A Helpful Way to Increase Your Faith

Ah, that dreaded F word. No, not that one. Another one. Many of us seem to struggle with this one. It’s the topic of faith. We know we’re supposed to have faith. We know that the more faith we have, the more likely we are to realize our goals and desires. Yet we still often times lack this important ingredient.

I read a BIble verse earlier that reminded me about a post I had written about two years ago based on a sermon by pastor Andy Stanley. The verse is from Romans 4:21. It is based on Abraham who, even though he and his wife who desired a child, yet he and his wife were far beyond the age of conceiving children. Regardless, Abraham still had faith. The verse says he was “fully convinced that God had the power to do what He had promised.”

One reason we sometimes lack faith is that we try to figure out how God is going to act on our behalf. We tend to over-complicate things and wonder too much if, when, and how he will act. This often trips us up and only delays the process. Here is the key I learned and shared in the previous post... don’t focus on whether or how God will answer your prayer. Instead, know that he can! Just have that faith. Be fully convinced that he can. I think we all know He can do anything, and can certainly manage the small details of our lives. The key is to lean on that understanding.

Know that God can do it. Focus on that, do what you believe you are being led to do, and let the remaining details take care of themselves. I’ve seen for myself how this automatically increases the level of faith. I believe you will experience the same. Enjoy the blessings 🙂

Focus on These Two Words to Make an Awesome Impression

I live in the Unites States, which is not such a great place to be right now. I don’t mean to start a post on a positive thinking blog on such a negative note, but stick with me. It leads to what I’m about to share.

People here are frustrated. Besides the high crime and daily mass shootings, prices are rising at record rates. People can barely afford to breathe here anymore, never mind afford the daily essentials. Another dangerous trend that I’m seeing, is people taking this frustration out on each other. More than ever, I notice people being flat out mean to each other. In a way, you can’t blame them. At times, I’ve fallen into the same trap. I am usually a very nice, patient person. However, in recent times, I notice my tolerance level is lower than it’s been. I feel the stress of all this too, so I understand why most people are not happy right now and project those negative feelings upon others.

I will say that I hate being that way. I recently caught myself acting a bit (ok, a lot) impatiently towards others. I decided right there that I had to change back to my normal, positive attitude. I just didn’t like the feeling of negativity, and knowing I was projecting that towards others. I promised myself I would deliberately demonstrate kindness to other people.

I didn’t really do anything out of the ordinary for me, though I hadn’t been doing them a lot recently. Simple things like smiling, saying thank you, a small compliment, etc. These were just little things. However, I noticed the reactions were huge. Due to the flood of negativity in our world, these actions were unexpected. I felt like people were surprised. “Wait, why is this person being nice? People aren’t usually like this. Is this supposed to be happening?” I felt like this is what people were thinking. Yet, I could tell they appreciated it. I often received a smile and a thank you in return. It appeared that their demeanor changed for the better as well.

These simple actions are not rocket science. As I’ve said before, there are too many times where I lack the patience with people and positivity towards them that I should have. However, in the past few days, I’ve re-learned this… due to the negativity in our world now, if you demonstrate any type of kindness and positive demeanor to people, you will stand out.

Do you want to be noticed in a big and great way by people and make a positive difference in your world? I have two words of advice…. BE KIND. Enjoy the blessings 🙂

Avoid Resisting Negative Thoughts

My main theme on this site is to think positively. I’ve shared a million times that, when we think positive thoughts, it results in positive outcomes in our lives. What we think is usually what we get. That means the same is true for negative thoughts. If we continuously think negative thoughts, we unfortunately deal with negative outcomes.

So why does my title say to avoid resisting the negative thoughts? If negative thoughts bring negative outcomes, shouldn’t we do all we can to resist any negative thoughts? It’s an excellent question. After all, I’ve already said it. If we want positive situations in our lives, we need to think positive thoughts, not negative ones. Yes, we do need to remove negative thoughts. However, we need to be careful about how we do it.

