Spiritists believe that the majority of mental illnesses (not caused by obvious psychosocial or biological problems), including addiction, are strongly influenced by the patient’s interaction with negatively motivated spirits. These spirits can attach themselves to an individual for a period of time, influencing that person’s thoughts and diminishing his or her free will. These negative spirits are often confused, not knowing that they are dead. They can be still attached to the pleasures of material life (such as drinking alcohol to excess or abusing drugs) or they may be seeking revenge for harm caused in previous lifetimes (for example, having been murdered by the person to whom they are now attached).
An essential part of being a spiritist is learning to replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts. This type of emotional healing helps make amends for our prior negative behaviors, which can remove spirits who have negative intentions. Mediums may be needed to help us discover the circumstances in our prior lifetimes that have led to problems in this lifetime. By discussing the earlier events, atoning for past wrongdoing, and finding more ethical and wise patterns of relating in the present, we can be freed of the karma of our past transgressions.
How do we identify our negative thinking?
Here are some common forms of negative self-talk (thing we say or do to ourselves):
Filtering: Magnifying the negative aspects of a situation and filtering out all of the positive ones. For example, if we were complimented for a great day at work, once we are back home, we might focus only on our plan to do even more tasks - and forget about the earlier compliment we received.
Personalizing: When something bad occurs, we blame ourselves. For example, if an event with friends is canceled, we might assume that the change in plans was because of us.
Catastrophe: Automatically anticipating the worst. The drive-through coffee shop gets our order wrong, so we automatically think that the rest of our day will be a disaster.
Polarizing: We see things only as either good or bad. There is no middle ground. We feel that we must be perfect, and when we are not - we have failed.
How can we focus on positive thinking?
It may take some time and practice to behave in a positive and optimistic way:
Identify the areas to change: Think about the areas of in our lives that we typically think negatively about - maybe it's work, a daily commute or a relationship. This identifying helps us to start small by focusing on one specific item to approach in a more positive way.
Check yourself: Periodically during the day, stop and evaluate what your thinking. If you find that your thoughts are mainly negative, try to find a way to put a positive spin on them.
Be open to humor: Give yourself permission to smile or laugh, especially during difficult times. Seek humor in everyday happenings. When we laugh at life, we feel less stressed.
Follow a healthy lifestyle: Exercise to positively affect our mood and to reduce stress. Follow a healthy diet to fuel the mind and body. Learn techniques to manage stress.
Surround ourselves with positive people: Make sure others in our life are positive, supportive people we can depend on to give helpful advice and feedback. Negative people can increase our stress level and lead us to doubt our ability to find anything positive.
Practice positive self-talk: Start by following one simple rule: We should not say anything to ourselves that we wouldn't say to anyone else. We need to be gentle and encouraging with ourselves. When a negative thought enters our mind, evaluate it honestly and respond with positive thoughts of our good, decent qualities.
Putting positive thinking into practice
If we normally have a negative outlook, we cannot expect to become an optimist overnight. But with practice, eventually our self-talk will contain less criticism and more acceptance. When our state of mind is generally optimistic, we are better able to handle everyday stress in a more constructive way. There are widely observed health benefits of positive thinking. And when we find a better self awareness for ourselves, we become less critical of the world around us.
Sources:
- Mayo Clinic web page, ("Healthy Lifestyle - Stress Management")
- Spirituality & Health ("The Healing Spirits of Brazil")
September/October 2016 Issue
- Bragdon, Emma, PHD, Kardec's Spiritism: A Home for Healing and
Spiritual Evolution (2004 ed.)
No comments:
Post a Comment
It's always nice to hear from you!