Gone Fishin’: How to CATCH & RELEASE Our Negative Thoughts.
Every summer my dad would take us to Canada where we would spend two weeks on the lakes in southwest Ontario fishing. If we would catch a small fish, Dad would tell us to release it and place it back into the water, so the fish would continue to grow. Other days were designated as a “Catch & Release Day” in which every fish we caught was released back into the lake.
I was recently reminded of my summers spent on the lake fishing. It occurred to me that
“Catch & Release Day” would also work great with our THOUGHTS… CATCH the negative thought as it swims into our mind and then RELEASE it – let go of it completely. This process, like with the fish, would also allow us to continue to GROW.
How do we CATCH a negative thought? I believe we need to first be more in tune with our feelings. There is a direct correlation between our feelings and our thoughts. Fear based thoughts will always invoke feelings of fear. Insecure thoughts will always cause feelings of insecurity.
Recently I said YES (https://www.heatherdiascoaching.com/post/say-yes-to-m-o-r-e) to an exciting and challenging project at work. As I started working on the project, I was overcome with feelings of fear, insecurity and self doubt.
“I am not experienced enough.”
“Everyone will see how inadequate I am.”
“I will let others down.”
I felt stuck but I had a choice. Either I move forward in my fear, get the job done, dread every minute of the work and resolve to never say "yes" again.
OR…
Choose to CATCH & RELEASE the negative thoughts and lies that were swimming in my mind.
We CATCH our negative thoughts by identifying our negative feelings.
Then we RELEASE our negative thought. Let go of the lie.
Visualize the fish when it is released back into the water. It doesn’t hang around hoping that you will change your mind and decide to keep it. It swims away because you released your hold on it; let it go completely. Once we catch the negative thought, the lie, and we release it, we must replace it with TRUTH.
The most important part of releasing is replacing. The space that is created in our mind, must be filled with God's Truth.
My friends, fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise:
things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable.
Philippians 4:8
The more we practice catching and releasing negative thoughts then replacing them with Truth, the more we will GROW, THRIVE & FLOURISH.
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