Tag: self-improvement

Have “non-stick” thinking

Published on by lindseybiggsLeave a comment

What does it mean to have nonstick thinking? All the little bumps and jostles in life don’t get you down.

When those little annoyances try to rub you the wrong way, let them slide right off. We can have a well-oiled pan where those slights or aggressive thoughts/actions just slide right off. They can’t harm you!

…keep your minds so filled with Truth and Love…It is plain that nothing can be added to the mind already full. There is no door through which evil can enter, and no space for evil to fill in a mind filled with goodness. Good thoughts are an impervious armor;…The right thinker abides under the shadow of the Almighty. His thoughts can only reflect peace, good will towards men, health, and holiness…Mary Baker Eddy

Don’t let anything pull you down. We don’t want spider web thinking where the little annoying actions of others get caught and stuck. No! We want clear and clean, joy-filled and grateful thinking! A consciousness that is always communing with and praising God. So let all the dirty stuff just slip away. Don’t let it stick in your thought!
And the good news is, even if one of those pestering thoughts finds a way through, you can always take that scrub brush of divine Truth and Love to wipe away any negativity from your thinking — through pausing and remembering your relationship with God, your spiritual individuality and how much God loves you.
Let God communicate what belongs to you!

___

Image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay

Overcome the 4 C’s

Published on by lindseybiggs2 Comments

Christ Jesus says, “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Matt 9:16-17 NIV)

Emptying the bottle of thought of the old is a prerequisite to being receptive and ready for the new!

Holding on to old thoughts, old ways of seeing ourselves and others means there isn’t room for  new inspiration – the new ideas – that come today.  The new inspiration will be spilled and wasted because there isn’t room for it in the bottle of our old thought.  We have to let go of the old thoughts first!

For me, emptying the bottle of thought of the old has been the actively resisting the 4 C’s.

  • Criticism
  • Condemnation
  • Comparison
  • Complaint

Criticism

Criticism actually hurts the one doing the criticizing in addition to being hurtful to others.  It is a public or private confession that you are not seeing the child of God that has been created.  Seeing God’s child, His image and likeness, requires inspiration, spiritual discernment and light.  The temptation to criticize tries to cut us off from that light.  Spiritual light makes us happy and free.  So why do we want to feel cut off from that light even for a moment?  Criticizing doesn’t actually change the environment or people around us.  It doesn’t heal.  What is actually needed is a change in our own thinking.  And creative solutions will then appear.  Practice the humility needed to bring about that change today which results in healing yourself, others and countless situations.

Condemnation

A child of God is never condemned.  God loves each of us.  It is not in our nature to condemn because it is not in our nature to believe in something more powerful than Love – than God or Good.  The activity of the Divine is always bringing transformation, renewal and healing.  It reveals who we each are as whole and complete.  Therefore we are never condemned. 

Comparison

Comparing impedes our progress and hides our true purpose.  God’s diversity is so vital.  No two men, women or children are the same.  We are as the snowflakes – each one unique.  So one person’s life expression is not going to look the same as another.  We are all expressing divinity in a unique way.  Denying our creativity, uniqueness and perfection is like trying to deny an aspect of God that needs to be expressed.  Love and cherish the unique qualities and ideas you have.  Don’t think with jealousy, envy or coveting what another person has.  Love you because of who God made you to be – special, priceless, invaluable.  Trust me – you will be much happier and productive when being the “real” you. 

Complaint

Ah, complaints.  They’re so easy to do.  There is a line from a hymn which says, “Our gratitude is riches, complaint is poverty” (Christian Science Hynnal, 249).  Wow.  That really shows complaining in it’s true light.  Complaining cuts us off from seeing the goodness and abundance and Love each moment.  And that is why complaint is poverty.  Gratitude is an acknowledgement of the good, Love and kindness present in this moment.  Take a moment to look around you.  See all the beauty, good, protection and care coming from God and feel that gratitude in your hearts.  Now, don’t you feel rich?! 🙂

 

I know it can be hard resisting the 4 C’s; but making a conscious choice of the thoughts you are going to continue to think – allow to dwell in your consciousness – will open you up to so many possibilities.  It will open you up to goodness, inspiration, love, and joy – progress in your life, relationships and future. Like attracts like. Having this spiritual consciousness will attract that which is spiritual, eternal and precious in your experience.

Enjoy this day!  Consider sharing, in the comment section, experiences of how you overcame 1 or more of the 4 C’s and what it felt like for you.  You can help inspire others to do the same.

Loving Ourselves

Published on by lindseybiggs1 Comment

I read an interesting article the other day.  It pointed out to love ourselves first, and then we will have the ability to love our neighbor as ourselves.[i] I feel this point is important when understood in a spiritual perspective.

If I see myself as the spiritual idea that God created – beautiful, useful, intelligent, filled with right ideas, creative, and shining – then I express that, and I’m able to see others that way.

On the contrary, if I’m not seeing myself spiritually, then I’m probably not going to see others spiritually as well.  If I only love myself a little bit or some of the time, than I’m only going to love my neighbor a little bit or some of the time.  We can see ourselves as the spiritual perfect man or woman that God created, and in that way we can be uplifted and help uplift others.

When we love ourselves as God’s child then we naturally bless and include others.  We radiate God’s light.  We see ourselves through the lens of Love, and we are able to see others in the same way.  Giving becomes easier.  We are more productive and appreciative.  We feel more spontaneity, energy and enthusiasm.

Negative thoughts about yourself are draining.  They take away our strength and lead to discouragement.  They may be regret, inadequacy, unworthiness, fear of failure, or lack of confidence.  On the other hand they may be self-righteousness or self-justification.  The type of attitude that says, “I don’t care what anyone else feels; I’m going to do it anyway”; Or it may be criticizing others so that we feel better.  This isn’t loving ourselves as God made us either.

We are each the beloved child of God.  God knows us as spiritual and perfect, eternally abiding in His kingdom.  “In Him we live and move and have our being”.[ii] Therefore we can never be apart from God or leave His side.  No mistake or accident from the past can taint us today.  We are “new-born”[iii] each day, and we can always “put on the new man”[iv].

I had the privilege of attending a Christian marriage seminar shortly after I was married.  Wonderful ideas were shared including this one that I like: we are 100% responsible for how we feel.  This takes pressure off your spouse or anyone else to be the one to please or make you happy.  And it takes pressure off of you to look for someone to make you feel good.

When we are responsible for how we feel, we are much nicer to be around and easier to get along with.  We don’t have to look to someone else for approval or satisfaction; we can look to God to know we are taking the right step and walking the right way.  We can check with God before we do or say anything.  And we know we are already loved.  I like revising the well-known Bible statement that says, “We love him, because he first loved us”[v] to say ‘we love ourselves, because God first loved us’.

Loving yourself is being obedient to God.  God made you and created you.  Loving yourself is acknowledging God’s wonderful creation.   It isn’t selfish at all.  And we are more valuable to Him when we see who we are as He/She created us to be – perfect and eternal in His/Her own spiritual image and likeness.

So let’s love ourselves today, and in that way we will truly be able to love others.

[i] Christian Science Sentinel, “A Promise of Progress”, T. Michael Fish, July 5, 2010

[ii] Holy Bible, King James Version, Acts 17:28

[iii] Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 35

[iv] Holy Bible, King James Version, Eph 4:24, Col 3:10

[v] Holy Bible, King James Version, I John 4:19