I was recently re-reading a book by Rhonda Byrne called “The Greatest Secret.” It’s an amazing book (as all of hers are). One of the chapters deals with this subject about dealing with negative thoughts. In this chapter, Rhonda reminds us that it is counter-productive to resist negative thoughts. The reason is that the more we resist something, the more we give power to it. For example, I’ve recently had some negative thoughts about money. Our country is a mess right now, with prices from gas, food, travel, and pretty much everything else going through the roof. After going through a rather comfortable financial season recently, my family and I are starting to feel the crunch. Due to the much higher prices, we are struggling to keep up. As a result, I was having negative thoughts about money. I know that negative thoughts don’t serve me well, so I was fighting these thoughts. However, as I’ve learned in the past, fighting them only makes it worse, brings more stress, and doesn’t solve the problem.

Instead, I was reminded in this book of a different strategy. In fact, I’ve shared this in recent posts. Since I needed another reminder, I felt the need to share with you. The key is to avoid resisting the negative thoughts. Rather than fighting it, the best strategy is to simply acknowledge and allow the negative thoughts. When you notice a negative thought, stop and accept it for what it is. It is only a thought, and you are not that thought. So accept the thought. Actually allow it. As you allow it, you acknowledge that you have full control over it, and every thought. It’s not the other way around.

Again, it seems to go against the logic of positive thinking. However, in the past few days I’ve experienced the results of following this advice. When I was receiving the flood of negative money thoughts, I stopped and followed this advice. I acknowledged that I had negative thoughts about money. Instead of fighting them, I allowed them. I accepted them for what they were, and eventually released them. This alone provided an instant peace. However, things really changed when I took it a step further. Once the negative thoughts were released, I began searching for truthful thoughts. I thought about how God provides countless reminders in the Bible about His provision. I began to reflect on some of these verses.

This is where the magic really happened. As I did this, my mind automatically starting filling with positive thoughts. My overall feeling vibration also changed in a major way. Instead of feeling doubtful and stressed, my emotional vibration was at the highest end of the scale. I was thankful for God’s provision. I was joyful that these negative thoughts that were weighing me down had disappeared. Remember, it is these high emotional states that bring the greatest manifestations. No, I haven’t received any financial miracles yet. However, I was reminded of some other things. I am due for a significant raise at my job in the near future. As I a teacher, I am on vacation for the next 8 weeks, and I have some significant money making opportunities in front of me. I know I will be fine, at the very least.

Once again, I remind you. Instead of resisting the negative thoughts, acknowledge them and release them when you are ready to do so. Another great benefit of this according to Rhonda Byrne is that, besides releasing the negative thoughts that have held you down lately, this process releases all of the past thoughts about that as well. In my example, this not only helps me get over my recent financial stresses, but also helps remove money blocking negative thoughts I have had in the past. What a great relief! Hopefully the benefit of great peace, and moving from some of the lower to highest emotional states is an inspiration to help you with this process. It has helped me immensely, and I know it can help you too. Enjoy the blessings 🙂

Prayers for Buffalo

I’m sure you’ve heard on the news that Buffalo, New York was the latest victim of the wave of senseless, mass killings that continue to plague this country. Even though it happened about 25 minutes from where I live, and in a part of town that I rarely go to, I am still very shaken by this. Good people in my city lost their lives, or had them negatively changed forever.

In addition, I am very angry at this. I know this space is reserved for positive thoughts, and I do have some encouragement. In a lot of ways I don’t know what to think, nor what to do. It is in situations like that, where I resort to the only thing I know what to do, and that is to pray.

This may upset some people, but I must say that I am rather sick of life in the good ol’ D.S.A (Divided States of America) these days. People hate each other, mass shootings are daily news stories, the land of the free has more restrictions than I can count, and common people can’t even afford to live anymore. I can do my part, and so can you. However, we can only do so much. We need God’s intervention. Now!

