BBi-2013 Week 6: Pay Attention to Your Inner Monologue. Silence it, if Necessary
Warning: Today, I’m letting you inside my head. Not the filtered, edited and photo-shopped version, either. But the messy, irrational, borderline-psychotic version.
You have no idea how hesitant I am to publish this post…here it goes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It all started a few weeks ago as I was finishing up a workout. I was short on time, so I had to cut my 60-minute workout DVD down to about 45 minutes. As I was putting away the weights and heading upstairs to shower, I said to myself, “You need to work out longer and harder than you do. That’s not enough time.”
Honestly, that’s such a normal thing for me to say to myself, I am surprised I even noticed. But notice, I did. And it didn’t stop there.
When I went to eat lunch, I heard, “You should be eating less, healthier.”
And when I sat down to write, I heard, “You should be writing more often, better.”
And when I went to do some housework, “You should be more efficient, faster, more organized.”
No matter what I set my hand to do that day, I was not measuring up to some ridiculous and unidentifiable standard I had set up in my head. And I was quick to point it out to myself every single time.
“You can do better. You can do more. You always fall short.”
(Goodness, if I talked to other people the way I talk to myself, I’d have no friends.)
So, the next morning, I took it to God in prayer.
“Lord, I feel like I may have discovered a mental hurdle I need to overcome. Sometimes, I feel like I don’t quite measure up—to something—I don’t know what. I’ve already grown so much in my battle with perfectionism. So, please help me overcome this little hurdle. This negative thinking.”
Just that quickly, I sensed God say, “Yes. You are onto something. Now listen, Sandy. Really listen to that inner voice. Just for a few moments. And write down everything you hear.”
In that silent predawn hour, sitting in my office chair, pen and journal in hand, God turned up the volume in my brain. The voice that was previously little more than background noise—quiet and full of static—became loud and clear. I began to write:
In money, you spend too much, give too little and don’t keep track of your finances.
In parenting, you’re too impatient, too irritable and don’t play with the kids enough.
In marriage, you don’t support Jon’s dreams enough, you aren’t nice enough, and you don’t have sex often enough.(sorry, I warned you I was letting you inside my head.)
Your car is too dirty.
You carpet is filthy.
You haven’t dusted the kids’ rooms in months.
Your desk is messy.
You’re not submitting enough guest posts for publication.
You don’t Tweet enough.
You don’t follow up with your readers enough.
You don’t serve at church enough.
You don’t reach out to your neighbors enough.
Why aren’t you teaching a class right now?
Why aren’t you serving the homeless right now?
Why aren’t you trying to adopt another child?
You never have people over for dinner.
You don’t phone your friends enough.
You don’t phone your Dad enough.
You don’t pray enough (this, literally as I am praying!)…
OH MY GOODNESS!!! This is the voice I hear all the time! This voice tells me I’m falling short in every single area of my life, 24 hours a day. Always. In everything. I could not think of one area of life where I felt adequate or content with my performance. Not one.
Which is why even the mention of adding one more thing to my plate EVER overwhelms me completely. This thing—this voice—it is what keeps me tethered to my house, spinning my wheels, feeling behind, always. No matter when I stop a task, I feel like there is more to do. It sucks the joy out of every idea I have (or anyone has for me) before I can ever implement it. It wakes me up every morning feeling overwhelmed and leaves me exhausted every night, no matter how much or how little I do.
The voice says, “How can you do one more thing when you are already falling short in every area of your life? You can’t even handle what you currently do. If you do one more thing, you will lose your mind.”
Stupid voice.
I put down my pen and covered my face. “Please, Lord, turn down the voice.” I couldn’t bear to listen to one more way I was failing Him—failing myself—failing everyone.
(I told you it was messy in there.)
Guys, this was HUGE for me. More than just a little “faulty thinking,” God showed me that identifying and silencing this voice was the key to balance and freedom for me.
Not only that, but I know that breaking this habitual “never enough” thinking will alter the legacy I leave my own children.
Like I said…HUGE.
