativity but to actually replace it with a different internal reality.
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Olivia Fox Cabane (The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism)
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Now, when your thoughts, your feeling, and your etheric memories dwell upon imperfection, you slow down the vibratory action of your electrons, and then the substance of the psychic and astral realm closes in around them, lowering the entire vibration of your four lower bodies. In this way, you become an easy prey to depression, poverty, ill-health, to any number of the various negative aspects which mankind at large mirror and outpicture today.
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Werner Schroeder (21 Essential Lessons, Vol. 1)
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Jesus said the thief comes to “steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10), and this is exactly what the Devil does in our lives when we give him a foothold. He tries to steal our faith and leave us with fear, steal our joy and leave us with depression, steal our love and leave us with hateful thoughts toward others. The name Satan means “accuser.” And by accusing others in our minds, he causes us to dwell on their wrongs, filling in the unknowns with negative assumptions, keeping us focused on how we’ve been mistreated and unappreciated. He feeds us what we want to hear with one hand, then takes from us the peace that is rightly ours with the other.
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Stephen Kendrick (The Resolution for Men)
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JANUARY 16 Reach Out by Faith For she said to herself, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.” But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” MATTHEW 9:21–22 NKJV ONE FELLOW WHOSE MARRIAGE was on the verge of dissolution told me, “Joel, I’ve been this way for a long time. Nothing good ever happens to me. I don’t see how my marriage can be restored. We’ve always had these problems.” “Those wrong attitudes will keep you from receiving the good things God wants to pour out in your life,” I told him. “Stop dwelling on negative, destructive thoughts that keep you in a rut. Your life will change when you change your thinking.” God has so much more in store for him, and for you as well. If you want to see God’s far and beyond favor, you have to start believing it, seeing it, and speaking it.
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Joel Osteen (Your Best Life Begins Each Morning: Devotions to Start Every New Day of the Year)
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You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb ...I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
-PSALM 139:13-14
IfI could only have a straight nose, a tummy tuck, blonde hair, larger (or smaller) breasts, or be more like so-and-so, I would be okay as a person. Never have I heard women satisfied with how God made them.
"God must have made a mistake when He made me." "I'm certainly the exception to His model creation." "There's so much wrong with me, I'm just paralyzed over who I am."
These negative thoughts poison our system. We can't be lifted up when we spend so much time tearing ourselves down. When we are in a negative mode, we can always find verification for what we're looking for. If we concentrate on the negative, we lose sight of all the positive aspects of our lives. We can always justify our damaging assumptions when we overlook the good God has for us.
These critical vibes create more negative vibes.
Soon we are in a downward spiral. When you concentrate on your imperfections you have a tendency to look at what's wrong and not what's right. Putting yourself down can have some severe personal consequences.
Have you ever realized that God made you uniquely different from everyone else? (Even ifyou're a twin you are different.) Yes, it is important to work on improving your imperfections-but don't dwell on them so much that you forget who you are in the sight of God. The more positive you are toward yourself the more you will grow into the person God had in mind for you when you were created. Go easy on yourself. None of us will ever be perfect. The only way we will improve our self-image is by being positive and acknowledging that we are God's creation. Negativity tears down; positivity builds up.
PRAYER
Father God, You knew me while I was in my mother's womb. I hunger to be the woman You created me to be. Help me become all that You had in mind when You
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Emilie Barnes (The Tea Lover's Devotional)
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The car ploughed uphill through the long squalid straggle of Tevershall, the blackened brick dwellings, the black slate roofs glistening their sharp edges, the mud black with coal-dust, the pavements wet and black. It was as if dismalness had soaked through and through everything. The utter negation of natural beauty, the utter negation of the gladness of life, the utter absence of the instinct for shapely beauty which every bird and beast has, the utter death of the human intuitive faculty was appalling. The stacks of soap in the grocers’ shops, the rhubarb and lemons in the green-grocers’! the awful hats in the milliners’! all went by ugly, ugly, ugly, followed by the plaster-and-gilt horror of the cinema with its wet picture announcements, “A Woman’s Love!”, and the new big Primitive chapel, primitive enough in its stark brick and big panes of greenish and raspberry glass in the windows. The Wesleyan chapel, higher up, was of blackened brick and stood behind iron railings and blackened shrubs. The Congregational chapel, which thought itself superior, was built of rusticated sandstone and had a steeple, but not a very high one. Just beyond were the new school buildings, expensive pink brick, and graveled playground inside iron railings, all very imposing, and mixing the suggestion of a chapel and a prison. Standard Five girls were having a singing lesson, just finishing the la-me-do-la exercises and beginning a “sweet children’s song.” Anything more unlike song, spontaneous song, would be impossible to imagine: a strange bawling yell that followed the outlines of a tune. It was not like savages: savages have subtle rhythms. It was not like animals: animals mean something when they yell. It was like nothing on earth, and it was called singing... What could possibly become of such a people, a people in whom the living intuitive faculty was dead as nails, and only queer mechanical yells and uncanny will power remained?