God does respond to prayer. I know some of you are wondering where He was when this was happening. I wish I had an answer for why He allows these things to happen, but I don’t. I just know that when I leave things to Him, He comes through. Always.

This situation is happening all over this country. It was the first time people in my city have had to cope with this. If things don’t change, it won’t be the last. I ask you to join me in prayer for Buffalo, and for the protection of every other city in the States. We need the madness in our country to end sooner than later. I believe prayer is powerful, and we can use it as one of the ways to unite and change the country and the world for the better. Thank you 🙂

Can We Be Individuals Together?

Last I checked, there were about 7 billion people on this earth. Many individuals, wouldn’t you say? So there you have it. I’ve answered the question of my title already, and it’s obviously a virtual impossibility that 7 billion individuals can all be together, right?

Before you accept the conclusion and stop reading, allow me to place some other thoughts in your mind. I was reading some interesting info the other day, and a very ironic thought was presented to me. When you look up the origin of the word individual, it actually means…. indivisible!! So what does this mean? I believe it actually means that the 7 billion individuals on this earth now are indivisible. We are all one energy, and one spirit. Don’t believe me? Let’s go to the ultimate resource in my opinion, the Bible. There are several verses about this, but one that stands out is I Corinthians 12:12-13, which says “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by^[a] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” Another version says… Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. Another verse that shares this is Ephesians 4:4, which says there is “one body and one spirit.”

I am learning more each day that all of the individuals on this planet are actually all one energy and spirit. We all live, move, and have our being in that spirit, the spirit of God. Imagine how much more wonderful this ride of life would be if we realized that. This is why it is so important to love others as ourselves. Because when you love others, in essence you are loving yourself too! When you give to others, the blessings multiply in your own life as well because you are blessing yourself, the same spirit that lives in all, when you give to another “individual”.

I challenge you today to know that you are part of the wonderful, peaceful, loving spirit of God. And so is everyone else. Instead of competing with other individuals, strengthen the bond that we all are instead. It will make a beautiful difference. Enjoy the blessings 🙂

Throwing Back Negative Thoughts

Photo by Tim Gouw on Pexels.com

Those that know me well know that I love baseball. There are many interesting traditions in baseball, but one that has always entertained me is with fans of the Chicago Cubs. When a Cub hits a home run, the fan that catches the ball is able to keep it. However, whenever someone who is on the visiting team hits a home run, the fans actually throw the ball back onto the field. They are able to keep it if they want, but since it’s not a Cubs home run, they throw it back and don’t want to keep it. It is a fun tradition that other teams have now begun to follow.

I was recently reading an article about rejecting negative thoughts. It was interesting because the article did not say to avoid negative thoughts, or even resist them. Instead, it said to reject them. I looked into this further. What does it mean to reject something? The definition I found is to “throw back”. It’s very much like the baseball example. When a Cubs fan catches a home run, they have a choice. Do I keep the ball, or throw it back? In the positive situation of a Cub hitting the ball, they choose to keep it. In the negative situation of an opponent hitting the ball, they choose to reject the ball by throwing it back.

This comparison is the same with our thoughts. We can never stop negative thoughts from coming, and to resist them gives too much energy to the negative situation. The Bible says to take our thoughts captive. We should take time each day to monitor our thoughts. It is up to us to choose the thoughts we wish to accept, and those we wish to reject. When we receive a positive thought, we should keep it and cherish it. When we receive a negative thought, we simply need to reject it. Once again, do not fight the negative thoughts. Simply acknowledge it is there, and throw it back.

I have found that this is a much easier and much more effective way to deal with negative thoughts. Instead of resisting and giving them power, we throw them away, thus making room for more positive thoughts. This is important because our circumstances are determined by our thoughts. The more positive thoughts a person has, the more positive circumstances they will have. In essence, when you throw away the negative thoughts, you throw away most negative circumstances! And the great thing is that you have full control of your thoughts, which is very empowering. So throw away those thoughts you don’t want. Replace each negative thought with a positive one, and I believe you will experience many more positive situations in your life. Enjoy the blessings 🙂

Thinking About Ways to Improve Your Health

I’ve never been one to place too much of a focus on my health. I’ve been lucky enough that I haven’t paid much of a negative price for this, as my health has been generally good during my life. However, as I get older I’ve been reminded by doctors and my body itself, that I do need to pay a bit more attention to the habits and foods that promote good health.

