Your Thoughts are Not All Your Own

I’m going to share today about the three different voices in your head. Now, you think it’s all you, you think it’s all your brain, and you think it’s all your thoughts. But let’s go back to your childhood for a moment. Do you remember those cartoons where there was an angel on one shoulder and then a devil on the other shoulder, and they were giving advice to the cartoon character? Well, that’s not too far from the truth. I’m here to tell you that it’s not all you and your own head coming up with all the thoughts you think. You think it is, and it feels like it is, but it’s not. It can be really annoying when you’re fighting with yourself, wondering “Why am I fighting with myself? It’s all me.” But it’s not. 

The Devil is the Source of Your Negative Thoughts

Here’s what is really going on. You have the devil talking to you all the time, and you also have God’s angels talking to you all the time. I guess it’s usually not the devil himself talking to you, but usually some of his minions. Not the cute yellow ones, though. That’s not how it works. The real ones are dark and awful. And the devil’s angels, his minions, or his workers of darkness, are just screaming at you all day. They’re pointing out everything you’ve done wrong,  how ugly everyone else is, trying to get your pride. And maybe they’re pointing out how your car is not good enough, and they’re just yelling all the time at you, constantly criticizing, yelling, pushing, shoving, being annoying, being irritating, and pointing out flaws of yourself and others. Just screaming all the time. No wonder it can be so hard to stop thinking negative thoughts. They’re relentless, aren’t they? 

And if you think those thoughts are your own, it can be really hard. You think you’re stuck with those types of things being put on you all the time and running through your mind constantly. 

God is Also in Your Head

Then you have God’s angels, inspiration, the Holy Ghost, or the Spirit giving you guidance, direction, promptings, and good ideas. The way that the Holy Ghost works, or that the Spirit works, is that it’s calm and peaceful and quiet, inviting and open, encouraging and enlightening, and it feels just light and airy and open. 

The Loud, Negative Voice is Easier to Hear

Now if you picture yourself in any given typical circumstance, life is usually busy. Usually we’re working, we’re doing things, we have tasks and we’re not spending a lot of time in calm, quiet, or peaceful surroundings. When you’re running and busy, and doing things, how does someone get your attention? They raise their voice, right? They speak up, they speak out, and they speak loudly. 

In this world, power and leadership is usually held by those who are loud, forceful, pushy, and prideful (confident on the side of pride). We’re trained at a young age to believe that those who speak up, and speak out, and are loud are the ones to follow. So we’re tricked into thinking that the voice in our head that’s the loudest and the pushiest is the one we should listen to. When we are followers of Christ, and we seek peace and light and enlightenment, that’s not the voice you want to be listening to. You don’t want to be listening to the one that’s loud and pushy and yelling at you. That’s not the type of leader that we look towards, right? 

I haven’t yet mentioned the third voice in your head. That’s your own voice, which is the one asking a lot of questions and being tugged back and forth between the other two, trying to sort things out. My main focus here is how to engage with the other two voices.

How to Stop Thinking Negative Thoughts

One of the ways that I have learned to identify the two voices, so that I can consciously choose which voice I’m listening to, and stop thinking negative thoughts, is by the notebook method. This involves two notebooks: a black notebook and a colored notebook. 

The black notebook is plain and black, and the colored notebook is something that just speaks to you, maybe it’s your favorite color or has something that you like on it, such as a puppy or flowers or geometric shapes or a garden. Just whatever speaks to you. Then you take two minutes each day for each notebook. 

Clear Out the Negative Thoughts

You start by setting a timer for two minutes and then you open up your black notebook. With your black notebook open, you sit and listen. Listen to that voice that is screaming, pushing, criticizing, and being negative, giving you “glass is half empty” thoughts. As you hear those thoughts, you write them down. Take them out of your head and put them onto the paper. 

At this point you get to choose: do you want to keep those thoughts or do you want to leave them in the notebook? I leave them in the notebook, because they’re pushy and mean and I don’t like things that are pushy and mean. So, I leave them in the notebook. 

Listen For Inspiration

After the timer goes off you shut the notebook and set it aside. Then you set another timer for two minutes and you open your colored notebook, and then you listen again. Now that you’ve quieted that yelling voice, you listen to the quiet, soft, still voice and you ask God what messages he has for you, what he wants you to know, what inspiration does he have for you today, what does he want you to do, what is he inviting you to do, what is he inviting you to think and feel about yourself and others.

My friends, that is power! That’s some good information. You want to tap into that information. It’s good, it’s uplifting, it’s opening, and it’s inspiring. It lifts you and it feels so nice. 