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D.H. Lawrence
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Karmic Cause and Effect It is very important to contemplate the connection between our mental states and our actions. Our karmic patterns are formed and sustained by the intentional actions of the “three gates” of body, speech, and mind—everything we do, say, or think with volitional intention. Our actions and reactions form the cause and effect of action (Skt. karma; Tib. las) that in turn determines the kinds of experiences we have. As such, our mind has the potential to transport us to elevated states of existence or to plunge us into demeaning states of confusion and anguish. Our actions are not like footprints left on water; they leave imprints in our minds, the consequences of which will invariably manifest unless we can somehow nullify them. As the thirteenth Karmapa, Dudul Dorje (1733–97) states: In the empty dwelling place of confusion, Desire is unchanging, marked on the mind Like an etching on rock.13 The thoughts and emotions we experience and the attitudes and beliefs we hold all help to mold our character and dispositions and the kind of people we become. Conditioned existence is characterized by delusions, defilements, confusions, and disturbances of all kinds. We have to ask ourselves why we experience so much pain, while our pleasures are so ephemeral and transient. The answer is that these are the karmic fruits of our negative actions (Skt. papa-karma; Tib. sdig pa’i las). Jamgön Kongtrül says: The result of wholesome action is happiness; the result of unwholesome action is suffering, and nothing else. These results are not interchangeable: when you plant buckwheat, you get buckwheat; when you plant barley, you get barley.14 This cycle of cause and effect continues relentlessly, unless we embark on a virtuous spiritual path and learn to reverse this process by performing wholesome actions (Skt. kusala-karma; Tib. dge ba’i las). It is our intentions that determine whether an action is wholesome or unwholesome, and therefore it is our intentions that will dictate the quality of our future experiences. We have to think of karmic cause and effect in the following terms: “My current suffering is due to the negative actions, attitudes, thoughts, and emotions I performed in the past, and whatever I think, say, and do now will determine what I experience and become in the future. So from now on, I will contemplate the truth of karma, and pursue my spiritual practices with enthusiasm and positive intentions.
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Traleg Kyabgon (The Practice of Lojong: Cultivating Compassion through Training the Mind)
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Catastrophizing. Predicting extremely negative future outcomes, such as “If I don’t do well on this paper, I will flunk out of college and never have a good job.”
All-or-nothing. Viewing things as all-good or all-bad, black or white, as in “If my new colleagues don’t like me, they must hate me.” Personalization. Thinking that negative actions or words of others are related to you, or assuming that you are the cause of a negative event when you actually had no connection with it. Overgeneralizations. Seeing one negative situation as representative of all similar events. Labeling. Attaching negative labels to ourselves or others. Rather than focusing on a particular thing that you didn’t like and want to change, you might label yourself a loser or a failure. Magnification/minimization. Emphasizing bad things and deemphasizing good in a situation, such as making a big deal about making a mistake, and ignoring achievements. Emotional reasoning. Letting your feelings about something guide your conclusions about how things really are, as in “I feel hopeless, so my situation really must be hopeless.” Discounting positives. Disqualifying positive experiences as evidence that your negative beliefs are false—for example, by saying that you got lucky, something good happened accidentally, or someone was lying when giving you a compliment. Negativity bias. Seeing only the bad aspects of a situation and dwelling on them, in the process viewing the situation as completely bad even though there may have been positives. Should/must statements. Setting up expectations for yourself based on what you think you “should” do. These usually come from perceptions of what others think, and may be totally unrealistic. You might feel guilty for failing or not wanting these standards and feel frustration and resentment. Buddhism sets this in context. When the word “should” is used, it leaves no leeway for flexibility of self-acceptance. It is fine to have wise, loving, self-identified guidelines for behavior, but remember that the same response or action to all situations is neither productive nor ideal. One size never fits all. Jumping to conclusions. Making negative predictions about the outcome of a situation without definite facts or evidence. This includes predicting a bad future event and acting as if it were already fact, or concluding that others reacted negatively to you without asking them. Dysfunctional automatic thoughts like these are common. If you think that they are causing suffering in your life, make sure you address them as a part of your CBT focus.
