Do You Believe in Miracles?
10 Exercises to Stay Spiritually Fit
20 Scriptures That Bring Hope to Any Situation
5 Ways to Revive Your Dream!
7 Ways to Plant Seeds of Greatness in Your Life
20 Powerful Declarations to Fight Discouragement
5 Ways to Stay Healthy This Summer
5 Tips for Better Sleep
7 Top Health Issues Facing Today’s Women
Celebrities Who Won't Back Down
A Conversation with Minnesota Wild Center Matt Cullen
Yes, Gratitude Works!
10 Ways to To Handle Life Changes With Courage
The Fruits of Desire
Nurturing a Healthy Marriage
10 Ways to Get Over a Hurtful Past
Ten Things Every Dad Should Tell His Son
We are all one. If we all knew it, we could not hurt one another. By sharing this message, perhaps we can change the world. Visit OneJourney.net to learn more!
Here are three new and true beginnings you can start with today that will put you in the right place for leaving old self-defeating choices behind you for good.
1. Each time you find yourself face to face with some overbearing man or woman who in some way intimidates you, dare to make this new and true beginning: act toward that person in exactly the way you want to act, and: not in the way you think he or she expects you to.
Within the guidelines of being kind and true, speak to that person as though you are completely free to say what you feel, for you are. What any individual may think about what you have to say is not your concern. So let this false concern go.
This highly personal act of independence will likely cause you to tremble. That’s all right. And should your shakiness become visible, proceed anyway. This true beginning will reveal that the cause of your unhappy endings with others has never been in what they’ve demanded of you, but rather within your own impossible and conflict-creating demands on yourself: that you be in charge of your own life and, at the same time, please everyone that asks you to do so.
2. The next time you begin to feel any conflict or confusion over some shaky situation that won’t go away, dare to make this new and true beginning: refuse to cave in to any painful inner prompting that urges you to just “get things settled.”
Deliberately defy those clamoring thoughts and feelings that want to send you on a search outside of yourself for peace of mind. This true beginning will help you to see that bringing an end to conflict must begin and end within you. Look nowhere else!
No snap or desperate decision made in conflict can ever resolve any shaky inner state, because part of any conflict is the fear of making a wrong choice, and fear is at the root of your shakiness, not the solution to it.
3. Any time someone criticizes or corrects you, dare to make this new and true beginning: go against your habitual urge to defend yourself.
Instead of reacting with heated resistance to something you don’t want to hear about yourself, just listen to what’s being said. This true beginning gives you the opportunity to see what you need to see about yourself. And here’s a good guideline for evaluating moments such as these. The more you want to resist the things being said about you, the more you need to hear those very words. So don’t criticize back, either out loud or under your breath. If you meet these moments with an argument, you’ve already lost.
Remember, there’s always something to learn from something said that stings, even if it’s just to discover that you’re still being tripped up by the long shadow of your own falsely inscrutable image.
posted January 5, 2012 at 8:59 am
Thank you , I have developed from your guidance. I would so much like to know more about dealing with my internal self talk. I feel I have learned to deal with external pressures. Now I am my bug bear. Self discipline……how?
posted January 5, 2012 at 1:20 pm
Hi Sandra — my name is Kate and I work closely with Guy at his Life of Learning Foundation. Isn’t it great to start to see problems in a whole new light, where instead of resisting disturbances (external or internal) I can use them to come back to myself and ask the question, what can I learn in this moment? Guy calls that choosing to learn instead of burn.
If you’re not already familiar with the Life of Learning website, you will find a treasure trove of information about dealing with internal “self talk” as you put it, especially in the Audio section — just visit guyfinley.org and browse around the free content section. If you have any questions feel free to send them in via our Contact form on the website.
Best wishes,
Kate
posted January 14, 2012 at 11:27 am
Thanks for this post.This touches the core of how l behave. I do have a wife who is righteous and demanding but also a little too critical. My reaction is always of defending myself and I have stopped that n try to listen to the uncomfortable truths bout me. It does make me shake when there is conflict and I would do anything just to settle it since I hate conflict and have to find a way to know what I want and stop pleasing her and act in a way I think she wants me to act or talk
posted January 17, 2012 at 9:57 am
Dear Guy,
This was profoundly helpful to me. Your notes always come at the right time and cause me to remember myself. Here’s wishing you many more years of sharing your wisdom.