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The old saw “What you don’t know, can’t hurt you” is wrong. What you don’t know can hurt you.
We are all raised in a specific culture, and in a certain part of that specific culture. I was raised in the United States in a fundamental Christian culture. Because of my early training I came to believe as true what I was taught. This is the same for everyone no matter what culture they grow up in.
I was taught the Bible was the living word of God. I was told belief not works was the way to heaven, and if I didn’t believe Jesus was God, that He died for my sins, I would go to hell. I would be burned forever in a lake of fire full of devils and demons. That scared me beyond belief. I was never sure I was properly “saved”, so I would answer the call to the altar frequently trying to lessen my fear of God, and hell.
Much later in life, after I started to read, and learn about the world I lived in, I discovered the value of knowledge.
Reading Bible history I discovered what I was taught as the living word of God was really a Biblical interpretation by Martin Luther during the reformation. An interpretation not held by many Christians.
The more I read the more discoveries I made. I used religion as an example, but science is not any better. Many things found in science books are only theories and not reality. History differs from country to country. Also the teachings of public schools and colleges are subject to change with time.
The purpose of this article is to get you to read outside your comfort zone. If you are religious, read science, and vice versa. Read the history of religion and science, don’t be reluctant to learn.
New knowledge will not change who you are, or what you believe in, only you can change yourself. So don’t be afraid to read material you disagree with, it will help you gain insight into the beliefs of others, and help you better understand your own beliefs.
Hi, my name is Britney and I am going to be 20 in July. I feel like I have learned things so early on, that for some people takes a lifetime. I have gained so much spiritual wisdom from Lekatt and others, now it’s all about practicing and living those principles. It is easier said than done but not impossible. We have all the time in the world and we are eternal. We all get bad thoughts but that doesn’t mean we should give up hope. Nothing is ever too far gone. There is hope for you yet!
I wrote this essay because I needed to hear it myself. I am preaching to myself because I am still in the process of thinking positively. So I need to take my own advice! My writing is my gift to the world, so I am glad to help you!
Positive thinking is like exercising a muscle. Only it gives you a mental workout. The more you use it, the better you will be at it. It’s not possible to think positive all of the time, but you want the majority of your thoughts to reflect good and happy things.
People may not think positive because they might not know the right tools to use for becoming a positive person. Some things that will help you be positive are: coping skills, building up encouragement, changing your thoughts by developing good habits, surrounding yourself with positive people, and being spiritual.
Real positive thinking works by implementing coping skills. Here are some of mine. Pray, think positive thoughts, write poetry and letters, read the Bible, draw or color, listen to music, socialize, sleep, and take walks. Something any of us could try: hold on to the good in life, reflect on what God has done for you, think of funny movie lines, sing a happy song in your head, or go to your happy place.
I would also evaluate, think through, downplay, examine, and analyze your problems. Pick apart your problems and try to see what really matters, and what can be tossed aside over your shoulder. You can see what is important now, and what can wait till later. You can say, “I’ll deal with that when the time comes.” As a result, coping skills will help your problems be more manageable.
My dad said, “you can’t choose if a bird flies over you, but you can choose where it builds its nest.” If a bad thought comes into your head, just let it go right out again. “Put those thoughts in a drawer,” said Uncle Don. Coping skills involves self-talk. Here are some thoughts to think about: you can realize it’s your responsibility to be happy. Think how can I make this a positive?
You can become in love with life by thinking of life as an adventure. Every time you step out of your house is an adventure! Think about how the possibilities are endless. My Grandma Betty said, “The sky is the limit.” If you keep that perspective, nothing in life will seem dull or boring. You won’t even have time to worry or think negatively, because your mind will be so focused on the good in life.
Build up encouragement in your heart that you can store so God can bring it to your mind when you need it most. If the economy goes into a recession and you suffer a loss, you will have things stored up that you can draw on when you need to. Encouragement is like free checks that you can cash in anytime you want. You could either have a journal, scrapbook, binder, or something you can look at and remember when you need that extra boost of encouragement. You never know when catastrophes might strike next. People’s lives are constantly being uprooted by family problems, weather disasters, you name it. The reason why it is important to have encouragement that you can live off of until you fill your love tank again.
