New Year but Same Old Thoughts?

January 9, 2020

by: Paul Bishop MA,LPC, LPC/S - Director

It may be that you had a very difficult year in 2019 and are not hopeful of anything different in 2020. You feel a victim of circumstances and keep hearing negative voices in your head. While your circumstances may be overwhelming or your emotions may be overpowering, there is hope beyond what you are feeling because there is truth greater than what you are believing

Yes, you feel what you feel because you believe what you believe. You believe things like “I am worthless,” “people don’t really want to spend time with me,” “I am always messing up,” or “I am an idiot!” Maybe you even find yourself muttering these things under your breath. When it comes to God, you may have assumptions that because you have not measured up to what you were taught or even to your own ideals, that God does not want to be in your life either. This does not add up to what you know to be true or to what Scripture says is true, but it feels true and you have gotten good at reinforcing these beliefs through repetition

If you keep telling yourself the same “truth,” you will keep feeling the same reality. Change is hard. How about a new year’s resolution to work on your thoughts this year? All change starts by first identifying what needs to change. Work with a counselor, a trusted friend, a sponsor in recovery and begin with a list of the negative statements that need changing. Find out where they come from. Catch yourself repeating these thoughts and every time you do, replace them with a positive message of hope and a message that is based on God’s truth. Don’t let another year go by with the same self-defeating thoughts!