Transcending Distorted Thinking

TRANSCENDING DISTORTED THINKING

Presented By: Woodrow Lucas, MBA MTSPHD Student in ManagementLay Minister- The Empowerment Church 1

KEY SCRIPTURE

Philippians 4:8

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worth praise, think about these things.

2

CONSEQUENCES OF DISTORTED THINKING

• Distorted thinking blinds us to objective reality and can lead to unwarranted distrust, envy, malice, hatred, paranoia, and a slew of negative emotions.

3

Some Spiritual Causes of Distorted Thinking

1) Distorted thinking is often caused by seeking the approval or praise of others because so much of one’s energy is spent “pleasing” others that one number one, obsesses over other people’s opinions which leads to mind reading, and one is often too mentally exhausted to regulate one’s thoughts and emotions.

2) Rejection. The false belief that God does not love one, can lead to all kinds of false assumptions about reality, such as that one is cursed by God, or that God blesses others but won’t bless you.

3) False Beliefs in General. False beliefs such as “I can’t” or “I am not good enough” often induce feelings of shame and defeat that begin to warp one’s thoughts.

4) Unforgiveness and bitterness. Unforgiveness can cause one to think that past wrongs that individuals have committed against you, will occur again with new people or that same person even after they have repented.

5) Having an overly critical, elitist, and or judgmental attitude toward others.

4

SOME EXAMPLES OF DISTORTED THINKING

1) All or nothing dichotomizing. Ie. Believing that people are either good or evil and there is no in between. Or believing that people are either right or wrong and there is no in between. For example, if a person says that the Lakers are a good team, it is possible that you don’t totally agree, but can you say that they are 100% wrong given the Lakers’ track record. Or if someone at work makes the statement that so and so is a “bad employee” are they right? Or would it be more correct if they said, “So and so is a bad employee in these ways, but is a good employee in these other ways.”

5


2) Traumatic Memory Obsession: Assuming that one mistake or negative pattern is going to lead to a never ending pattern. Or assuming that past traumas are going to replay themselves over and over again. For instance, assuming that if you get an F on one paper for a class that you will get an F on all the other papers. Or if you drink too much one night, that you will drink too much every time you go out.

6


3) Generalizing entire groups of people based on one encounter. For example, coming to the conclusion that all white people are racist because you encountered one very racist white teacher in one’s life. Or thinking that all black people are lazy, because one encountered one employee that struggled with laziness on one’s job.

7


4) Labeling or generalizing to the character of a person, based on limited data. For instance, if you come in contact with someone who is acting lazy while helping somebody move, are you sure that said person is “lazy” or were they just acting lazy in that interaction.

8


5) Mindreading. Assuming that others are reacting negatively to us, or that people are against us without enough data. For example, assuming that someone doesn’t like us, just because they don’t say hello very nicely on one encounter (When they could in fact just be having a bad day that day.)

9


6) Fortune Telling. Assuming that things are going to turn out badly. This is similar to Traumatic Memory Obsession, except that it reflects a general pessimism that does not need an original stimuli. For example, erroneously assuming that things will turn out badly in all situations going forward, even though God has always provided one with good experiences.

10


7) Magnification. Blowing things out of proportion. For instance thinking that getting a flat tire is a horrible experience rather than just an inconvenience.

11


8) Minimization. Shrinking from the importance of things or under reacting. For instance, refusing to go to the doctor when one is having serious health problems.

12


9) Emotional Reasoning. Judging ourselves as being a way just because we feel a way in the short run. Such as assuming that one is a complainer, just because one feels like mumbling, grumbling, or complaining one time. Or assuming that one is a fornicator, just because one felt lust for a woman during one’s day.

13


10) Mental Filters. Focusing or dwelling on the negative instead and ignoring the positives. For instance, if the praise and worship porting of a church service is edifying and one feels the holy spirit during it, but the sermon is mediocre, assuming that the service was bad overall, rather than good overall.

14


11) Blame Game. Blaming ourselves for things that we are not entirely responsible for, or blaming others for problems that we contributed to. For example, blaming one’s self because one’s child is on drugs. Or, blaming a teacher for your child’s illiteracy, when one could have intervened at any time.

15

Ways to Combat Distorted Thinking

1) Awareness. Become aware of when you are engaging in it.2) Triangulation. Asking trusted and caring others if they agree with your

perception of an incident or interaction.3) Acceptance and/or Forgiveness. Not judging yourself for having the

distorted thoughts, as this usually makes them worse, but rather accepting them as a function of your own humanity.

4) Reprogramming. Reprogramming your mind with a more true version of the distorted thought. For instance transforming, “Everyone is against me” into “Some people do not like me, but I have many allies.

5) Avoiding jumping to conclusions about others. Or in other words, “Judge not, lest ye be judged.”

