My grandson has recently been engaged in experiments with clear office tape. He is building tape bridges connecting various walls and objects as well as generally investigating which objects can be hung on the walls with tape. He prefers tape to glue probably because tape needs less supervision from the adults. Like most 3-4 year olds, he also loves "stickers" and has quite a collection. We are besieged now with the "why" questions: why some things stick and not others, why they are sticky to begin with, why stickers loose their stickiness when wet or dirty? Daily discussions on stickiness leads me to think about thought and affirmative prayer. We build our framework of belief about ourselves and our lives, through bridges of thought. Whether we are consciously focused on it or not we are building bridges between the Pandemic of 2020 and our future. Some thoughts adhere more than others. While neuroscience is progressing in our understanding of thought, we really can't answer why some thoughts are stickier than others. This becomes a particularly relevant idea when we attempt to affirm the positive and confront our own habitual disturbing thoughts that cause fear, anger and hopelessness. (Susan Nettleton)
Emmett Fox, in his book, "Make Your Life Worthwhile", wrote about what he called "The Law of Substitution" describing how to free yourself from negative thoughts. Although published in 1942, his ideas are quite compatible with modern psychology and cognitive, behavioral therapy used in the treatment of depression and anger management. Here are a few of his strategies for maintaining affirmative prayer.
"The Law of Substitution: One of the great mental laws is the Law of Substitution. This means that the only way to get rid of a certain thought is to substitute another one for it. You cannot dismiss a thought directly. You can do so only by substituting another one for it. On the physical plane this is not the case. You can drop a book or a stone by simply opening your hand and letting it go; but with thought this will not work. If you want to dismiss a negative thought, the only way to do so is to think of something positive and constructive...If I say to you, "Do not think of the Statue of Liberty," of course, you immediately think of it. If you say, "I am not going to think of the Statue of Liberty," that is thinking of it. But now, having thought of it, if you become interested in something else, say, by turning on the radio, you forget all about the Statue of Liberty - and this is a case of substitution.
It sometimes happens that negative thoughts seem to besiege you in such force that you cannot overcome them. That is what is called a fit of depression, or a fit of worry, or perhaps even a fit of anger. In such a case the best thing is to go and find someone to talk to on any subject, or to go to a good movie or play, or read an interesting book, say a good novel or biography or travel book, or something of the kind. If you sit down to fight the negative tide you will probably succeed only in amplifying it.
Turn your attention to something quite different, refusing steadfastly to think of or rehearse the difficulty, and, later on, after you have completely gotten away from it, you can come back with confidence and handle it by spiritual treatment. "I say unto you that you resist not evil. " Matthew 5.39