Showing posts with label focusing on what is wrong. Show all posts
Showing posts with label focusing on what is wrong. Show all posts

Thursday, December 28, 2017

Counselor's Corner: Choose to Magnify the Good in Your Life



Dictionary.com defines magnify as to make greater in actual size or to enlarge.

What are you magnifying in your life? God’s blessings and goodness or all your difficulties?

What you CHOOSE to focus on will become larger. Our problems become larger as we mull them over and over again. A magnifying lens will actually make something smaller look larger, but if you pull the magnifying lens back what you were looking at will get smaller. If we stop gazing at our problems and focus our eyes instead on Jesus we will gain His perspective on our situation-our problems will get smaller in His presence.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2


I recently had many opportunities to focus on what was going wrong in my life, but I have made a decision to reflect on what is right instead. For a season in my life, I magnified all that was negative in my life. The enemy had me so consumed with what has not come to pass in my life, or my losses, or my trials that I had difficulty seeing any good. Now, I know none of you have ever magnified the bad over the good, but if you ever have done this you will know that it makes matters worse. I did not intentionally set out to amplify my circumstances, but sometimes life hits you with one curve ball after another, and before long you can find yourself deep in the pit of despair.

When we have difficult trials in our lives, magnifying the good will be a conscious choice. In other words, you will not feel like focusing on the good in your life. Heartache and pain can cause you to look at what is wrong in your life, and the enemy will then magnify or distort the true reality of your anguish.

Set your minds on things above, not on things that are on earth. Colossians 3:2

Start your day by writing (5) things that you are grateful for. Doing this will shift your thinking from the negative to the positive. Even if you feel nothing is going right, think again! Dig deep and take some time to reflect on what you do have. Practice the skill of gratitude daily and you will begin to think differently about what is wrong in your life.

We all have problems and situations in our lives that if we stare at them to long, we will become overwhelmed, anxious, worried, depressed, and full of fear. This is exactly what the enemy wants. What if instead we gave our problems over to the Lord, and daily cast our cares upon Him? What if we began to magnify the blessings in our lives and stopped gawking at our problems? What would your life look like if you did these things?



·        For additional practical help in how you can overcome a negative thought life and have a better attitude. Check out my new book, “Disciplining your mind, 30days to a new you,” by clicking on the boo title or through Amazon and Barnes and Nobles. #overcomingyourthoughtlife #discipliningyourmind


Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Counselor's Corner: Focus on What You Are Doing Right




→Choose to magnify your progress not failures. Choose to magnify your strengths not your weaknesses.



Focus can be defined as what you concentrate on the most or the center of your attention.



Are the thoughts about yourself centered on what you are doing right more or on what you are doing wrong more? Do you tend to focus on your failures instead of any progress that you have made?



We all have faults, weaknesses, and have made mistakes. The problem is when the enemy places a magnifying glass over each one of your weaknesses, and your focus becomes distorted and all you can see are the negative aspects about yourself. Focusing on your deficits can cause discouragement, defeat, and depression.



Focusing too long on what is wrong with you can cause you to shrink back and not go forward, and this is exactly where the enemy wants you-stuck in the past and living in defeat of your past mistakes.



If God has forgiven your sins, He does not keep reminding you of your failures.



The enemy will attempt to get you to focus on all that is wrong with yourself. There are some key things to watch for and to recognize when the enemy has your focus distorted on the negative areas in your life.



1.      Your focus will turn to your circumstances more than to Jesus, and your circumstances will appear larger than they really are. When your focus shifts to all the distractions, chaos, and upheaval around you it is easy to feel anxious, uneasy, irritable, worried, and fearful.

2.      Confusion instead of clarity. You can doubt yourself, your strengths and your abilities because the enemy has you focused on what you have done wrong.

3.      Past hurts and insecurities are magnified. What you thought you dealt with in the past gets rehashed. This rehashing is an attempt to weaken you and to cause you to doubt what God is doing in your life. The past is used to hinder you as you attempt to move forward and enter a new season in your life. The enemy will try and derail progress and growth.



This week CHOOSE to focus on your strengths, your victories, and your good qualities. Write out what God shows you about yourself and CHOOSE to believe Him. CHOOSE to completely forgive yourself of any past mistakes and CHOOSE to love and nurture yourself. Be good to yourself. Don’t let the enemy erect lies in your mind about yourself, he is the accuser of the brethren.



MEDIATE ON THESE SCRIPTURES:



Set your mind on things above, not on things on Earth.

Colossians 3:2


Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

Hebrews 12:2














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