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Lawrence Wallace (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: 7 Ways to Freedom from Anxiety, Depression, and Intrusive Thoughts (Happiness is a trainable, attainable skill!))
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Set your mind free of ignorant and negative thinking. It holds you back from your real purpose. You're called to express, experience, and create all that's good and nothing less. Don't dwell on negative thoughts when you want to create positive good.
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Farshad Asl
“
Thinking is a form of action, a means of activating our most cherished dreams. We can dwell in a negative world of grief, sadness, and misery or positively transform our patterns of thinking in order to dwell in a world of joy, gratitude, and wonder. Without thoughtful action we are inert beings cast amongst the living dead.
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Kilroy J. Oldster (Dead Toad Scrolls)
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Every day we get to choose our attitudes. We can determine to be happy and look on the bright side--expecting good things, and believing we will accomplish our dreams--or we can elect to be negative by focusing on our problems, dwelling on what didn’t work out, and living worried and discouraged.
These are the choices we all can make. Nobody can force you to have a certain attitude. Life will go so much better if you simply decide to be positive. When you wake up, choose to be happy. That is the fourth undeniable quality of a winner.
Choose to be grateful for the day. Choose to look on the bright side. Choose to focus on the possibilities.
A good attitude does not automatically come. If you don’t choose it, then more than likely you’ll default to a negative mind-set, thinking: “I don’t feel like going to work. I’ve got so many obstacles. Nothing good is in my future.”
A negative attitude will limit your life.
We all face difficulties. We all have tough times, but the right attitude is, “This is not permanent, it’s only temporary. In the meantime I’m going to enjoy my life.”
Maybe you didn’t get the promotion you worked hard for, or you didn’t qualify for that house you wanted. You could easily live with a sour attitude. Instead, you should think: “That’s all right. I know something better is coming.”
If you become caught in traffic, think positively: “I’m not going to be stressed. I know I’m at the right place at the right time.”
If your medical report wasn’t good, you can choose to think: “I’m not worried. This too shall pass.”
If your dream is taking longer than you thought, you can choose to think: “I’m not discouraged. I know the right people, and the right opportunities are already in my future, and at the right time it will come to pass.
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Joel Osteen (You Can You Will: 8 Undeniable Qualities of a Winner)
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Remember the good
When you’ve been through hurts, disappointments, and failures, you have to guard your mind. Be careful what you allow to play in your thoughts all day. Your memory is very powerful.
You can be driving in your car and remember a tender moment with your child. It may have happened five years ago: a hug, a kiss, or something funny they did. But when you remember the moment, a smile comes to your face. You’ll feel the same emotions, the same warmth and joy, just as if it were happening again.
On the other hand you could be enjoying the day; everything is fine, but then you start remembering some sad event when you weren’t treated right or something unfair happened. Before long you’ll be sad, discouraged, and without passion.
What made you sad? Dwelling on the wrong memories. What made you happy? Dwelling on the right memories. Research has found that your mind will naturally gravitate toward the negative. One study discovered that positive and negative memories are handled by different parts of the brain. A negative memory takes up more space because there’s more to process. As a result, you remember negative events more than positive events.
The study said that a person will remember losing fifty dollars more than he’ll remember gaining fifty dollars. The negative effect has a greater impact, carrying more weight than the positive.
