Changing your inner voice

Part 46 in a series by Karen A. Stevenson, President, Studio K Salon

February is often recognized as the most depressing month of the year.   Holiday hoop-la is over with, and the dingy gray skies are dominating.  Sunshine is at it’s all time low, it is dark early in the evening, and the cold weather seems cruel. We tend to hibernate inside and ponder what we don’t have, or what isn’t happening in our lives.

Isn’t it amazing how much we can taint our mental and emotional perception with our mind?  Mere thoughts.  They are free of charge, don’t take a tremendous amount of energy and frankly, we find ourselves thinking without even thinking!  What I mean by that is that we have inner voices all the time that are programming us.  They could be subliminally taking note of anything from our old furniture or carpet in our home, to our dull lighting in the office.  Our thoughts can be aggravated at how our spouse talks on the phone, or how our children interact.  Our thoughts can count up all the negative things happening in our lives, from lack of income, to a car continuously breaking down.  Thoughts can truly bring such lack of appreciation for our circumstances and those around us that after a while, we find ourselves in a miserable situation and we’ve done it to ourselves…… subconsciously.

I have friends that have internally sabotaged their holidays into great disappointments.  There are acquaintances that are miserable because they choose to focus on the relationship that they don’t have rather than the blessing of the relationships they do have.  They begin to ignore the people around them.  They are so busy focusing on their loneliness.   Rather than doing something about their situations, they obsess so much on their negative thought processes, that they bring themselves into a deep depression. 

Thoughts are as easy as a flip of a light switch from on to off, or vice versa.  Thoughts are free and simple.  They barely take any brainpower whatsoever.  However, they can create tremendous amounts of devastation if we allow them to take hold of us, rather than taking hold of them. It is our job to control our mental state, so we can see things through bright eyes rather than through dull, lifeless eyes.

Somehow depression comes on like a slow breeze.  It creeps up silently, and then takes over like a gust.  Before we know it, we are in this state of mind we never planned to be in.  Once we are in the dark place of depression, it is quite hard to pull ourselves out.

Focusing on things that are positive, making lists of blessings in our lives is one way to begin the long journey of pulling ourselves up and out.  Taking on a new interest, or hobby, reading a good book, helping someone with his or her problem helps get our focus off of ourselves.  Volunteering somewhere can certainly begin a new circumstance where you are able to feel a sense of reward as you aid others.

Certainly challenging yourself to taking daily walks, or doing some sort of exercise will help to begin the reprogramming of your inner mind.  You will even start to feel better about your body.  Reading a new way to cook and journeying into a new passion for culinary expertise will also help take the focus off of what you don’t have. 

How we perceive life is definitely something we are in charge of.  There is no reason why you couldn’t make your mind up today to begin thinking positively.  Make a game of it as you bring yourself to awareness each time you find yourself thinking negative thoughts.  Why not stop yourself and make a switch right now?  Make a decision to see the brighter side of each daily occurrence. 

Begin a journal of your thoughts, and each time you write negative thoughts, change it to positive thoughts.  Track your own thinking and inner voice! 

Do you waste time listening to gossip?  Talking about others?  Being judgmental, part of the problem instead of being a part of the solution?  Do you listen to nothing but negativity on the television or radio?  What are you feeding into your mind that may be programming you to remain in a negative place?  Do you hang around positive and forward thinking people, or people that think about yesterday, or even yester year all the time?  Do you hang around criticizing people?  Are you a person that is critical?  Do you look into a mirror and speak negative comments about your own appearance?