Don't listen to yourself... talk to yourself!

11 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

Psalm 42:11

"Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man's treatment [in Psalm 42] was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. "Why are you cast down, O my soul?" he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says, "Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you."

- David Martyn Lloyd Jones on "Spiritual Depression"

Many people I talk to start their conversation by saying, "I feel like... or I'm sensing..." this or that. I distinctly remember one conversation I had with a church member where the person said "I feel like" every time she started a new sentence! And as she was about to start a new sentence with "I feel like..." I stopped her in the middle of her conversation. "(name), do you believe that your feelings are true or is this what your heart is telling you?"

All my over-reactions and super-egos stems from the fact that I listen to myself rather than talking to myself. When I come home from a stressful meeting or situation, I went into my room to pray silently. But I realized that made me even more bitter and upset. So I begin to talk to myself, especially reciting the scriptures. Wow what a difference that made for me in how I processed things!

"Hope in God BRIAN; for I shall AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN praise Him, MY salvation and MY God!