Words are thought
descriptors. They project thoughts from anonymity. They transfer thoughts into
messages. Messages move the world.
~ William E. Jefferson
~ William E. Jefferson
June is the FLX/WordCount
Blogathon! Join us for 30 Days of blogging madness!
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essages bombard us every day.
Buy this now – so you’re just
like everyone else! Even though you’re
already in debt and the economy has stalled.
Try this pill – it cures
everything! Even though it may cause
death.
Eat this burger– it’ll make you
feel better! Even though it doesn’t look
anything like that in real life.
Don’t eat that butter – it’ll
make you fat! Even though everyone agrees poor body image is too prevalent and
eating disorders are on the rise.
And those are just the messages we hear from the outside. The ones we tell ourselves are often even more damaging:
I’ll never get that promotion.
Why am I always so stupid?
I can never do anything right!
I am unlovable / undesirable /untouchable / unworthy.
And those are just the messages we hear from the outside. The ones we tell ourselves are often even more damaging:
I’ll never get that promotion.
Why am I always so stupid?
I can never do anything right!
I am unlovable / undesirable /untouchable / unworthy.
What makes this more damaging
is that while we repeat them over and over to ourselves, we sometime end up repeating
them to others.
Changing the Messages We Hear
You can’t give what you don’t have. So if we’re filled with self-loathing or feel unworthy of love, we aren’t able to love as freely or as warmly as someone who is confident in their worth. And so the cycle of negative messages continues.
You can’t give what you don’t have. So if we’re filled with self-loathing or feel unworthy of love, we aren’t able to love as freely or as warmly as someone who is confident in their worth. And so the cycle of negative messages continues.
It’s been said that we can
never fully erase the hateful messages we tell ourselves, and it certainly
seems that way in my experience. No
matter what positive things I tell myself or that my therapist or close friends
tell me, the negative ones come back ~ and hit the positive ones over the head
with a big, heavy stick.
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| Image credit: alyssaandbrianna.blogspot.com |
And yet, the only reason the
ugly ones stay is because they’ve been repeated, over and over and over. So in order to get rid of them, we have to
repeat the positive ones over and over and over.
Until they play over top the negative messages.
This process isn’t easy and it
takes time. Most of us have heard these
negative messages for years, some of
us since childhood.
You can’t overcome
30, 40, or even 60 years of emotional brainwashing in just a few months or even
a couple of years.
The upside to healing? You then become a messenger of peace and
positivity and stop the cycle of negativity.
As for taking that death pill
with that fatty burger in that new car you can’t afford – turn off the idiot
box and get outside, read a book, or spend some time with friends and family. You can always stream a show later - minus the
negative commercials.
Your awesome body and your bank
account will thank you.
Oremus
pro invicem,
~ Mikaela
What messages hold you back? What are you doing to drown them out?
Five Minute Friday is an ever-growing group of bloggers who
write for five minutes flat each Friday on the same prompt that Lisa Jo Baker posts each Thursday evening. It’s five
minutes to see what
comes out: not a perfect post, not a profound post, just five minutes of
focused writing. Those without a blog can post their five minute piece as a
comment on Lisa Jo Baker’s blog. For more details, visit Five Minute Friday.
