Question #3: Are you dwelling on negatives? Most people who lay down their peace later admit they had begun dwelling on the negative aspects of life. Rather they should have harnessed their minds to dwell on and appreciate the positive, good things of life.
The temptation to dwell on the negative aspects of life is profound. I mentioned earlier how debilitating this can be to the life of our souls. Interestingly, this tendency to negatively focus is often begun in our homes and institutions-fathers criticizing their children with little or no praise to balance their assessment, supervisors telling their employees what they are doing wrong far more than telling them what they are doing right the same is true for teachers, doctors, lawyers, and accountants. Much of the information these professionals give us tends to deal with errors, negative situations, breaches of law, and numbers that cannot be reconciled.
It is not uncommon for a person to go through an entire day and not hear one encouraging statement from another human being.
If you feed your heart and mind a continual diet of negativity, your faith will begin to erode. If you do the same with those with whom you live and work, they, too, will become negative, self-deprecating, and critical of themselves and others. This is what you and they will be thinking and saying:
- “What’s the use?”
- “Why try?”
- “Nothing goes my way.”
- “The world is going to pieces.”
- “Nothing is secure or safe anymore.”
- “People are just out to get me.”
The more a person thinks along any of these lines, the more depressed, distressed, and oppressed that person is likely to feel!
Finding Peace: God’s Promise of a Life Free from Regret, Anxiety, and Fear by Dr. Charles F. Stanle