A Matter of Perspective
A Matter of Perspective
I was listening to @meno talk about perspective in the @helpie meeting yesterday and it was such an inspiring and important message.
As someone who deals with depression and anxiety, I constantly need to be aware of ANTS.
ANTS suck.
Automatic negative thoughts (ANTS) can lead me into a swirling vortex of despair if gone unchecked.
Our thoughts lead to our emotions, and emotions are powerful energies which can attract similar energies to us.
Sinking into dark emotional turmoil based on a series of ever-increasing negative thought patterns is like a thick, black cloud surrounding and smothering me.
It's difficult to break out of that state once I get to that point so I need to constantly be aware of my thought patterns and banish unnecessary negative thoughts when they happen....before they lead me down a road where I'm lost and I can't find my way back.
It just happened last night actually.
I was sitting here minding my own business when a string of unrelated thoughts led to an extremely unpleasant memory.
I've been down that road before.
Dwelling on that memory is of absolutely no benefit to me.
The past is gone. There's nothing I can do to change it.
I've gone through mourning, grieving, and lessons learned.
I've done my best to clear the emotional blockages of guilt by letting go and forgiving myself.
But, I'm an extremely sensitive empath so I feel too much....constantly.
So, when this memory tried to invade my soul last night I banished it and replaced it with a pleasant thought so that it didn't lead me to become trapped in the quicksand of negativity.
Which leads me back to perspective.
I replaced that negative thought with one of gratitude.
No matter how bad you think things are, there is always something to be grateful for.
Feelings of gratitude can raise your energy levels to attract positivity into your life.
I could list hundreds of things that are wrong with my life, but perspective allows me to open up to a wider view where I can see everything there is to be grateful for.
There will always be problems and challenges, but life consists of light and dark, mercy and severity.
Perspective allows us to strive for balance so that we can see the light even when we think we are blinded by darkness.
You know how sometimes one can be thinking about something, then suddenly forget, much like having a conversation and forgetting what you're talking about? Well, I was experiencing one of these haunting memories recently, obviously you know the feeling, it sucks. Then, quite suddenly, I forgot what I was thinking about. So I was sitting there, slightly pissed that I lost my train of thought, and I knew it was a bad one, yet I was still trying to bring it back, but couldn't, no matter how hard I tried. To this day, I still can't remember what that thought was, so that's probably a good thing. I got lucky. My brain fizzle popped at just the right time and I'm certain whatever that crappy memory was, it's gone forever.
Too bad it can't always be like that.
Oh yes I've had that happen before! The brain is like, "yeah...stop thinking about that shit".
For an empath, emotions are your guide to what is right and wrong, but (and I see this in my daughter) do not let them become your master - perspective, or some detachment exercises, can help redress the balance. It is not about ignoring the emotions, more about using them with discrimination.
Thanks.
Upvoted (by @rycharde), resteemed (by @accelerator) and has been added to the latest MAP Upvotes post.
Hi @isaria, thanks for an inspiring post! :-)
I listened to the Helpie meeting afterwards because I couldn't make it last night, but found Meno's little rant about his rich friend very insightful too. He teaches a lesson on "perspective management", how to not let your own perspective be the only guide to your actions, but to try and match your perspective, compare it to the perspectives of those around you. Being empathic, to be short. We too often forget that all we see of ourselves is a reflection of the mirror held up by others.
Same goes for griefs, regrets or perceived failures; asking forgiveness from yourself is actually asking forgiveness from that fore-mentioned mirror-image. What I read in your post, which is wonderful, is someone trying to forget or replace past grievances and ask forgiveness from your actual self. Only in our modern culture has grief been reduced to something you need to process individually, even when that belief contradicts everything we learned in our extensive history as social creatures. Grief is to be shared, with the ones close to you, with total strangers who have to deal with your diminished mood. And you must be able to count on their understanding for you to be able to "forgive yourself".
The past is gone and there's nothing you can do to change or forget it, so don't try to forget it. Instead give it a place in your existence, give the holders of your mirror the tools to make a better, nicer reflection for you to look at. Then you'll have something valuable to be grateful for. We don't make or break ourselves, we make and break each other. You posting this inspirational article is, to me at least, proof positive that you know that, and I'm grateful for that :-)
Just my two cents btw. In the end we all must do or think what makes us feel comfortable, what we feel is "truth" and keeps us true to ourselves... Thanks for a great and thought-provoking post!
I can so relate to this post! And, like you have been focusing more on gratitude and acceptance of myself and what has transpired in my past.
Usually, I say I don't like acronym's, but ANTS is a perfect one--some times little, black sugar ants and other times an army of big, red, fire ants inside of my head.
That is a very powerful message!! I have the same problem and you're right, finding something to be grateful for is a good way to combat this... but sometimes easier said than done. Thanks for this message..... came at just the right time. HUGS!
I mentioned this post in this week's Tarot Tuesday letter:
https://steemit.com/steemit/@zero-infinity/tarot-tuesday-june-26-2018-edition
Thoughts, generate emotions and these our actions, so reprogramming our mind to learn to think in such a way that is consistent with my well-being is a task of development and personal growth pending for all human beings to eradicate the evil of depression and the anxiety of our daily life.
beautifully written and oh so true. Now just to remember it!!! I will try!! <3
Dreams are silver neither black nor white.
Hugs
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