Seed
When I was younger, I had a bad habit of always seeing the worst happen in every situation. Every day I would use my mind to look where things can go wrong. It was like I was programmed to search my mind for the worst possible situation and I started believing that this negative situation I created in my imagination was going to become a reality. Mostly none of these situations I created became a reality, but I believe in a few cases, my thoughts manifested in real life and caused me years of struggle and negativity.
When I was about 20 years old, I was on a very destructive path of alcohol abuse, bad relationships and violence. The influences in my life were mostly negative and the input I had from everyone around me was of poor quality. The lifestyle I lived was one of continuous anger, fighting and destruction. One night my rage boiled over and I got out of my car in a road rage incident, I was stabbed several times by the motorist I confronted. I was taken to hospital and after nearly losing my life, I started the long road to recovery.
This situation I believe happened as a direct result of what was going on in my thought life. I had been in a bad situation where I had felt little self worth. I was well acquainted with violence and fighting and was thinking about fighting with people a large percentage of my day. I felt weak and wanted to control my environment through violence. Another influence was the bad things that were happening in South Africa, There was continuously programmed into my thoughts that people get hi jacked, To always be vigilant, basically to be afraid because it was only a matter of time before it was your turn. I believe in covering the bases to keep yourself safe, but this was fear being instilled into my being.
What I later realized in my life is that what you plant in the ground of your heart has a way of eventually coming up. Some use the law of attraction to explain this principle, but I choose to explain it by the sowing and reaping analogy. I had seed (Thoughts) that I was planting in the ground of my heart which eventually manifested as fruit in my life. The thoughts (seeds) I planted can be called violence seeds and the fruit that I harvested, you guessed it, was none other than violence fruit.
So how do you change this negative thinking process? I believe that one of the biggest gifts we were given as humans is free will. You can choose what you think. The apostle Paul says to not conform to the thinking of this world (Fear, violence,doubt,etc) but to be transformed by renewing our minds. To what? To heavenly things(faith, hope, love, joy, etc) This shows clearly that we have a choice to change our thoughts. We can choose what we think about and what we think about is repeated and confirmed a couple of times, It becomes a belief. And the belief shapes a big part of our behavior.
Practically you can start today.
Step 1
Start listening to what is going on in your thoughts. You might be so numb to all the negativity, but you will start recognizing the sentences that are repeated in certain situations. I am not skilled enough, I am a bad person, I have always failed, I am not good at business, this is a dangerous situation, What am I going to do wrong at work today. You will start recognizing these types of sentences that you repeat, sometimes a thousand times a day. Investigate your heart for its content.
Step 2
Choose to "Take these thoughts captive". You stop this thought from going any further. Once you are aware of the negative thought, You make a choice to stop that thought in its tracks. You become a jailer of any thought that seeks to destroy and demotivate you.
Step 3
You change these thoughts into positive affirmations about yourself. God has planned a life of abundance for you and He has plans to prosper you. You may gladly think about things like being loved and having overflowing peace and joy. You can tell yourself that you were destined for a victorious life. Starting to think and speak these things will be like planting seeds of good fruit. Fruit that will taste sweet and wholesome. Fruit that will serve to give you a life of abundance. Speaking heavenly truth in faith will bring an abundant harvest.
The power of our thoughts are so many times underestimated. Use it to have a blessed life.
It is your choice!
Blessings
Du Waal
