negative thinking
Cultivating A Thriving Garden Of The Mind
Your mind is like a fertile garden, constantly nurturing and cultivating the seeds of thought you plant each day. Every waking moment your ideas, beliefs, and perceptions take hold and gradually grow into the mental landscape that ultimately shapes your reality.
If you could take a walk through your “mind garden,” what would you find? Would you see sturdy, thriving trees of faith, hope, and positivity, their roots deeply nourishing the soil of your thoughts? Perhaps vibrant, radiant flowers of joy, abundance and well-being brightening the landscape?
Or would you find brittle branches of lost dreams and dry, withered remnants of unfulfilled hopes? Perhaps the creeping weeds of negativity and doubt smothering your true potential, casting shadows over your hopes and ideals?
I actually do this visualization sometimes as part of my morning meditation practice. I imagine walking through my inner garden, tending to my thoughts and beliefs, nurturing them with faith and positivity, fertilizing those that are flourishing, and pulling out the weeds of doubt, fear, or negativity that had somehow taken root and are no longer serving my highest good.
I also ask for divine guidance, calling on God, my guides and loved ones in spirit to help me recognize innate talents and growth opportunities that I might have overlooked or neglected. Perhaps there are hidden seeds within me that still need to be planted or nurtured. With intention, I also visualize planting new seeds of goodness, self-empowerment, and spiritual expansion.
The Spiritual Power Of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)
Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is a powerful therapeutic tool for those who view spirituality as a journey of personal growth, karmic healing, and soul evolution. NLP’s focus on reframing beliefs, improving communication, and cultivating self-awareness resonates deeply with modern spiritual aspirations.
Rather than seeing NLP as simply a set of psychological techniques, many spiritually-minded people use it as a means of transforming inner blockages, clearing old patterns, and creating a life that serves their highest good. With NLP, personal growth becomes a conscious journey in which the mind, heart and spirit work together in harmony.
At its core, NLP emphasizes the power of our beliefs and the language we use – two aspects that are also relevant to spirituality. Many spiritual seekers strive to release limiting beliefs and align with their true self and divine potential, and NLP offers practical tools to make this personal transformation possible.
By teaching you how to identify and reprogram subconscious thoughts, NLP empowers you to change habitual responses, tap into your creative potential, and live with greater intention. This approach resonates with those of us on a spiritual path because it addresses one of the central concepts in several spiritual teachings and esoteric traditions: the belief that our inner world shapes our outer reality, and that by changing our mindset we can transform our life experiences.
When applied with a spiritual perspective, NLP becomes a means of aligning with one’s higher purpose, healing karmic wounds, and fostering self-love. By understanding how thoughts, emotions, and language interact to shape reality, those on a path of spiritual growth can use NLP to accelerate their journey and transform both their inner landscape and outer reality.
The Spiritual Power Of Choosing To Forgive
Forgiveness is a much-discussed topic in spiritual circles. It is also often deeply misunderstood.
Forgiveness does not mean condoning wrongdoing or accepting abuse or cruelty. Instead, it involves choosing not to carry the darkness and negativity that has been inflicted upon you, and refusing to allow it to affect your well-being, either physically or emotionally.
While it’s ideal to find compassion for those who have wronged you, it’s not always possible. Understand that those who caused you harm are often suffering themselves.
Happy and fulfilled people are naturally kind, generous, and honest. In contrast, those consumed by self-loathing and misery tend to spread chaos and cruelty. Their relationships are full of conflict and dissatisfaction.
I once worked with a man who was clearly struggling with mental illness. Circumstances placed us in a business relationship that I initially tried to avoid, preferring to distance myself from unhealthy situations. However, I was compelled to help him because I was told that my true role was to support his children and providing help where it was needed most.
This unfortunate man is consumed by rage from his own traumatic past-abuse by his mother, mistreatment by her successive husbands, and conflict with his first ex-wife. His life is a testament to the destructive power of unresolved anger and lack of forgiveness. His toxic energy is rooted in past hurts and a cycle of inflicting pain on others.
Begin By Loving Yourself Unconditionally
The first person each of us learns to love is ourselves. And that’s exactly how it should be, although many of us seem to forget this fundamental truth as we navigate the complexities of life.
But if we don’t cultivate self-love, how can we expect to show genuine love and care for anyone else?
In our society, love is often misunderstood as an abstract “thing” that we either have or don’t have. This view is fundamentally flawed. Love is not just a passive state or a fleeting emotion; it’s an active, conscious choice. We must make self-love an integral part of our daily thoughts and actions.
Unfortunately, our culture is often harsh, judgmental, and narrow-minded. This societal backdrop can deeply affect our self-perception, making it easy to forget how to love ourselves. Many people experience moments of self-doubt or feel less than perfect.
This self-criticism can snowball and lead us to constantly put ourselves down. But this doesn’t have to be our reality. The foundation of all healthy relationships – romantic or otherwise – is unconditional self-love.
So how do we cultivate this essential self-love? It begins with simple affirmations. Remember that you are you – and that’s more than enough. Create a mantra that resonates with you and repeat it regularly. When you’re comfortable, try speaking directly to your reflection in the mirror. It may feel awkward at first, but it’s a powerful way to reinforce positive self-esteem.
Become A Magnet For Joy And Happiness
Have you ever experienced such an intense level of joy after receiving wonderful news or a successful outcome that not even the most negative person could dampen your mood or ruin your day?
Well, that’s the kind of energy you need to send out into the universe if you want to become a magnet for love, happiness and fulfillment.
Many people are constantly stuck in a cycle of negativity. They see the worst in every situation and project their pessimism onto everyone and everything around them.
As a psychic counselor, I’ve worked with many clients over the years who have fallen victim to the negativity of such naysayers and energy thieves – people who try to drag others down to their level to alleviate their own discomfort.
In these scenarios, I then guide my clients on how to better protect themselves energetically and maintain balance spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and in the worst cases, even physically.
They do this by creating an invisible shield that deflects the negativity. This shield sends the negative energy right back at the ‘happiness trolls,’ neutralizing their psychic attacks and preventing their pessimistic, toxic energy from affecting you.
Your life will take a major turn for the better when you realize that some people are not even aware of how their negativity affects others. Often these people have had very difficult lives or traumatic childhoods filled with anger and conflict. They are often carriers of serious levels of unresolved karmic debt, which they typically make no effort to address due to their lack of self-awareness and spiritual awareness. You cannot expect someone to break free of these karmic patterns and ancestral legacies if they are not aware that they even exist.
The True Meaning Of Being Balanced
Spiritual teachers often emphasize the importance of achieving and maintaining balance as a fundamental aspect of well-being, personal growth, and spiritual development.
But what does it really mean? Is it about having a healthy work-life balance? Is it about a balanced diet or exercise routine? No, these are just some of the smaller elements of achieving true balance.
Balance refers to being holistically balanced in all aspects of our existence: body, mind, and spirit. Achieving and maintaining balance means creating a harmonious and integrated life in which all aspects of our being support each other, leading to overall well-being and a deeper connection with our true self.
We are more than our physical health, appearance and fitness levels. We are more than our thoughts, ideas, and knowledge. And we are more than our spiritual beliefs and practices. We are a wondrous compilation of all these things that make up our body, mind, and spirit. When any part of us is unhealthy or dysfunctional, it disrupts our alignment with our higher self. This is the true meaning of being out of balance.
Striving to be true to your higher self should always be your priority. Your higher self is the real you, the you that exists in harmony with the universe and is an expression of the divine. It is only when we are in alignment with our higher self that the world truly opens up for so much more to flow into our lives…instead of out of them.