I understand the need for greater health habits, and have no problem doing them. Well, some anyway. I am a very picky eater and not very fond of most healthy foods, especially vegetables. I do like some, and enjoy some fruits and healthy meats as well. I’ve been able to find enough to be able to enjoy the ones I do like and incorporate those into my diet. I’ve never been much for routine exercise. Don’t get me wrong. I love being outside and playing competitive sports and games. I just never enjoyed aerobic workouts, weight lifting, jogging, and any routine exercises that don’t involve some type of game. That makes it difficult and could take a toll on my body when I can’t get outside for the long Buffalo winters.

Recently, I did some reading. As often happens, I received the same information in several of the books and articles I read. I’ve said it a million times before, and I’ll say it again. That’s when I know God is speaking to me! The articles were discussing how our physical health is often a manifestation of our mental health. The quality of the thoughts we choose very often determines the quality of our health! I’ve seen this in my own life. When I allow thoughts of stress and negativity, the negative effects show up in my body as more sickness, and weight gain from being lethargic. When I think negatively, it also affects my energy level. I am much more tired and unmotivated during these times.

Fortunately, I have learned to control my thoughts much better, and I often don’t allow these thoughts to negatively affect my body. On the other hand, when I maintain positive, wholesome thoughts, my body reacts to those too. I have much more energy, and just feel much healthier, and simply more alive. And the healthy habits and actions I need to take seem to happen much more easily and naturally.

In these readings and other online information there were several bits of information that were very helpful to me. These were common themes I noticed that can help you and I rid ourselves of the mental causes of sickness and ailments that we can potentially encounter. Perhaps not all will apply to you, but hopefully at least one or two can help.

• Watch your thoughts. I recently discussed this in another article. Watch what you are thinking. Only allow thoughts that are positive, edifying, and encouraging. Allow thoughts that align with God’s truth. What you think on the inside manifests on the outside, and that includes our health. Stressful thoughts bring us down. Joyful and positive thoughts lift our spirits, which have incredible positive benefits on our energy and overall health.
• Remove guilt. It is amazing how feelings of guilt can weigh a person down. We’ve all failed and we’ve all done things that we regret. However, we cannot change the past. What’s done is done. Instead of harping on what happened in the past, I recommend doing one of two things. Let it go completely, or do what you can do now to make up for the mistake. That’s it. The more you release the negative feeling of guilt, the more you allow the necessary positive feelings and thoughts to take over your mind.
• Forgive. Just as you are forgiving yourself for past failures and mistakes, it is also necessary to do the same for others. I know it is often easier said than done. I’m a very patient and forgiving person (to a fault sometimes), but I’d be lying if I said there was no one in my life past or present with whom I still hold some resentment towards. However, just like removing our own feelings of guilt, the more we release negative thoughts towards others, the more liberating it is to us. When we forgive, the mental strain is released, and this has positive impacts on our physical bodies.
• Follow your bliss. Do you ever notice the joy and positivity you feel when you are doing something you really enjoy? And do you sometimes notice the empty feelings when you are not doing those things? The key here is to be deliberate about it. As mentioned before, I love being outside, especially if it involves a golf course or a beach. I feel amazing, and it’s no coincidence that my level of health is always highest during the warm weather months. The problem, is those options are not available here in Buffalo during the winter. So I have two options, and I’ve done both. The first is to feel the blues of the dark, cold, snowy winter and count the days until summer. The second is to take advantage of the many other things I enjoy doing while I can’t be outside. Hopefully you can see that I love to write. Being inside provides many more writing opportunities. I also enjoy watching sports with their seasons in the winter like hockey and basketball. I also enjoy family time, as we’re forced to spend our time inside in the cozy house. The key is to stay motivated and engaged with things that I love to do. When our minds have something positive to focus on and enjoy, it doesn’t have time for negative thoughts that ultimately can make us sick.
• Know that you don’t have to do everything. I’m one that like to do things for myself. However, I’ve realized over time that it is OK to ask for help. Sometimes we need help and support from others. The more we allow that help, the more we can release ourselves of the stress and unnecessary pressure that causes us to wear ourselves out.
• Don’t be afraid. So many of us are ruled by fear. As confident as I am these days, I still let fear rule in my life sometimes. Someone recently asked me what is easier. Suffering from the burden of doing things myself and worrying about what can go wrong, or letting God who has all the power in the universe help me get things done and work things out. The answer is obvious. However, we make it difficult because we have such a hard time putting things in God’s hands and letting Him work out the details and results. I know we are responsible to take some actions, but we are often so bogged down with fear because we don’t trust the all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-present God that only has our best interests in mind. If we were ever to let go of even some of our fears, our minds would be so liberated that it would automatically have such a healing and energizing effects on our bodies.