And so began a journey for me to silence a voice that has been whispering in my ear my entire life—probably before I could even speak. It’s so much a part of my normal thinking, I feel like I might need a brain transplant. It’s a lot to overcome. It feels a bit like I’m standing at the base of a giant mountain, looking up. I’m not really sure what all I need to do to scale it.
The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for,
“Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2: 15-16)
After a few weeks of focused work, I’m pleased to report, I’ve made some progress. The mere act of paying attention to how I speak to myself has been eye-opening. In addition to immersing my brain in the Word of God, and also plunging head-first into a Beth Moore Bible study (Breaking Free), I’ve tried to start speaking to myself the way I would speak to a child—kindly, gracefully, gently, encouragingly.
“You need to learn to become your own encourager, your own cheerleader. Every time you do a good job… give yourself a compliment. Every time you choose discipline over indulgence…recognize how much you are helping yourself. Every time you make a mistake…tell yourself you are paying the price for growth and that you will learn to do better next time.” John C. Maxwell, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth
Whether you recognize it or not, you also have a running monologue in your head. For many of you, the inner voice is not problematic, because you have always spoken positively to yourself. If that’s you, go hug your mommy and daddy today—it has a lot to do with them. (Actually, hug your mommy and daddy no matter what–they probably did the best they knew how. I know mine did.) You may not realize it, but that one practice of speaking positively to yourself grants you freedom people like me have never, ever experienced.
(But will very soon!)
(See? I’ve already made some progress!)
For the rest of you, your inner voice may say other things like
You are worthless.
You will never amount to anything.
You will always be alone.
You will always be an addict.
You are a failure at everything you do.
You are not worthy of love.
You deserve every bad thing you get.
Why do you even bother?
You will never be as good as them.
God doesn’t love you.
Does any of that sound familiar to you?
This week, I pray with all my heart that you identify your inner voice and break free from its power over your mind. This is more than a post about finding balance. This is a post about breaking bondage and leaving a godly legacy to those who follow in our footsteps.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Week 6 Focus:
Once I identified my inner monologue, I wasn’t sure where to begin. So, the first thing I did was jot down a few things I know for sure:
1. If a real person was speaking to me this way, I would not stand for it. Not for one second.
2. It’s just a voice. It has no power over me if I don’t let it. I have authority over my thought life.
3. The voice I’m hearing is not God. God never speaks to His people this way.
4. I’ve put my trust in Christ and God’s word and so I will trust in Him to silence the voice and lead me in overcoming it for good.
Can you jot down a few things that YOU know for sure?
Read and meditate upon 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (Amplified Bible)
3 For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons.
We are in a spiritual war. The Enemy attacks our minds because it’s such a powerful way to distract us and make us ineffective. Since the war is spiritual, our weapons are spiritual, too. We can “positive think” our way out of a lot of things—but oftentimes, the Word of God is the only weapon that works against faulty thinking.
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds,
Faulty thinking is a stronghold on our minds. But the Word of God (our spiritual weapon) can over throw and destroy the strongholds. There is hope for total destruction! (no brain transplant needed)
5 [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God;
Faulty thinking is a lie and we need to treat it that way. How indignant would you be with someone who lied to you day in and day out?
and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One),
Sometimes it takes leading each individual thought away to make it obey. And sometimes the thoughts don’t want to go. There may be a struggle. Don’t worry if this is difficult. Remember…it’s a war. And war is not easy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Q4U: Tell me about your inner monologue. What kinds of things do you say to yourself, positive or negative?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Related posts:
Freedom From Perfection, Part 1 (there’s a whole series there, if you want to read more)
Identifying and Silencing the Other Voices Part 1, The Enemy (also a series)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sandy, I’m so glad the Lord crossed our paths! First of all, love your adoption page. My sister adopted a little boy from Moldova and we learned a LOT in the process. Your resources are great.
Second, the voice in my head is downright MEAN. I’ve heard all those things you listed and more. After all the accusations about what I’m NOT doing right, the mean voice tells me that I should just give up and do nothing. (All the while continuing the chorus of “you should be doing more!”)
