THE WAR FOR A
POSITIVE MIND IS FOUGHT ON THE BATTLEFIELD OF FOCUS
The war for a positive mind is fought on the
battlefield of focus. Until you learn how to control your mental
focus, you cannot win the battle for a positive mind.
Wounded warriors and individuals living with Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder are in the trenches every day fighting the
battle for a positive mind. Overcoming negative thinking, anxiety,
and
depression is hard, perhaps the hardest thing you will ever do.
Physical injuries frequently are easier to conquer than psychological
trauma. Overcoming PTSD is not a stroll in the park.
It's a dogfight, but it's a fight you can win.
You can have a positive mind and a positive life
once again. But to make that happen, you have to change your
mental focus and change the way you think.
Wounded warriors and individuals with Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder have had their lives changed in an instant of
time. Bad experiences have changed the way they think and feel
impairing their ability to function in a positive manner. Down
deep inside, things are not right. Many people give in to the
voice of despair allowing anxiety, fear, and negative thinking to rule.
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But there is another option. You have the
power to change your life in an instant by changing your mental focus
and putting new thoughts
in your mind. This isn't about positive thinking; it's about
different thinking. It's about new thoughts.
Anyone can change their mind in an instant of
time. At the moment of change, there is a shift in your beliefs
about who you are and what you can do with your life.
Change always occurs in an instant. You
changed your life in an instant when you learned to ride the bicycle.
There was an immediate shift in your beliefs when you successfully rode
for the first time. One moment you didn't believe that you could
ride, and the next moment you believed you could.
Whatever changes you make always happen in an
instant, and they happen first in your mind. The size of the
change is irrelevant. Whether changes are large or small, they
still happen in an instant, and they happen first in your mind.
Wounded Warriors and individuals with PTSD have a
lot of changes that they need to make in their mind, and they have the
power to change their life in an instant. They need to
change their mental focus and change the way they think.
When they look at the past, they need to change
the way they think. When they look at their physical injuries,
they need to change the way they think. When they look at their
psychological challenges, they need to change the way they think.
When they look at the future, they need to change the way they think.
When they look at their impairment, they need to change the way they think.
They can make any change they want if they are willing to change the way
they think.
Dr. Dave created the
Positive Thinking Network with more than 100 positive websites that
help people change the way they think.
Getting better is hard work, but just
because it's hard does not mean it's impossible.
You are not helpless, and your life is
not hopeless. Anyone can change the way they think, and when they
change the way they think, they change their life in an instant.
YOUR HEART IS YOUR HOME
The Bible says, “As
a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Your heart is your home. It’s
where you live in a world of swirling emotions. Although your
thoughts control your emotions, it’s your emotions that rule your world.
If you want to take charge of your life, you must control the storm of
thoughts blowing through your heart and mind.
To a great extent, your emotions rule
your life. The Cardinal Law of The Heart is that feeling is
believing. You can tell when you really believe something because
you feel it in your heart. Whether that feeling and belief are correct
or not is a completely different issue. If you feel it, you believe it,
and it controls your life. Until you feel something in your heart, you
don't really believe it, and it doesn't direct your life.
Your heart is your home, and you should
feel comfortable there. It should feel good to be at home with
yourself. If you don't feel good inside, you need to make some changes
in the way you think so that you can change the way you feel.
Your heart is like a calculator that sums up everything in your life. After
it adds everything up, it tells you how to feel. When you feel bad, you need
to change what you put into your mind so that things add up differently.
When you count your blessings, and fill your mind with good things, your
heart adds everything up, and you feel great. You must put good things into
your mind if you want to feel good on the inside. There is no other way.
Although you can’t
change your emotions directly, you can change them indirectly by
changing how you think. Your emotions are the direct result of your
thoughts, and when you change the way you think, your emotions change as
well.
The Bible says, “Be
transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Personal transformation
starts in your head and works its way down to your heart. Your new way
of thinking transforms your heart and changes the way you feel.
ELIMINATING THE NEGATIVE DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY MAKE YOU POSITIVE
To become a positive person, you must put positive
things into your mind. There is no other way to create a positive mind.
You can change the way you think and feel by
changing what you say when you talk to your mind.
