THE CARROT ON THE STICK

Analogies for overcoming depression, anxiety and negativity.

For a moment let us use our imagination and picture a drainage ditch in front of your house.  Because of years of neglect or turbulent waters that come with hard rains, the water WILL find its way to breach the ditch at the weakest location.  Water spills onto your lot and floods your yard!  As the water rushes onto your property, it will wash away good soil and a  rut will become established. Depending on the yard the water will either create a natural rain garden in an unwanted place or continue on its path rushing forward to the next lowest location.

I am sure all of you can picture this scenario.   Now let’s plug in the reality of how your mindset is responsible for mental torment.  Let’s take depression as an example, but the same goes for many other mental health problems.

Years ago, the water (an unwanted event) started to weaken the walls of the drainage ditch finding a  weak spot and started to spill over into the yard. It may have been one big event or repeated heavy rains.   Maybe your “weak spot” came from being bullied or the loss of someone important in your life.  Whatever the incident was, it caused discomfort – turmoil – worry, and fear.  Nevertheless, a  pathway or a rut began to form. The mindset sees this “weak spot” as an easy path to follow because of the preexisting rut. It becomes a path to depression, sorrow, worry, unhappiness, anxiety where it always comes to the same conclusion.  A place you do  NOT want to be.  People’s responses are varied when life throws them a curve – withdrawal, anger, sadness… the list is long.  One of the most harmful is falling into self-pity.

The difference on how some people seem to cope better than others,  ask yourself? Did you shore up the walls on your mental rut and keep watch over it?  Or have you kept hitting the replay button?   Some people surround themselves with people and events that repeatedly hit the replay button. Did you SEE what was happening and just shake your head in worry and sadness? Those that seem unaffected by the same things that have brought you down have moved on. They shored up those walls and they keep watch over them.  They aggressively addressed the fact that to move forward you must change the way you think which includes burying the past.  And those things that hit the replay button.   Self-pity can prevent you from becoming FREE!         

Water, like our thoughts, is enormously powerful.  For a moment picture the water as negative thinking. You have to take control and  STOP  the water from continuing to make the rut.   You can not just throw a  few stones in the ditch nor, just pack down the dirt.   The rut must be filled in and positive pathways need to be created.     In other words, you must direct the water to where the result is not desired.

To do this a firm and impenetrable wall needs to be built. Have you built that wall and or maintained it?  What you see, what you read, what you hear,  who you spend time with, and WHAT YOU SAY  will determine your success.  What you say out loud and what you write or post can either lift you up or drag you down. Do not just let the water have its way!    

Much like a house must be on a firm foundation. This was discussed in Have you fallen into a sinkhole?  Every time you revert to negative thinking it is like ripping a Band-Aid off and reopening the wound.  Or like you take a shovel and start to reopen the rut that causes water to flood into your yard.  Your mindset has ruts that are easily traveled because the ruts are still there.  You may want to read The logging trail.

 Many blog posts address this issue because it is crucial to understand if you want to be an overcomer.   

Another analogy

If you came into the house with very muddy boots and walked through the house little pieces of mud will keep falling off. Traces of the mud could stay on the boots for years. Just ask any good forensic scientist.  If you remove the mud before it dries and before you enter the house.  It would not find its way into our house.   If you only removed the mud only some of the time – there would still be pieces of mud ie. negativity in your home.   

If you always walked through the mud every time you entered the house, little pieces of mud (negative thinking) will just keep dirtying up your life. To paraphrase,  many who live in depression or anxiety continue to keep listening to sad songs, reading sad stories, posting negative statements, or making woe is me statements out loud or on social media. That is like not only wearing muddy boots into the house but by broadcasting handfuls of dirt ( negativity) within your walls. 

So let us come full circle. Back to the carrot on the stick.  As long as the carrot, (the desirable lifestyle) remains out in front of you sure you can keep striving for it. BUT unless you start to shorten the stick it will always be unreachable.

We have used our imagination in trying to understand why many people keep falling back into worry, depression, and anxiety.

Instead of using our imagination for negative speculation learn how to focus on:

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