A thought by H. Norman Wright DMin. from his book, A Better Way to Think: Using Positive Thoughts to Change Your Life (p.16). Baker Publishing Group (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)
So, what does he mean by that?
Norman says, “Self-talk is simply the thoughts you tell yourself. For example, Melanie may step out of the house, notice it’s raining, and think, ‘Great, the yard needed some water.’ On the other hand, her friend Rhonda, who feeds herself a steady diet of negative self-talk, would probably think, ‘Oh, rats! Now I’ll get my hair and shoes wet. And it will be rough driving into work. And I’ll probably catch a cold. And...’ You get the picture.”
Norman goes on, “Thoughts follow specific pathways in the brain. When a thought occurs, the part of the brain called the thalamus goes to work making sense of the information and running it through the part of the brain that stores memories, the amygdala. In her book, Dr. Leaf notes: Remember that the amygdala is much like a library and is responsible for the first emotional response to any thought. It activates and arouses you to do something. If your ‘library’ is filled with ‘books’ that tell a story about not being able to cope with the incoming information, the response will be to react to the information based purely on an emotional level. This is why it is never wise to react to the first emotion you feel. It is a physiological response designed to alert and focus you, not to direct your actions.’
Norman then says, “When your thoughts are toxic or negative, you’ve handed off control to your emotions, chemical reactions that aren’t always reliable. Part of the amygdala’s purpose is to alert us. But unless it’s steadied with nontoxic, balanced thoughts, the emotions it generates can dominate. And that can cause a negative, even irrational, response.
“That’s why memories, even those we don’t consciously recall, can have powerful effects. Even if they’re not readily accessed by the brain, so-called hidden memories still exist. Their information isn’t lost; it’s stored somewhere in the mind. It’s as if those memories are burned onto the hard drive of the mind, and when we hit the right keys to trigger them, they reappear clearly to us.
“We all have memories hidden somewhere beyond our conscious memory, blocked because the event was extremely painful or traumatic. It’s as though God has built into the functioning of our mind the ability to repress emotionally painful material. Some of these memories stay there until our subconscious minds believe it’s ‘safe’ to access them.
“We need to remember that, like so many other things, accessing memories is a biological process.
“Which memories did you activate today? Were they negative or positive? Did they hinder your life or enhance it?”
I want my memories to enhance my life, don’t you?
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