Celebrate Yourself
A Practitioner’s Perspective with Susan Clark, RScP
One of the things we teach at The Center for Spiritual Living is the old refrain, “Change your thinking, change your life.” I know you’ve heard this many times. I have personally spent a long time trying to observe what my thinking is telling me, and it has been a journey. For me, it hasn’t been that easy to change.
In one way, it has been amusing because my thinking is sometimes very flawed, crazy even, and not rooted in reality, nor in the principles we teach here. Yet I fully know and believe these teachings. Ernest Holmes says, “There is a power and presence in the Universe and we can use it.” That’s the truth! Our teaching tells me, “I am the power and presence of God. I am lacking nothing. I am one with the essence of the Universe. I am one with all people. Nothing separates me from my good. The Universe is for me and never against me.”
Yet my human mind seems to have a life of its own which can quickly move to old thoughts of “I don’t have enough, I am not good enough, or basically ‘poor me’”. This can take me down a road filled with depression, fear, and anxiety.
I have been catching my negative thoughts for a long time and these often start as soon as I wake up in the morning, maybe with a groan and the thought that I didn’t get enough sleep last night, so it’ll probably be a long, hard day. The negative thoughts seem to build automatically from there.
Early on, when I would catch myself in this type of thinking, I’d beat myself up, telling myself that I was never going to “get it”, that I was too old to change, that there probably wasn’t any point in continuing to try so hard anyway.
I think many of us tend to be hard on ourselves when we revert to old patterns of thought or being. What I learned was that with a quick, but sincere prayer, I could turn my day around and start seeing the good all around me. What I learned was that rather than beating myself up when I spotted negative thinking, I needed to congratulate myself, to appreciate my quick brain which spotted the flawed thinking. That noticing was a huge success, because you can’t change what you don’t see. Once you recognize and notice your patterns, they’re much easier to change. So, catching your old patterns of thought re-emerging is a time to celebrate. Say to yourself, “Congratulations, I spotted it !”
Today, when I spot negative or self-defeating thinking, I’m almost gleeful! I just love to catch myself. Yes, my mind is still conjuring up dark thoughts and I still tend to follow them…..but I don’t follow them for as long as I used to or go to very dark places. Today, I’m more likely to greet you with ,”Guess what I caught my mind doing?” And then I’ll gleefully share my quirky, flawed thinking. I celebrate myself for the growth I see in me, and I love doing that.
I invite you to celebrate the growth you see in you and find absolute glee in catching your thinking which is no longer serving you well.
As you continue to take classes, expand and adopt new ideas, learning to watch what is going on in your thinking, is a key part to your ongoing growth. It may not be easy, and it may take more time than you’d like, but living the principles of our teaching is so invaluable to your expanding soul. So, the next time you catch yourself with flawed thinking, grab me or one of the other Practitioners and let us celebrate your ongoing expansion with you. We want to share your delight!