These are just a few suggestions. I am certainly not a health expert, but these have been helpful to me, and I can attest to the positive effects taking these steps have had on my own health. I also know how my body feels when I allow the negatives to take over my mind. I believe most of us know that mind and body go together. When the mind is good, so is the body. And when the mind is bogged down with negativity and stress, that is when we invite sickness and other negative situations to enter our bodies. I realize that sometimes we can’t control some negative things that happen to our health and bodies. Accidents happen. Some truly good people are taken from us early for reasons only God knows. However, why not focus on the things we can control? Focus on keeping our minds clear of the negative, stressful, and fearful thoughts. Replace them with thoughts that the Bible suggests we fill our minds with, thoughts that are noble, just, pure, lovely, admirable, and praise-worthy. I can tell you that if you keep these healthy thoughts in your mind, your body will be healthy as well. Enjoy the blessings 🙂

You Can Have Greater Control of Your Circumstances

If only you could control the circumstances in your life. How great would that be? I’m sure you would cherish the ability to live the life you want to live, to have the things you want to have, and to be the person you want to be.

Well, who says you can’t? I’ve been studying the power of the mind for over a decade now, and I still receive constant reminders that you and I, and anyone can have far more control of the circumstances of life than we realize. I do my best to share these reminders with you here.

So how can one exercise this greater control? Simply by controlling your thoughts. The foundation of life is in the mind. Whatever happens there, happens in the outside world. That is why it is so important to pay attention to what you are thinking. A Bible verse I’ve shared here often is Proverbs 4:23. It says to “guard your heart (which is your mind and deepest thoughts) above all else, because it determines the course of your life.” Another translation says to “be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life.”

In some ways, this is difficult to hear because many of us think negatively on a much more regular basis than we think positive thoughts. Knowing that these thoughts affect our lives is not very comforting! However, the part that is comforting is that we can have full control of our thoughts! And if we can take and maintain that control, we can affect our circumstances. I fully believe that it is much easier to control what I am thinking than to try and control the many circumstances in my life. It may seem difficult to do, but I can tell you that with experience, it gets easier and easier. It then becomes even more natural and more rewarding after you see the positive results.

At this point, I know what you may be wondering. Does this mean all of my negative circumstances will disappear if I simply maintain positive thinking? I wish I could say it would. Unfortunately, I cannot guarantee that all of your negative circumstances will completely disappear. However, I know that God communicates with us throughout our lives in various ways, and sometimes negative situations are ways he uses to do so. Sometimes they are wake up calls, and oftentimes they are used to bring us to something greater. For whatever reason, they are part of all of our lives on this earth. I can say this, though. The more you control your thoughts and keep them focused on God’s truth and His principles, the more joy and happiness you will experience. And even when the negative situations occur, they will be easier to deal with and much more short-lived.