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Joel Osteen (You Can You Will: 8 Undeniable Qualities of a Winner)
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We prepare for victory or defeat at the start of each day. When you get up in the morning, you have to set your mind in the right direction. You may feel discouraged. You may feel the blahs, thinking, I don’t want to go to work today. Or I don’t want to deal with these children. Or I’ve got so many problems.
If you make the mistake of dwelling on those thoughts, you are preparing to have a lousy day. You’re using your faith in the wrong direction. Turn it around and say, “This will be a great day. Something good will happen to me. God has favor in my future, and I’m expecting new opportunities, divine connections, and supernatural breakthroughs.
When you take that approach, you prepare for victory, increase, and restoration. God says to the angels, “Did you hear that? They’re expecting My goodness. They’re expecting to prosper in spite of the economy. They’re expecting to get well in spite of the medical report. They’re expecting to accomplish their dreams even though they don’t have the resources right now.”
When you begin each day in faith, anticipating something good, God tells the angels to go to work and to arrange things in your favor. He gives you breaks, lines up the right people, and opens the right doors.
That’s what allows God to show up and do amazing things. Sometimes you will see major improvements in your life if you just make that minor adjustment. You would not only have more energy, you would also have a better attitude, and you would be more productive. You would see new doors open. You would meet new friends. You would get some of those breakthroughs you’ve been praying for if you would just get up in the morning and, instead of preparing for defeat, prepare for victory. Prepare for increase. Prepare for God’s favor.
You have to set the tone at the start of each day. If you leave your mind in neutral, the negative thoughts will start to come just by default.
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Joel Osteen (Every Day a Friday: How to Be Happier 7 Days a Week)
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When the mind is disturbed by negative thoughts, one should dwell on their opposites.
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Mathew Micheletti (The Inner Work: An Invitation to True Freedom and Lasting Happiness)
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There’s a big difference between ignoring those things and dwelling on them,” Buck said. “Sure, there’s negative stuff out there, always will be. But you’ve got to zap those negative thoughts and focus on the positive.
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Darrin Donnelly (Think Like a Warrior: The Five Inner Beliefs That Make You Unstoppable (Sports for the Soul Book 1))
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Don't dwell on the past; keep your thoughts productive. Reflecting is beneficial, but avoid regretful thinking such as "I wish I had done this" or "I should have changed that.
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Chase Hill (How to Stop Overthinking: The 7-Step Plan to Control and Eliminate Negative Thoughts, Declutter Your Mind and Start Thinking Positively in 5 Minutes or ... (Master the Art of Self-Improvement Book 1))
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She lived every day in a bubble of bliss, refusing to let negativity inside, because she believed dwelling on the bad things or thoughts was the fastest way to rot your happiness from the inside out.
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Portia MacIntosh (Your Place or Mine?)
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Why dwell on negative thoughts? When you can think positively.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
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It is better to think positive than dwell on negative thoughts.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
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A crow, even in heaven, would eat shit!’ The mind is like that crow; even in the most favourable circumstances, the mind loves to dwell on negativity. You have to train the mind to eat good thoughts. This is the practice of looking for what is expansive and uplifting.
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Shankarananda (Consciousness Is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism)
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instead of dwelling on those negative thoughts,
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Anonymous
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Research indicates that those who obsessively ruminate tend to dwell on negative thoughts and emotions. There is, in fact, a strong correlation between this kind of rumination and depression.
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David DiSalvo (What Makes Your Brain Happy and Why You Should Do the Opposite)
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7. Be confident Most of the time, dyslexics who attend regular schools or educational institutes tend to lose their social confidence during their years in school. However, you must not make this have a way with you. Improving your self-confidence is probably the best thing anyone with dyslexia can do for themselves. 8. Trust yourself Other people may judge you; have misconceptions about you and your condition, however always remember that other people’s opinions about you is not always right. Believe in yourself and value yourself. Do not compare yourself with other people, instead, concentrate on improving yourself and don’t dwell too much on what others say. 9. Be positive Banish all your negative thoughts. Do not dwell on your past failures, difficulties, frustrations, disappointment, anxieties and everything that can make you feel depressed. Dispel all the negative energies. 10. Keep up to date with new technologies The technology today is very advanced. Monitor all new knowledge and findings on dyslexics through the internet. Be up to date with new technological advances which may help you in your condition such as word processors and organizers which can help you in writing and organizing daily activities. 11.