Notebook Method To-Do List

So let me go over this again. This is the notebook method. Here’s your to-do list. 

1. Set a timer for two minutes 
2. Write in the black notebook first, because that’s a louder voice and it’s much easier to hear, so you write in a black notebook first for two minutes.
3. Set a timer again, for two minutes (or more).
4. Write in the colored notebook for equal or more time (at least two minutes). You write in the colored notebook and you listen to those voices of the angels that are talking to you, inspiring you, and giving you uplifting messages. You write those down so you can treasure them and review them and you can choose to keep them. 

Notebook Method Don’t-Do List

Now here’s a list of what not to do.

1. Don’t keep these voices in your head. If you have them all in your head, these voices are going to compete for your attention and the loud voice is going to win, because it’s loud and we can hear it all the time. The quiet voice is harder to tap into because we have to be calm ourselves, be a little bit at peace, and be in a quieter place. That’s not often how life is, right? But the more we tune into it the more we’re going to be able to hear it in any circumstance.
2. Do not write only in one book or the other. When we choose to only think about our good thoughts, that can certainly be helpful. But until we get that voice of criticism, and judgment, and anger, and ire, and irritation out of our head and onto a piece of paper, it’s going to remain there bothering us. 
3. Don’t do it alone. Now this is a big one. The third thing is that if you, or the person that you’re helping, is in a really dark place, so that their thoughts and what they’re hearing are very, very dark and scary, then don’t have them do it alone. If it’s you or someone else, if you’re in a depression or in anxiety, if you’re having a panic attack, or a very depressive episode, and your thoughts are very, very dark, don’t do it alone. Ask for someone to sit with you and support you so they can help to hold you up. It can be really scary, I know. When I struggled with depression really, really bad, I couldn’t write in these notebooks alone because I was afraid of the thoughts I was having. I got tricked into thinking that those thoughts were mine, but they weren’t mine. I didn’t choose them and I didn’t want to keep them, but I didn’t know how to get rid of them. 

The Challenge: Try It! Stop the Negative Thinking!

This method has been very, very helpful to me and my family and those that I’ve shared it with. I challenge you now, if you think this sounds like a good idea and that it could be helpful for you, I challenge you to go to the store in the next 24 hours and get two notebooks, a black notebook and a colored notebook, and do this exercise. It takes just four minutes. You’ve got four minutes. 

What could happen in your life if you could really tell the difference between those two voices, if you could tap into, at any moment, the voice of God and his angels? What inspiration could you get, what answers to prayers could you receive if you just spend four minutes a day listening to those two voices, choosing to let go of the negative ones and choosing to embrace the ones from God? How much of an impact can you make on your life and the life of others? 

Bonus “Don’t-Do”

I have a bonus for the “what not to do” list. This is my top secret tip for improving your life. Drumroll, please… When you learn something new that could be helpful to someone, you often think about who you want to share this information with, because you know people who are struggling, you know people who are having a hard time, and you know people whose lives could be better if they would implement the thing that you learned. So my secret bonus tip for you is this: Don’t let yourself get distracted into thinking this is for someone else and not for you.

Let me repeat it. Don’t get distracted into thinking this is for someone else and not for you. This is for you. It’s for you. The devil’s in your head and what’s he saying to you? He’s saying “Share this video with someone else. Tell someone else to do this. You don’t have to do it. You have no problems. This is for everyone else.” 

The way that we teach others is through example. That is the biggest, fattest, awesomest way to share with others. You do what you want others to do, and when they see it’s working for you, then they’re going to ask about it. You don’t have to give them advice without being asked. When they see that it’s working for you they’re going to ask you “What are you doing? How’s that working?” They’ll ask you for your advice when they see how well you are doing.  

It Works Because It’s Truth

So that’s the secret: you do it first, you go first, you be the example, and when it’s working for you, it’s going to come up in conversations and people are going to be asking about it.

And that is how to stop thinking negative thoughts. I’m so excited for you! This method works. It works because it’s based on truth. It’s based on what’s actually happening in your brain. You’re not fighting with yourself all day. You’re hearing the devil and you’re hearing God and you’re asking yourself which do you want to listen to, and where do you want to go. 

When you start writing in that notebook you’re going to notice the difference between the two voices and you’re going to recognize why you keep listening to the devil. It’s because he’s loud, obnoxious and pushy. But you don’t have to listen to him anymore. You can take those negative thoughts out of your brain, put them onto paper and close that book.