There are so many stressors in our lives today. We intentionally guard against the impact of these influences on our lives, or they will find a way to rob us of the peace vital to an abundant life. We can choose our thoughts. Even making no choice, is a choice. We get to choose our thoughts so you may as well think on these things.

What we think generates our emotions. Those emotions cause us to act in a certain way. Those actions, overtime become behaviors, those behaviors habits and those habits shape the character that become lifestyle. It all begins with what we think.

Down Memory Lane

Recall a situation that happened to you. Go back in your memories to something that may have occurred when you were a child. Return in your memory to a day that was highly charged with emotion. It could be a birthday party, moving to a new residence, getting an award for a job well done, or the loss of your first pet. Either a pleasant memory or one not so, you decide.

Reflect on the details. How did you feel? Were there others present? Notice the details in the setting. Play it back like a video in your mind’s eye. Experience those feelings again. Slow down the action so that you may relive the situation. Take a moment. Then come back to read further.

What kind of a situation did you choose? Was it one of happiness, sadness, shame, glee, recognition, isolation or jubilance? Whatever the situation was that you chose, it probably was because that situation had or still has significance to you. It was stored in your long-term memory.

The emotions generated through that experience caused you to retain it in your memory all of these years. Our brains connect situations in our long-term memory that have similar emotional connections. The hippocampus is the part of the brain where long-term memories are stored, it is also the area that regulates emotions.

So, it is likely that the situation you retrieved is something that is connected by some threads of emotion, to something that occurs in your life today. Are you able to see a connection?

One of the things that came to mind for me during a recent flashback to childhood was being in the classroom, probably around the age of six. We were having a spelling bee in our classroom. All of the students stood in a large circle around the perimeter of the room. Our desks were in the center.

My teacher, would call on a student to spell a word from the master list. If we spelled correctly we continued to the next round. If we were in error we had to sit at our desk and endure jeers from some of those that remained in the circle. The journey back to one’s desk was less than pleasant.

I made that walk after my teacher voiced newspaper and I spoke   n-e-w-s-p-a-p-p-e-r. To this day, many moons later, I assure you I can spell that tabloid correctly, without hesitation!

For a long time that memory dictated how I viewed spelling. The situation has helped me to be empathetic to my young students and others in similar situations. I chose not to think upon my unpleasant feelings, rather I chose to think on how I would be better at spelling and change how I respond to negative interactions with others. I continue to work on those areas today.

We all have emotional memories that are both positive and negative. We all have new memories that will come from our current experiences. One of the things that we can do, in order to live abundant lives is to intentionally, with purpose and directed focus, think on those things that will promote desired outcomes.

Our Creator desires us to prosper, He wants us to be in health, and He wants us to live abundant lives, spiritually and physically. Our abundance is His delight. It is His nature to want the best for us. That is the essence of LOVE.

Think on These Things

When we experience situations that fail to align with the truth that God has given us, we are to remember His truth. He reminds us that we have a choice. He directs us on how to connect with abundance by thinking on these things, as recorded in Philippians 4:8 where we see:

“Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.” (The Message Version)

There is no obscure fine print in this passage that makes an exception for the times when we have been wronged or have other strong emotions. When we frame life through God’s truth we do our best.

The memories we hold with underlying, negative, emotions connect with current negative, experiences creating limitations on abundance, unless we can realign them with God’s truth. We are to think on what is truth. The Greek word used in this passage has to do with truth in the sense of real, ideal or genuine. Thereby meaning God’s word. Further we are to meditate on these things too.

It is then vital that we are able to distinguish between what appears to be truth and the authentic, genuine, truth. What is the best way to know God’s truth? Searching His word and seeking a relationship with Him is a start.

Abundance comes from His truth. In this world filled with deception, seeking God generates reliable results. Indeed, think on these things.

Take Inventory and Take Action!

Love,

Deborah

“Lighting the path to loving your neighbor as yourself.”