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Craig Donovan (Dyslexia: For Beginners - Dyslexia Cure and Solutions - Dyslexia Advantage (Dyslexic Advantage - Dyslexia Treatment - Dyslexia Therapy Book 1))
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February 18 The peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7 I decided to bring home the impact of this passage by paraphrasing it from a negative standpoint, turning this prescription for peace into a no-fail prescription for anxiety. My result looked like this: “Do not be calm about anything, but in everything, by dwelling on it constantly and feeling picked on by God, with thoughts like, ‘And this is the thanks I get,’ present your aggravations to everyone you know but Him. And the acid in your stomach, which transcends all milk products, will cause you an ulcer, and the doctor bills will cause you a heart attack, and you will lose your mind.
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Beth Moore (Breaking Free Day by Day)
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The Scripture tells us to guard our minds. Be selective of what you allow in. If the thought is negative, discouraging, bringing worry and fear, do yourself a favor and don’t let it in. It’s not complicated; don’t dwell on it. Don’t give it the time of day.
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Joel Osteen
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It is so important to take the time to refill our own cups before returning to work to take care of everyone else. Burnout is the #1 reason more than half of our nation's school teachers want to leave their field. So, prioritizing our own self care is so important. I want to encourage you all to remember that as we continue on this school year. Need some ideas? Here are 5 ways to practice self care after an emotionally taxing day:
1. take the time to reflect without dwelling on what went wrong. It's important to process and validate your emotions without focusing just on the negative. My suggestion: try spending a few minutes journaling your feelings to get all those thoughts and emotions out of your head and on to paper.
2. Make the space to appreciate everything you did right. It's so easy to get caught up in what went wrong, so try to capture all that went right and honor those things as well.
3. Do an activity that will make you feel better, whether it's a facemask, a long walk, or a stop at your favorite bakery on the way home. Find one way to treat yourself. Try to end your day off on a high note by doing something that makes you feel good.
4. Get some sleep, seriously. Chances are your body needs it. And in order to conquer the next day, its always a good idea to have a well rested body and mind.
5. Know that: just because today was hard, it doesn't mean tomorrow will be too. It's okay to have a bad day. Those are the days that help us appreciate the good ones even more. Try to remember that one bad day doesn't mean that the rest of the year will be the same. And don't forget: You've got this!
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Jessica Lepe (Flirty Little Secret)
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For example, if anger is the predominant energy vibration of the pain-body and you think angry thoughts, dwelling on what someone did to you or what you are going to do to him or her, then you have become unconscious, and the pain-body has become “you.” Where there is anger, there is always pain underneath. Or when a dark mood comes upon you and you start getting into a negative mind-pattern and thinking how dreadful your life is, your thinking has become aligned with the pain-body, and you have become unconscious and vulnerable to the pain-body’s attack. “Unconscious,” the way that I use the word here, means to be identified with some mental or emotional pattern. It implies a complete absence of the watcher.
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Eckhart Tolle (The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment)
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You know the voice inside your head that taunts you whenever you try to be optimistic? It criticizes you when things get tough. It whines and repeats negative mantras like “You can’t do it. You’ll never be loved. You’re going to look stupid.”
Let's call that voice Self-Doubt. Every negative thought you've ever had about yourself came from Self-Doubt. Whenever you focus on what Self-Doubt says, you activate the feelings those thoughts created in you. When you remember and dwell on these negative thoughts, Self-Doubt strips you of your confidence. Self-Doubt is like a manipulative man. It tries to belittle you and steal your happiness. It wants to leave you scared and insecure.
The only way to silence Self-Doubt is by consciously activating another thought. In other words, remove a negative thought by replacing it with another thought.
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Leandra De Andrade (This Girl's Got Game: A Smart Girls Guide to Having the Upper Hand over Men in This Game Called Love)
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Never give anybody permission to disturb your peace. Always ignore negative comments. Dwell on positive thoughts and occupy your mind with songs of praise.
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Lailah Gifty Akita
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Keep a rumination record – Rumination is a toxic practice of dwelling on negative thoughts. Keep an hourly rumination record to catch yourself ruminating and identify when you ruminate more/less. Prepare to actively distract or relax yourself during trigger periods.