If you want to change the way you feel, you are
going to have to change your inner dialogue. You are going to have to
talk to your mind in a different manner. You must monitor your
self-talk and make sure it's positive, and if it's not positive, you
must change it. This isn't optional. If you don't make your self-talk
positive, there is no way you are going to win the battle of the mind.
The wheel of
emotion always turns in the direction of what you put into your mind.
What you put into your mind is critical. The only
way to become a positive person is to put positive things into your
mind. You can make your mind as positive as you want if you are willing
to put positive things into your mind.
People who have a genetic predisposition to mood
disorders have an even greater need to fill their mind with positive
things. People who have an inner vulnerability predisposing them to
depression need to be especially careful about what they allow in their
mind. If they fill their mind with toxic waste, they will become
depressed. For these people, the price of a positive mind is eternal
vigilance. They must continually stand watch on the door of their mind
to keep it from filling up with toxic waste. They must become proactive
and adopt a program in which they spend time each day putting positive
things into their mind.
WHEN YOU CHANGE YOUR THOUGHTS, YOU CHANGE YOUR CHEMISTRY
When you think negative and limiting thoughts for a long time, you create a
chemical imbalance in your brain, and you feel bad. When you think positive
and unlimited thoughts for an extended period, you restore the normal
chemical balance, and you feel good once again. What you think about
matters, because it determines the chemistry of your brain. What you think
about determines whether you have a positive or negative brain.
You are responsible for the chemistry of your
brain. When you choose your thoughts, you choose your brain chemistry.
When you change your thoughts, you change your brain chemistry. You are
not the victim of your chemistry, you are it's creator.
When you get your thinking straightened out, your
brain chemistry returns to normal. Positive self-talk is an extremely
powerful tool you can use to put good things into your mind to create a
positive brain.
HOW DO YOU
CHANGE THE WAY YOU THINK?
How do you change the way you think? Three laws
show you how to make it happen.
The Law of Positive Self-Talk states,
"You change the
way you think and feel by changing what you say when you talk to your
mind."
If you want to change the way you feel, you are going to have to change
your inner dialogue. You are going to have to talk to your mind in a
different manner
The Law of Positive Direction states,
"The wheel of
change always turns in the direction of what you put into your mind."
You actually push your mind in a positive direction by putting
positive and healthy thoughts into your mind. If you put enough
positive thoughts into your mind, you can actually create a positive
brain.
You are not helpless, and your life is not hopeless. Your life
instantly improves the moment you start putting good things into your
mind. The simple act of reading these positive words turns the wheel of
change in a positive direction, and every paragraph you read makes you
into a more positive person.
The Law of Positive Focus states,
"A persistently
positive focus creates a consistently positive mind."
The battle to control your
emotions is fought on the battlefield of focus. In order to control
your emotions, you will have to learn how to persistently and
consistently control the focus of your mind.
POSITIVE THINKING DOES NOT CURE PTSD
PTSD is a complicated
problem, and there are no easy answers. Positive thinking is not the cure
for PTSD or for Depression. Nevertheless, positve thinking is better than
negative thinking. Positive thinking is the natural software for the mind.
Our minds were designed to function best and most efficiently when a
positive operating system is in control. Although positive thinking is not
the cure for PTSD, when a person's thoughts become more positive, it's a
sign that an individual may be improving. Positive thinking is not the cure,
but it is one of many signs of improvement.
Telling a person with PTSD to think positive will not work. Telling
them to think positive may actually make them worse.
Not all PTSD is created equal, and each individual has different resources
available to deal with it. People with milder forms of PTSD may responded
differently to treatment than people with more severe forms. One treatment
does not fit all.
No matter what treatment you use, it really does matter where you focus your
mind. Mental focus does make a difference. The war for a positive mind is
fought on the battlefield of focus for every person on planet earth, whether
or not they have PTSD. Focus gives us powerful leverage over our mind, and
we need to use that leverage in a positive manner.
We can point a person in the right direction, but we can't always give him
the power to make the trip. Power comes from many different sources. Faith
in God, family, friends, and a person's internal resources may provide the
power for the trip. Therapists and counselors can be a big help. Other
people who have had PTSD can be a positive resource as well.