6) Focusing on the unconditional love of God in one’s life, as distorted thinking often comes from shame and self-hatred.

7) Thinking hopeful thoughts by dreaming dreams and then making one’s dreams into concrete goals.

8) Prayer.

16

Prayer for Deliverance from Distorted Thinking

• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from the low self esteem, insecurity, lack of confidence, and feelings and beliefs of personal inadequacy that keep us from being who you want us to be and doing what you want us to do when you want us to do it.

• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from all phobias, fears, and anxieties that keep us from being who you want us to be and doing what you want us to do when you want us to do it.

• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from the procrastination and its root causes that keep us from being who you want us to be and doing what you want us to do when you want us to do it.

• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from all false beliefs about you or anything else that keep us from being who you want us to be and doing what you want us to do when you want us to do it.

• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from all bad memories, traumas, wounds, and bitterness that keep us from being who you want us to be and doing what you want us to do, when you want us to do it.

• Lord God please miraculously bless us to recognize when we are experiencing one of the symptoms of H.A.L.T. meaning that we inordinately feel Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired in a way which signals that we are imbalanced in some way or another, and please miraculously bless us to take a proverbial step back and then miraculously do whatever we need to do or miraculously abstain from doing whatever we need to abstain from doing in order to regain balance.

17


• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from All or Nothing Dichotomizing – for example thinking that people are either good or evil and there is no in between.

• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Assuming that one mistake is going to lead to a never ending pattern• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Generalizing entire groups of people based on one encounter• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Mindreading – As in assuming that others are reacting to us

negatively, that people are against us, or that people are thinking certain thoughts or feeling certain feelings without enough data.

• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Fortune Telling – As in Assuming that things are going to turn out badly, or living in a negative future instead of the present.

• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Magnification – As in Blowing things out of proportion or overreacting

• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Minimization – As in Shrinking from the importance of things or under-reacting. For example Refusing to go to the doctor when we are having serious health symptoms

• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Emotional Reasoning – As in Judging ourselves as being a way just because we feel a way in the short run.

• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Worship of the Law – As in Oppressing ourselves and others with litigious, non grace oriented statements that negate our free will and choice making capacity in life, like “Should”, “Shouldn’t”, “Musts”, “oughts” and “Haveto’s”, whenever they are inappropriate to apply.

• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Mental Filters – As in Focusing or dwelling on the negative and ignoring the positives.

• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Blame Game – As in Blaming ourselves for things that we are not entirely responsible for, or blaming others problems that we contributed to.

• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Assuming that past traumas are going to replay themselves over and over again in our lives, or in other words living in the past instead of the present. 18


• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Giving other people power over us by obsessing or thinking too much about what other people think of us.

• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from inordinately seeking the acceptance, approval, or praise of others.

• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Giving other people power by internalizing their negative words against us or others, their doubts, or their general negativity.

• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Refusing to Trust You in all ways.• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from not believing in you, your promises, and ourselves

enough to succeed, prosper, and excel in whatever we choose to pursue.• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Refusing to face our fears (Or at least pray to you for

the strength and consistent courage to face them.)• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Refusing to spiritually battle Satan, demons, and dark

forces when absolutely necessary.• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Battling Satan, demons, and dark forces, too often

and thus giving them too much of our focus and energy.• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Obsessing over any desire, task, assignment,

impending blessing, contingent blessing, or anything else.• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Turning to addictions to escape from feeling our

feelings.• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Refusing to feel, deal with, process, and talk about

our feelings.• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Choosing to think negatively about things that we

could have been thinking positively about.19


• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Refusing to engage in the process of forgiveness.• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Trying to control others more than regulate and

manage ourselves.• Lord God please miraculously deliver us from Incorrect Prioritization – For instance prioritizing

making money over God, Holiness, Charity, and spending time with one’s family.• Lord God please miraculously bless us to prioritize you, our nuclear and immediate families above

our careers at all times, and yet still have successful careers through which our families are debt free, financially prosperous, and economically stable.

• Lord God please miraculously open up honest, authentic, and fruitful lines of communication between ourselves and you.

• And God please miraculously grant us the serenity to accept the things that we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

• Lord God, please miraculously bless us to be 100% assertive rather than passive or aggressive whenever assertion is necessary

• Lord God please miraculously bless us not to be jealous or envious of anyone, not to covet what anyone else has, and not to compare our blessings to theirs, but rather bless us to be so joyful and grateful for what we have been given, that the light of our blessings, blinds us to any sense of others having more than us.

• And Lord God please miraculously deliver us from all other kinds of distorted thinking that cause us to be disobedient in any way, shape, or form.

20

Prayer for Deliverance from Distorted

Thinking

• IN JESUS NAME, WE TOUCH AND AGREE. IN JESUS NAME. AMEN.

21

Documents

Transcending Distorted Thinking