R.A.D.I.C.A.L. Thoughts

"Life Lesson #18. Because nature abhors a vacuum (almost as much as you abhor to vacuum), it's important that whenever you STOP an old negative belief, you also SWAP it ... give your brain something new to grasp onto." ~ Enough, dammit - 44 Life Lessons to Get You Years of Joy, Strength and Moxie by Karen Salmansohn

Midlife Divorce Recovery wisdom comes from many sources. And it's helpful to take whatever wisdom we can get. The book above, in spite of its crazy title, has some really good stuff in it. Like the life lesson above. It's based on cognitive therapy techniques that encourage you to not just concentrate on the bad thinking you are removing from your life, but to concentrate instead on what good is going to replace it. The author goes on to say that when you sweep some negative thought or idea out of your head, nothing good is going to happen unless you replace it with something positive...some good thing you are putting in your brain bank. If you only get rid of the negative, there is this big vacuum waiting to be filled. So while you are saying to yourself, "I am going to stop being obsessed by every ugly, selfish, crass thing my former husband did," you need to also say, "I am going to start being obsessed with every beautiful, rich, amazing pleasure I have in my life right now," and then picture some specific good thing in your life. STOP and SWAP! Keep those two words in your head today, and when you start to think something negative immediately stop and swap that thought with something positive. It's a mind game. But it works. Real wisdom even if it's from other cultures and other disciplines teach the same lessons. So no matter where they come from, learn those lessons, and find your own "Joy, Strength and Moxie," and the just maybe the peace of the living God as well!

"When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first." Matthew 12:43-45a (NIV)

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