I am sure you have heard these reminders many times, especially if you regularly read my articles. Whether it’s your first or thousandth time, I remind you (and myself) again. Take time each day to watch what you are thinking. Deliberately think beautiful, positive thoughts. Visualize the situations you want to experience, the life you want to live, and the person you want to be. Exercise that control of your mind that you all have. After that, take the actions that you feel led to take. I strongly believe (and know from experience) that you will see very quickly that the circumstances in your life line up according to the thoughts in your mind. They always do anyway no matter how you think. So why not take control and purposely create the life you are looking for. Enjoy the blessings 🙂

Can Negative Thoughts Be Productive?

I’m going to do something a bit unusual for this post. If you regularly visit this site, you’ll know that I do my best to promote positive thinking, and focusing on God’s truth about us. However, today I’m going to go in a different direction and promote….gasp….negative thoughts???

No, I haven’t become a hypocrite and say one thing and act in an opposite manner (although I am sometimes guilty of that). I haven’t changed my mind and decided that what I’ve been reading and writing about is untrue. Instead, I am applying some very helpful information I’ve studied, sharing it with you, and hoping that it can help all of us.

I’ve written several articles about how harmful negative thoughts can be. If we think negative thoughts, they ultimately play out into negative situations in our lives. I’ve also read and shared different techniques to deal with these thoughts. One very helpful one is the idea of re-framing. This idea is that whenever you notice a negative thought, immediately catch it and replace it with a positive thought. It can be any positive thought, or one opposite of what you were first thinking. For example, if you catch yourself thinking that you are not worthy of something, stop and think of reasons that you ARE worthy. If you don’t feel healthy, think of what it would be like if you were healthy. Those are just some examples.

Recently, I read of a very helpful technique in dealing with negative thoughts. This has produced a great amount of mental healing and personal freedom during the first few weeks of this new year. I read the idea in Rhonda Byrne’s book, “The Greatest Secret.” Several of her books like “The Secret” and “The Magic” have had life-changing impacts on me, and this one is no exception. In fact, I think I like this one best because it is more of an application process instead of just providing information, which is exactly what I need.

Anyway, here is the technique…. one of the greatest reasons negative thoughts cause negative situations in our lives is because we tend to resist them. We know negative thoughts are harmful to us. We don’t want them. So what we do, is we fight the feelings they cause. We fight to try to rid our minds of the thoughts. What happens when we do this though, is we add fuel to their fire.When we resist something, it just causes more if it. Even though we’re trying to do good and rid ourselves of the negative thoughts and feelings, we are doing more harm because we are still remaining focused on the negative situations.

The freedom bringing suggestion given in the book, is to welcome the negative thoughts instead of resisting them. At first, I disagreed because this seems counterproductive. So we’re just letting these harmful negative thoughts rule our minds? No. We are just saying they are welcome. Now, we can add a little more to this. Ms. Byrne says that when we do this instead of resisting, we take away the power they have on us. Eventually, the negative feelings go away. To add to this, she says that any of these same negative feelings that have built of over time also gradually disappear.

Again, I was a bit skeptical at first, but I decided to give this a try. It didn’t even take a day to realize the truth of this. One of the greatest negative emotions I feel is guilt. I am often slow to act, fall short of my potential, and I regularly feel like I could and should do more for people. As I thought about this, I realize how much this has built up in my mind over time. I don’t like to feel guilty, so I fight it. The result is usually more of it! So at that moment, I decided it was OK for me to feel guilty. However, what happened after that was even more amazing. As I accepted the feeling of guilt and that it was OK to feel that way, I started to automatically re-frame the negative thoughts (the technique I discussed earlier). I felt God speaking to me. I felt like He was saying that the guilt that I was holding onto was just my own thought, and it wasn’t His. I was reminded of several Bible verses to back that up, like there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Like the fact that every sin I’ve ever committed, and every mistake I’ve ever made has already been forgiven because of His death on the cross. On and on I was provided these positive reminders.