I love Maxwell’s leadership materials, and since his stuff is rooted in the Word, it’s easily transferred to our spiritual lives. Great advice on being our own cheerleader, especially when we learn to listen to the Holy Spirit cheer us on and encourage us!
So glad to meet you. Have a great day!
Susan in VA
Susan,
I am so glad to have found you, and thanks so much for stopping by! I can relate to your comment about your mean voice telling you to give up while at the same time telling you to do more. That’s so me.
I am sure we will “talk” more.
The voice in my head has two personalities. First it tells me to take care of myself, take a break, relax you deserve it, you work too hard, do too much for others, sometimes it’s okay to be a little selfish. Then, when I’m totally belie sing that, it hits be with the same list as you. It’s exhausting. And it makes me unproductive and guilty. Sigh.
I’m glad I read this today. Thank you.
And I’ll be praying for you too 🙂
Kelly, my voice also tells me that whatever I’m doing is the wrong thing. It’s sort of a warped version of what you just said. You’re right–it is exhausting. Do you think women struggled with this BEFORE the internet? I mean, I wonder if half the problem is that we give this “voice” ammunition because we expose it to so much stimuli. And it makes us think we aren’t keeping up with everyone. You know what I’m sayin?
My inner voice constantly created anxiety in me. I realized that God wanted me to live in peace with myself. I have been battling those messages for several weeks now, calling on God’s peace to cover those anxious thoughts.
Yes, Lori–so am I.
My inner voice is always trying to get me to quit and give up. I’ve started every time I hear it to say out loud, “I can take every though captive, and make it obedient to Christ” sometimes I just yell “shut up!” but only when I’m alone 🙂
Your so right! If this was a friend or someone actually talking to us we wouldn’t stand for it! So we shouldn’t stand for it when it’s us either. There’s def a spiritual battle going on all around us.
I would love to be a fly on the wall when you yell “shut up!” to your inner voice. I LOVE IT!!!
I’ve been trying to be more mindful of what plays through my head during the day. It’s so easy to be hyper-critical of EVERYTHING! When I know I’ve made a mistake, I’m trying to learn from it and not dwell and just let all the other static go. Easier said than done. Why, oh why is it so easy to be so negative?!?!?
This is so rich. I am going to have to save it and come back to you. You did such a thorough job — I need to savor piece by piece and see how the Lord uses it. Will be sharing on Twitter under #sdgsisters hashtag because I think a lot of us have harsh inner monologues.
You’re voice sounds like it went to the same school as the one in my head. This is a great post. Thank you for sharing! (Hope you love Breaking Free as much as I did — what a life changing study!).
Sometimes I tell myself that I am not competent in some of the things I am in charge of at work; that if the smoke clears others will realize this if they don’t already. I tell myself at times that I do not have the discipline to walk away from things that ensnare me even knowing what they are. I tell myself that I am stupid for trying to make huge impacts in peoples lives that it really does not matter and they do not really care what I do…. I ask at times what do I have to show for myself.
I do realize I will never measure up as Jesus is the plumb lime(Amos 7:8) but that does not mean I am not worthy. By one drop of Jesus’s blood I am worthy. He made me so. I know Jesus uses us flaws and all. For that I am thankful. He can make wonders out of my blunders. I need to continue to work on all areas of my life that I recognize can be improved but be satisfied if I have laid it out warts and all for God. Perfection is a myth well left alone.
You do great things Sandy…. as you struggle through each day. Thanks for sharing.
Somebody automatically help to produce severely articles I had express. This is the very first time I personally frequented your online web site and so way? I actually amazed together with the research you have made in making this particular offered amazing. Amazing task!
Reading your inner voice was like listening to mine! Exactly!! I am built to want things to always look a certain way. Order and organization speaks to my soul. With 4 kids, that is not a reality. If I am to have my house a certain way, my kids perfect, my quiet time where it needs to be, all the chores caught up, stay in shape, be the perfect wife, etc , it is unattainable and exhausting and something I can never stop working toward. This puts me never stopping to relax and enjoy life because there is always something to do and I am always behind. I so needed this today!!!! Life is too short to listen to lies. Thank you so much for helping to open my eyes and ears.