PTSD is embedded at many different levels in an individual's physiology and
psychology. If a person is going to recover from PTSD and depression,
they need a point of leverage to reestablish command and control over their
unruly mind. Focus provides that leverage. When you
control your mental focus, you gain significant leverage over you
mind.
The Law of Positive Change states, "When you change the things you look at,
the way you look at things changes. When you change the things you
talk about, the way you talk about things changes. When you change the
things you think about, the way you think about things changes."
It really does matter what you look at, what you talk about, and what you
think about. All of these things shift your mental focus and give you
tremendous leverage over your mind. What you talk about, think about,
and look at expands into your mind and life. Mental focus is powerful
beyond measure, and can give you the leverage you need to get your life back
and to start feeling good once again.
Positive thinking is not the
cure for PTSD, but controlling your mental focus is a giant step in the
right direction. A positive mental focus is better than a negative
one. And over time, a persistently positive focus goes a long way
toward creating a consistently positive mind.
The war for a positive mind is fought on the battlefield of focus. You
have the power to control the focus of your mind. You have the
leverage you need to move in a positive direction.
It won't be easy, and it will require time, but it is possible.
STRONGHOLDS OF THE MIND - I WOULD RATHER
SWITCH THAN FIGHT
PTSD is deeply embedded in your heart and mind. It
is a classic mental stronghold that occupies the high ground in your mind,
and rooting it out is difficult, but not impossible.
Every time you go into mental rewind, PTSD tells you all
the reasons why it's impossible to feel healthy and happy once again.
PTSD shouts a litany of negative emotions, anxiety, limitations, fear,
guilt, and depression.
If you want to regain the high ground in your mind, you must change your
mental focus. You cannot do a frontal assault on your negative and
depressing thoughts. Attacking them directly only increases the power.
Negative thoughts are parasites. They
live off the energy you give them when you focus on them. Focusing on
them is like giving them a transfusion with your own blood. You become
psychologically anemic as they suck the blood from your mental veins.
They become stronger as you become weaker. You destroy yourself when
you do this.
The problem is that all your fighting
instincts tell you to do just the opposite. Fight, struggle, you can
win this battle. That’s what most people do. They fight to the point of
exhaustion, and then they wonder why they lost the battle after such a
valiant fight. Every story you read about achievement and success tells
you if you fight the good fight, eventually you win.
The story is true. If you fight the
good fight, you will win, unless you are fighting against negative
strongholds in your mind. There is a time to fight, and a time to let
go.
When it comes to negative thoughts,
it’s time to let go. There is no other way you will ever get negativity
out of your mind. Fighting with it will not make it go away; it will
only make it stronger.
A cigarette commercial once had a jingle that said, "I would rather
fight than switch."
The battle against PTSD has a
different slogan that says, "I would rather switch than fight."
That's exactly what you have to do to win the battle of the mind.
You don't win the battle by making a frontal assault on the negative
strongholds of your mind. Instead, you switch your mental focus in
a different direction - a healthy, positive direction.
What you think about expands.
When you focus on all the psychological carnage created by PTSD, your
destructive focus increases its power.
If you try to drive PTSD from the high
ground of your mind by directly engaging the negative and destructive
thoughts and emotions, you will be fighting an uphill battle and the
odds will be against you.
If you switch your mental focus in a
different direction, PTSD gradually loses its power. It no longer
sucks the energy from your mind, because you aren't arguing with it any
longer. When you switch your mental focus, you gain the high
ground in the battle of the mind.
Remember, It's better to switch than it
is to fight.
If you really want to be positive, nobody can stop you.
Follow Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Recovery on facebook.
Using the word Positive and PTSD in the same
sentence does not seem right. There is nothing positive
about the impact that PTSD has on your life. You need to
visit
Positive PTSD and find out how to make positive thinking
work for you. This is your
opportunity to make positive thinking into a strong ally that
makes your life better.
Wounded Warriors become Positive Warriors when they help other
people. They have an outward focus that brings inward
healing. Visit
Positive
Warriors and
find out how to become a Positive Warrior and break the hold
that PTSD has on your life.
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