Yesterday we talked about magnification!
In my teens, a transitory time for everyone, one of my friend’s mothers was very critical of others. I think she had a low opinion of herself although there was no need to. She was a good mom. But, everywhere we went she was commenting on someone and their flaws. Without realizing it, gradually over the years of listening to her comments (my friend and I did a lot of things together from grade school on through graduation) I began to ‘notice’ the negative and I too became more critical in my observations of others. Ultimately it led to extreme self-consciousness on my part, because I began to see all my imperfections and thought others noticed them and were making comments about me. Already prone to shyness, I found myself ‘going into hiding’ when around others, to ‘protect myself’ from possible critical thoughts of others.
All this did was slow down my growth, cause me to primarily think only about me and what others might think, and prevented me from opening up and being friendly and helpful to others. I was a prisoner of my own making (thinking)!!!
Finally in my college years, I realized all this thinking wasn’t who I really was or wanted to become.
It was a process to start recognizing and refuting all the negative critical thoughts I’d entertained for years, but I was determined to live a better, free-er, more generous, less selfish life.
Another time I’ll go into more detail of the effects of an introverted life for me, but for now, I will tell you I am free of it. It was truly life changing to be set free of its mentality.
Are there areas in you life you need to be set free from? It begins by a simple realization that you can be.
Mrs. Goodfinder 