Romans 12: 2 NIV https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+12%3A2&version=NIV
I have a desire to test what a renewal of the mind will do. I have a desire to know what God's perfect will for me and all of us is. So Uell S. Andersen challenges us to partake in a 30 day mental fast from all negative thinking on the premise if we think only positively we will connect to God's Will for us.
Does our thinking create the world around us?
Still pondering that question and in one breath I am saying, "Would that not be an amazing thing?" and in the next, "Oh My God! Look what I have done! I better get rid of that negativity before I have to go through one more self created challenge, before I cause more pain and suffering for myself and others!" The possibility of this being true causes both awe and panic.
What about you? How do you feel about the possibility of this being true? And if there was even the slimmest possibility that it was true, what would you do differently? Would you have to do a lot of "cognitive restructuring", changing old nasty thoughts and beliefs ingrained in that subconscious mind of yours? Are you even aware of what you got going on up there, out there or in there ( wherever the subconscious mind actually is)? Do you know whether your thoughts are primarily positive, negative or neutral? Are you aware of how these thoughts affect your Life?
Our Thoughts Do Have An Impact On our Lives
Regardless if they are the actual cause of everything before you, I guarantee, in one way or another they do affect you. As I have studied, learned and written so many times before, thoughts and beliefs affect our bodies... therefore they are, at least partially, responsible for our physical health. (Read something on the Placebo and Nocebo effect, or something by Bruce Lipton or Dr. Lissa Rankin.) Thoughts and beliefs also affect our emotional experiences and our mental health. Ask any psychologist or psychiatrist about the truth of this.
So our thoughts do affect us. If they are positive, we will feel "good" and if they are negative we will feel "bad". We get that, don't we? Is that not reason enough to try to think more positively? To change our thinking so we feel better physically and emotionally? And if we feel better emotionally and physically are we not going to improve our lives?
A Chance to Observe and Examine The Mind
We cannot even begin to readjust our thinking and believing until we know what we are thinking and believing. Shouldn't we all know that, instead of going blindly reactively through Life?
Hmmm! This 30 day challenge I will embark on in the near future is not only going to give me an opportunity to test the hypothesis: If you change your thinking, you will change your life (considering, of course, the variables of individual experience as both subject and object), but it is also going to give me the chance to really examine my own mind. To look deeply into it, to see what thoughts I have going on in the conscious mind and most importantly what seeds/ prompters/ core beliefs I have buried deep within the subconscious. It will give me the opportunity to see how this mind of mine effects my body and my emotional living experience. That in itself, is a good reason for taking part in such a fast, right?
Will Circumstances Change?
Then I will test it further to see if the external circumstances I think are responsible for the "good" experiences and the "bad" experiences of my life actually change when I refuse to think negatively for 30 days. Is my health going to change? Am I going to have more energy? Am I going to have less pain? Is this mass finally going to be diagnosed, removed? Is my house going to fall into order? Is my writing going to get published? Is my present 4 digit annual salary going to increase? Will I be able to keep the house when the disability insurance runs out in October? Are my children going to be well and happy?
I don't think I ask for much here, do I? My desiring is pretty basic but still it is a leap from what I am presently learning to accept. The thing is I am learning to accept this life the way it is now and appreciate it, find blessing in it and even enjoy it. So even if my circumstances do not change ...I will be okay.
Do Circumstances Have to Change for Me to Get What I Really Want?
That brings up the question: Am I settling with less than and making the most of my situation because I have doubt it will change, can change? Is my being okay with what is, going to be a hindrance or a promoter of me getting more?
I mean I could ask for even more than the basic. I would love to travel, to have my books published and making a difference in people's lives, to teach on stages across the world, to create and be a service to all the causes I find touch me deeply: addiction, mental illness, aging support, feeding and educating poverty stricken children, palliative care. Those would be cool circumstances...they really would be but I also know I do not need to wait until I have those things manifesting in my day to day experiences to truly have what I want: Peace, Faith, joy and laughter.
What do I really, really want then? I want the freedom from this thing that has been dragging me down all my life...fear. I want peace of mind and connection with God's Will for me. I get that and it wouldn't matter if I was digging ditches for the rest of my life with a shackle around my ankle, would it?
Hmm! Getting ahead of myself. The main purpose of my partaking in this 30 day mental fast is to help me examine and know my mind better and to see how it is affecting me and my life. Determining whether a change in thought changes external circumstances, is secondary.
And though thy knees were never bent ;To heaven thy hourly prayers are sent ;And whether formed for good or ill ;Are registered and answered still.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
It is all good! All is well in my world.
Andersen, Uell S.. Three Magic Words . BN Publishing. Kindle Edition.
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