A Word

 
All of us who suffer from mental illness can understand how our brains can go on many rabbit trails often times leading us into unsafe places triggering fear, worry and anxiety.
This is how that process works:
 1) A word leads to...
 2) How we think...How we think leads to...
 3) What we feel...What we feel leads to...
 4) Making decisions...Our decisions lead to...
 5) Taking action...Our actions lead to...
 6) Creating habits...Our habits lead to...
 7) Developing character...Our developed character leads to...
 8) Our destination.
 
I believe if we change the words we are playing in our heads we could actually re-route our thinking and end up in better places. Philippians 4:8,9 gives us examples of words to focus on. Not only that, it also shows us what reward we will attain by following this process...
“You would do best by filling your minds and meditating on things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, reputable and compelling, gracious, the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly, things to praise, not to curse. Practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
This is not easy to do when we are suffering with so much despair, anguish, depression, flashbacks, hallucinations and fear, but it works! It cannot change the past, but it certainly can change our present for the moment. I know, because it works for me!
It did not happen right away. It needed to be practiced. That means over and over again just like playing an instrument...practice makes perfect! Though we may not perfect or completely control the operations of our minds, we most definitely can train them to go in more desirable directions and in doing so attain peace. :)