I love to spend time daily outside meditating. Even if it’s for just a few minutes, I need to slow my mind and re-focus. Sometimes those are the best moments when I can feel God speak to my heart and mind. & I truly treasure those moments of inspiration. I felt something come to me as I thought about the feeling of overwhelm and I wanted to share it with you.
As I prayed and asked God about how to overcome the feelings of overwhelm, I felt this incredible peace from the Lord letting me know that the feeling of overwhelm is closely related to fear. & fear isn’t a feeling that comes from God. The feeling of overwhelm is related to stress, comparison and at the core of it, fear. It can be a fear of not knowing what’s gonna happen? The fear of not being able to accomplish all the things, maybe fear of what the world would think, the opinions of others or the fear of feeling less than. Fear and overwhelm are closely connected. I never thought of that! God does want to communicate with us when we truly seek Him. He does answer our prayers when we come to Him.
One of the main things that I felt is that the feeling overwhelmed, is not a feeling that comes from God. We must recognize that the Lord doesn’t speak to us like that. Those feelings of overwhelm come from what we allow our minds to “chatter or yell” at us about. Our minds are so powerful. They can throw all kinds of thoughts at us, but it’s up to us to learn to practice checking our thoughts often. To be able to see them from a distance, to recognize what the thoughts are telling us. And most importantly, to have the strength to help ourselves move past the negative thoughts, into a thought that is more helpful and that aligns with God.
Some of the things we can ask ourselves are.
▫️Do these thoughts feel true to me?
▫️Are they really true?
▫️How do I feel when I think these thoughts
▫️Do I feel better or worse when I think these thoughts?
▫️Can I resolve this problem?
▫️Is this something I can control?
▫️Would God speak to me this way?
▫️Do these thoughts align with the words of God and what He would tell me about myself and my life?
Truly reflecting on our thoughts and our “overwhelm” can help us to recognize that those thoughts and feelings are not what God would tell us. It’s not the way He would speak to us at all!
We can definitely take time to try to solve a problem, to find a solution to what we’re experiencing. But sometimes we can’t find a solution, and all we feel is all kinds of thoughts piling up on us. It’s during these moments when we need to recognize what’s going on, to be aware of our thoughts and just take a moment to stop. 🛑 Breathe, silence and purposefully calm our minds and take a moment to be with God. We can step out in nature or do whatever is necessary for us to have a moment to re-charge ourselves. To try to listen to what our Father in Heaven and Savior would tell us.
Turning our focus away from our problems or negative emotions will allow us to process our emotions in the way that God would want us to. Which is by TRUSTING HIM AND LETTING HIM TAKE THESE THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS FROM US. Truly handing it to Him and being willing to follow the inspiration that He speaks to our hearts and minds about what He would want us to do.
Our Father in Heaven & Jesus Christ want us to trust him instead of feeling overwhelmed.
I can’t imagine Jesus walking around the earth feeling stressed and overwhelmed. Instead I can imagine Him feeling centered, peaceful, focused and most importantly trusting and knowing that each hour is spent according to inspiration that the Father would want Him to have. Christ trusted in the Father. So, we should try each hour and each day to trust in Christ and in the Father as well. They both LOVE US! That’s why the Savior gave His life for us! ❤️ They want us to overcome evil with good! To be able to notice how our thoughts can be negative and how the enemy temps us to feel terrible like himself. The more we allow the heavy, negative thoughts, the more we will experience negative self talk. We then begin to project that on ourselves and we instead begin to carry more feelings of overwhelm, frustration, anger, anxiety, impatience, stress, and all of those negative thoughts take control over us. ALL OF THOSE ARE FEELINGS THAT ARE NOT OF GOD. Why would we want to carry that or hold on to that?!?? 🙁
That is why it’s so important for us to check our thoughts. To recognize them and to practice bringing those thoughts to Cheist our Savior and ask Him to help us change them. 💛 In class we practice calming our mind each week. We practice checking our thoughts and then turning them to God. Why? Because it’s only by practicing that we get better at it. It’s like exercise for our mind 💪🏼💖 The more that we practice, the better we will be able to handle the negative thoughts that try to take over our minds and hearts.
Instead we want to be able to get to a point where we remind ourselves of the type of God that we serve. Of the type of God that we know. To remind ourselves of ALL OF THE TIMES WHERE WE HAVE SEEN HIS HAND IN OUR LIVES. & to trust Him for what He can teach us during the difficult times as well as to trust that He will provide abundantly as we turn to look to Him.
Focusing on Christ is the key. This is the scripture that came to my heart when I was thinking about this. “LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED OR “OVERWHELMED” NEITHER LET IT BE AFRAID.” He also tells us in D&C6:36 “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.” & Romans 12:2 He tells us, Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.
He will guide us on what to do with each hour. He will inspire us to focus on what we can control. On knowing that we can do and overcome all things through Christ who strengthens us. And He will help us to set good goals for ourselves that will allow us to overcome whatever may try to come take over our mind or steal our peace.
As we take time daily to stop and quiet our minds, we will be better able to recognize the thoughts that are coming. Sometimes we can even write them down our thoughts to check and see how true they really sound once they’re written down. Being able to check our thoughts is something that God wants us to learn while we’re on this earth. To recognize the thoughts that come from God vs the ones that don’t. OUR DIVINE SPIRIT CAN GUIDE OUR MIND TO DIVINE THINKING. So, it’s up to us to stop, breathe, spend some quiet time alone and turn our thoughts to God and allow Him to bring us the peace that we need.
Remember to let go of overwhelm or whatever thoughts are disrupting your peace. Take a minute for yourself. Breathe through your thoughts overwhelm, fear or whatever is going on that doesn’t feel good and invite God to bring you His peace and a feeling of calm to allow you to feel His light and His love to cover you completely. Trust in your ability to turn away from the thoughts that don’t help you to instead turn then into thoughts that God would want you to have. 💪🏼🥰 Be more present, live in the moment. Focus on today! Speak good thoughts to your mind. Give yourself words of affirmations and words to remind such as “ I AM A CHILD OF GOD. MY LIFE AND ALL THAT EXISTS IS IN HIS HANDS. I TRUST HIM. I LOVE HIM & I TRUST IN MY DIVINE POTENTIAL AND MY ABILITY TO FOCUS MY MIND ON YHE THINGS OF GOD. HIS WAYS ARE HIGHER THAN MY WAYS. HE HAS A PERFECT PLAN FOR ME & I HAVE FAITH IN MY LOVING GOD WHO WILL PROVIDE HIS ABUNDANCE OF LOVE, PEACE AND COMFORT IN MY LIFE. I BELIEVE IN CHRIST AND I CAN DO ALL THINGS IN CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME”.
Hope that you can join us tonight to release stress, to do something amazing for our physical body and also to allow yourself to let go of the negative thoughts and fill your mind with peace and the love of God. The exercises will strengthen our body and the meditation will strengthen and calm our mind and soul. Hope to see you there so that you can strengthen yourself physically, mentally and spirituality. 💪🏼😌💖
Love,
Lili 🌸