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Ayesha Ratnayake (Cheat Sheets for Life: Over 750 hacks for health, happiness and success)
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I am a Pagan and I dedicate myself to channeling the spiritual energy of my inner self to help and to heal myself and others. I know that I am part of the whole of nature. May I grow in understanding of the unity of all nature. May I always walk in balance. May I always be mindful of the diversity of nature, as well as it's unity and may I always be tolerant of those whose race, appearance, sex, sexual preference, culture, and other ways differ from my own. May I use the force wisely and not use it for aggression nor for malevolent purposes. May I never direct it to curtail the freewill of another. May I always be mindful that I create my own reality and the I have the power within me to create positivity in my life. May I always act in honorable ways: being honest with myself and others, keeping my word whenever I have given it, fulfilling all responsibilities and commitments I have taken on to the best of my ability. May I always remember that whatever is sent out always returns magnified to the sender. May the forces of Karma move swiftly to remind me of these spiritual commitments when I have begun to falter from them, and may use this Karmic feedback t help myself grow and be more attuned to my inner Pagan spirit. May I always remain strong and committed to my spiritual ideas in the face of adversity and negativity. May the force of my inner spirit ground out all malevolence directed my way and transform it into positivity. May my inner light shine so strongly that malevolent forces cannot even approach my sphere of existence. May I always grow in inner wisdom and understanding. May I see every problem that I face as an opportunity to develop myself spiritually in solving it. May I always act out of love to all other beings on this planet-to other humans, to plants, animals, minerals, elementals, spirits and other entities. May I always be mindful that the Goddess and God in all their forms dwell within me and that Divinity is reflected through my own inner self, my pagan spirit. May I always channel love and light from my being. May my inner spirit, rather than my ego self, guide all my thoughts, feelings and actions. ...So mote it be.
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The Pagan Creed
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I knew from experience that feelings aren’t to be ignored. We feel for a reason. We should embrace feelings and let them pass in their own time. The important thing, I knew, was not to dwell on thoughts that are bad or negative.
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James Russell Lingerfelt (Young Vines)
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Sometimes we all have negative thoughts every now and then, but we can choose not to dwell in them and not to let them control us.
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James Hilton
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I should also let you in on a little secret: optimistic people have pessimistic thoughts all the time. The most optimistic people among us are still plagued by negative thoughts, the difference is that they don’t dwell on them or ruminate.
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Brian King (The Art of Taking It Easy: How to Cope with Bears, Traffic, and the Rest of Life's Stressors)
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Your present negative beliefs were formed by thought plus feelings. Generate enough emotion, or deep feeling, and your new thoughts and ideas will cancel them out. If you will analyze this, you will see that you are using a process you have often used before—worry! The only difference is you change your goals from negative to positive. When you worry, you first of all picture some undesirable future outcome, or goal, very vividly in your imagination. You use no effort or willpower. But you keep dwelling on the “end result.” You keep thinking about it—dwelling on it—picturing it to yourself as a “possibility.” You play with the idea that it “might happen.” This constant repetition, and thinking in terms of “possibilities,” makes the end result appear more and more “real” to you. After time, appropriate emotions are automatically generated—fear, anxiety, discouragement—all these are appropriate to the undesirable end result you are worrying about. Now change the “goal picture”—and you can as easily generate “good emotions.” Constantly picturing to yourself, and dwelling on, a desirable end result will also make the possibility seem more real—and again appropriate emotions of enthusiasm, cheerfulness, encouragement, and happiness will automatically be generated. “In forming good emotional habits, and in breaking bad ones,” said Dr. Knight Dunlap, “we have to deal primarily with thought and thought habits. ‘As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.
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Maxwell Maltz (Psycho-Cybernetics: Updated and Expanded)
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Focus on the positive
Here’s the key: Just because a thought comes doesn’t mean you have to dwell on it. You control the doorway to your mind. If the thought is negative, discouraging, and pushing you down, then dismiss it. Don’t dwell on it. Keep the door closed. Choose to dwell on thoughts that empower you, inspire you, and encourage you to have faith, hope, and joy.