Changing your thoughts by developing good habits is important. Some things can become an obsession. Frodo Baggins in the “Lord of the Rings” became obsessed with the ring and the longer he had it the harder it became to resist it. It’s easier to break a habit when you first notice it, instead of waiting years and years to stop. People like my grandma who smoke find it hard to break the habit.
My Dad stopped smoking before he became addicted to it. The Bible talks about strongholds. It is anything that builds itself up and is keeping you from being free. I like the song by “Rush of Fools” that says, “Turn me around, pick me up, and undo what I have become.” This is saying that you can reverse what habits you have now. A conversation I had with a friend, “It takes time and a lot of affirmations to dim the old habits. So be patient with yourself,” said Leroy. “But I get into the old habit of talking to the voice in my head,”
Britney. “You have chosen the habit in the past and now you are struggling with it. To release it takes forming good habits where there were sad ones before. Therefore, having good habits will make you struggle a lot less in your life. You will save yourself a lot of mental pain.”
Have at least one positive person in your life because the people you are around most, are what you’ll become. You want to be a person that others can look up to. I picked up the habits and mannerisms of speaking of my friends, and my parents. I also started to sound like my mentor, with the words I chose and what I believed.
People who travel to different parts of the country that speak different accents will start sounding like they have the accent. I started sounding a little countryish when I went to Missouri after staying there a week. It is important to watch positive shows, listen to positive music, and speak positive things, because it becomes a part of who you are.
I am very sensitive to things, so it is crucial for me to remember this. The saying, “Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil,” is very true. Whomever you associate with will affect everything else in your life. If you associate with good positive people, you may save yourself from going down the wrong path, and/or dying a premature death.
“Do not imitate what is bad, but what is good,” 3 John 1:11.
“Be imitators of God, as dearly loved children.” Ephesians 5:1.
Even if you are friendless, you will always have your Creator with you. He said He will never leave you nor forsake you. That’s something to be positive about! I read an article that it is proven that people who go to church live longer and are more happy. I think the reason why they are happy is because they are connected in a community of people, their time is filled up with a good activity, and because they have people who look after them.
When they see someone suffering they step in to help. I think being spiritual removes the fear of death, and gives you peace about it. If you know that one day you will see your loved ones again and that they are safe with God, it makes the loss easier to bear. Even though the fear of public speaking is the number one fear, I am guessing that the fear of death falls closely behind it. It is not impossible to remove your fear of death. I still worry about it sometimes, but you can learn to accept that death is a part of life, and not the end to existence. Thus, spirituality helps you cope with life’s uncertainties.
Positive thinking changes your life by giving you skills to lessen your problems, gives you the strength to go on, helps you to lower conflict in yourself, because you have formed good habits. Positive thinking helps you be that person others can follow as an example, and spirituality adds a dimension to give you hope.
If you are looking for a makeover why not try positive thinking? If you are on drugs for mental problems you should go to the root, (which is your thoughts), and take that on first. I think medicine (for mental problems) needs to go to the back bench, and let these five steps act as a runner to send you on the road to victory.
While I stood there, I saw more than I can tell, and understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner…the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being.
Black Elk
To love one’s self in the right way and to love one’s neighbors are absolutely analogous concepts, are at bottom one and the same…Hence the law is: “You shall love yourself as you love your neighbor when you love him as yourself.”
Soren Kierkegaard
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark;
the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the Light.”
Plato
“Those who say there is only one road to Rome don’t know Rome very well.” New Thought teaches us not only to tolerate but to honor all paths to God. All religions have love at their core. We are meant to learn to love one another, love God and love ourselves. No religion is bigger than God.
St. Jude Tadeo is considered the patron saint of hopeless causes. Many pray to him for comfort and help. But there is no such thing as hopelessness. We may believe in hopelessness because our vision is blurred, our knowledge limited, and our faith weak.
We forget we are eternal children of the Father, and will live on after the death of our bodies. All those opportunities we thought we missed, the tests we failed, all the things we didn’t do will still be waiting for us to try again.
Friends and loved ones we thought were gone forever will reappear in the eternal moment of life after death. Our Father loves us more than we can ever know here on earth; He holds us safe and secure at all times; He never harms us in anyway. Don’t dispair, the mistake you made, the loved one you lost is only temporary. Hope is eternal, because we are eternal.
“Desire and hope will push us on toward the future.”
Michel de Montaigne
French writer and philosopher 1533-1592