I then tried this with other negative thoughts too. I don’t often get angry, but one day there were just several things my wife was doing that were just bothering me. I’m sure you’ve never had that happen to you, but it was happening with me. And it’s not like she was doing it on purpose. Anyway, I caught the negative thoughts as they were happening. Normally, I would try to fight it because I don’t want to think negatively of her. However, I instead welcomed the thoughts and allowed myself to be bothered. After only a few minutes, the negativity lightened, and we ended up having a very nice conversation about something. Lengthy conversations between us don’t happen like they did before, but this was a very pleasant one. What was happening is that, as I accepted and allowed these negative thoughts, I actually felt more positive!

I am realizing more that thoughts and feelings are just that. They are not who I am. More importantly, they don’t control me. I control them. And it is important that I control them because, even though I say they don’t control me, the quality of my thoughts and feelings ultimately controls the quality of my life and circumstances on the outside.

I share this with you because it has been very helpful to me. The process of simply allowing the negative thoughts without resisting them and without letting them control me and determine who I am has been extremely enlightening and liberating. I challenge you to try this as well. Don’t go looking for negative thoughts. However, when you do notice that you are thinking or feeling negative, make yourself aware of it, and welcome the thoughts. Know that it’s OK to have those thoughts, as long as you don’t allow them to overtake you. If you’re like me, you will notice some mental counter arguments. You will feel a release of that negative thought and others like it that have built up in the past. Then those negative clouds eventually disappear, allowing the great light in you to shine uninhibited. That is definitely something to think and feel positive about. Enjoy the blessings 🙂

How to Find Your Inner Joy (That’s Already There)

I recently wrote an article about finding your joy. I mentioned the key to doing so is to look inside of you because that’s where your joy always is. You seek joy there instead of looking for it on the outside in circumstances, people, or activities. I recently heard a message about this that provides a different take on this, and felt the need to share.

Many people are aware that the best place to find joy is within themselves. They know true joy is there, yet they still struggle to experience it. I live in Buffalo NY. Winter here is very difficult. Besides the large amounts of snow we receive, it is very often cloudy and dark. We regularly go days, and sometimes even weeks, without seeing the sun. Does that mean the sun is not there? Does it completely disappear? We know that it does not. The sun is always there. We just don’t see it because it is blocked by the constant interference of clouds and precipitation. When this interference disappears, the beauty of the sun is visible again, we feel its warmth, and we experience its benefits.

This is also true of the unlimited joy we all have. It is always there, all within us. So why do we not experience this joy often enough? It’s because of all the interference we allow that clouds the light of God in us. What is that interference? It’s the constant chatter in our minds, and the negative thoughts and feelings we allow to get in the way that are blocking the light of God’s love. As a result, we don’t experience it, and our lives become dark and depressing, just like the Buffalo winter.

Once again I remind you that the joy you wish to experience is not something you have to go searching for. You already have it and will always carry it right there with you. Here is the key… don’t focus on going out and finding joy. Instead, figure out what is interfering with the joy you already have. Simply clear the clouds of negativity and let them dissipate.

You don’t have to be controlled by your thoughts. Instead, you control them. Any thought that you don’t want, you simply command that it leaves your mind. It’s your choice to keep or dismiss any thoughts. I believe this is what the Bible means when it says to take each thought captive. Focus instead on what you want, and what is good, noble, and praiseworthy.

I realize this is often easier said than done. I’ve been aware of this information for a long time, yet I still fall into this trap more times than I care to admit. I allow the negative thoughts to interfere and block the light far more than the Buffalo clouds. I recommend that if you find this difficult, then ask God for help. He always comes through. There have been times where the winter darkness has been so depressing here, that I’ve asked God to have the sun shine for once. It often happens. He also answers quickly when I ask to see more of His light as well. I believe He will do the same for you. Ask Him to remove the negative clouds from your mind, and I know He will come through and help. Then His love, light, and joy come through, and instead of darkness, you can experience heaven on earth. Enjoy the blessings 🙂