If you keep your mind filled with the right thoughts, there won’t be any room for the wrong thoughts. All through the day you should be focused on the positive: “Something good is going to happen to me. I’m strong, healthy, talented, disciplined. I’m fun to be around. My children will be mighty in the land. I can do all things through Christ. I will pass this chemistry test. I will meet the right person. I will overcome this challenge. My best days are still out in front of me.”
When your mind is filled with thoughts of faith, hope, and victory, you will draw in the good things of God.
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Joel Osteen (You Can You Will: 8 Undeniable Qualities of a Winner)
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Learning what is going on in your mind and body Breaking down what is making you feel sad or overwhelmed Focusing on the thoughts, actions, and feelings that make you depressed Making problems more manageable Correcting the misinterpretations that you may have Controlling the negative thoughts that lead to loss of interest and feelings of worthlessness Helping you learn how to accept loss, disappointment, and failure and how to not blow these experiences out of proportion or dwell on them for too long Learning new strategies to combat sadness and hopelessness Learning techniques for problem-solving
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Travis Wells (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: A Beginners Guide to CBT with Simple Techniques for Retraining the Brain to Defeat Anxiety, Depression, and Low-Self Esteem)
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Life is a series of moments and moments are always changing, just like thoughts, negative and positive. And although it may be human nature to dwell, like many natural things it's senseless, senseless to allow a single thought to inhabit a mind because thoughts are like guests or fair-weather friends.
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Cecelia Ahern (How to Fall in Love)
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Nothing! thou elder brother even to Shade:
That hadst a being ere the world was made,
And well fixed, art alone of ending not afraid.
Ere Time and Place were, Time and Place were not,
When primitive Nothing Something straight begot;
Then all proceeded from the great united What.
Something, the general attribute of all,
Severed from thee, its sole original,
Into thy boundless self must undistinguished fall;
Yet Something did thy mighty power command,
And from fruitful Emptiness’s hand
Snatched men, beasts, birds, fire, air, and land.
Matter the wicked’st offspring of thy race,
By Form assisted, flew from thy embrace,
And rebel Light obscured thy reverend dusky face.
With Form and Matter, Time and Place did join;
Body, thy foe, with these did leagues combine
To spoil thy peaceful realm, and ruin all thy line;
But turncoat Time assists the foe in vain,
And bribed by thee, destroys their short-lived reign,
And to thy hungry womb drives back thy slaves again.
Though mysteries are barred from laic eyes,
And the divine alone with warrant pries
Into thy bosom, where truth in private lies,
Yet this of thee the wise may truly say,
Thou from the virtuous nothing dost delay,
And to be part with thee the wicked wisely pray.
Great Negative, how vainly would the wise
Inquire, define, distinguish, teach, devise,
Didst thou not stand to point their blind philosophies!
Is, or Is Not, the two great ends of Fate,
And True or False, the subject of debate,
That perfect or destroy the vast designs of state—
When they have racked the politician’s breast,
Within thy Bosom most securely rest,
And when reduced to thee, are least unsafe and best.
But Nothing, why does Something still permit
That sacred monarchs should at council sit
With persons highly thought at best for nothing fit,
While weighty Something modestly abstains
From princes’ coffers, and from statemen’s brains,
And Nothing there like stately Nothing reigns?
Nothing! who dwell’st with fools in grave disguise
For whom they reverend shapes and forms devise,
Lawn sleeves, and furs, and gowns, when they like thee look wise:
French truth, Dutch prowess, British policy,
Hibernian learning, Scotch civility,
Spaniards’ dispatch, Danes’ wit are mainly seen in thee.
The great man’s gratitude to his best friend,
Kings’ promises, whores’ vows—towards thee may bend,
Flow swiftly into thee, and in thee ever end.
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John Wilmot (The Complete Poems)
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Your thoughts create your reality. Your thoughts can even give you your voice. A negative mindset will produce a quaking, wavering voice; the very voice it dwelled on the fear of having. A positive mindset will produce a voice of strength and powerful resonation; the very voice it convinced itself it had.
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Peter Andrei (How to Master Public Speaking: Gain public speaking confidence, defeat public speaking anxiety, and learn 297 tips to public speaking. Master the art of public speaking, communication, and rhetoric.)