I heard about a wise bumper sticker a few days ago. Here is what it said:
“Don’t Believe Everything You Think” This bumper sticker is helping me.
These are difficult days for me. I feel I have suffered a great loss. I am working my way through the situation in a way that is satisfactory to me.
The hardest times are in the morning when I wake up. Most of the time that is about 3:00 AM. I do go back to sleep, so I am not suffering from lack of sleep, but old, faulty belief systems tend to operate for an hour or an hour and a half early in my mornings.
My faulty thinking centers around the feeling that I am fundamentally unacceptable. It feels like my lack of acceptability means that my current loss is just the first of many losses that will inevitably come to me.. Eventually, I will be all by myself, isolated, forlorn.
That is not the case. I know I am a loved and valued man. I know I can rely on remaining in fellowship with wonderful people all the rest of my life. A rich life socially is a part of my heritage from my Higher Power.
Another program saying is:
“My mind is a dangerous place. I should never go there alone.”
In this tough time I am not isolating. Each day I make sure to stay in contact with my many wise and caring friends. They help me see where I have allowed the emotional pressure I am under, to negatively influence my thought life.
Another saying is this:
“There is a committee in my head. This committee convenes on a regular basis to tell me the same old lies.”
My committee’s lies center around my worth and acceptability as a human being. Sometimes I say to myself, “At least I could make them tell me some new lies. They have been telling me the same lies for over sixty years.”
Each morning I fight through those fears, go back to sleep, get up and have a good, full day. I am learning I don’t have to believe everything I think.
George Caywood 