The Secret Life Inside Our Heads

A Model of a Town

The other day one of my boys brought up a story titled, and about, A Town Called Charity.  It is by Blaine M. Yorgason and the people in that town were anything but charitable.  And then a man comes and builds a model of the town.  Every night, miraculously and much to their embarrassment, the thoughts of the people show up on the top of those model houses. 

The boys and I talked about our thoughts, and how much harder we might work to control them if others could hear, or see what we were thinking.  Of course, sometimes when we think our thoughts are hidden, there is evidence of them on our faces, or in our actions.  In that town called Charity, there was certainly evidence in the actions of the people that their thoughts weren't very charitable. 

In the story, slowly, thoughts became more kind and loving, and the town became a much more pleasant place to live.  The town began, with the change of thoughts, to live up to the name of Charity.  Today I was thinking of the secret life inside of my head.  I am certain that changing negative thoughts to positive ones would make the life inside of my head a much more pleasant one!  And changing negative thoughts to positive ones can lead me to be more kind and loving, and would make me more consistently live up to what I want to be -- Charitable.

*Photo by Phil Hearing on Unsplash

Let Go Of Anger

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
This is a picture of a couple of
the things that can help
us to let go of anger.

I either don't get angry very easily, or I don't have a lot to be angry over, but I do remember one specific situation where I was angry.  Somebody did and said some things that I didn't think were right, or fair, and that I felt put me in an uncomfortable spot.  I was angry!  I was angry for quite a while and hope never to repeat the experience!  I made the mistake of dwelling on what I thought they should have known, on what they should have done, and on what I wish I had said.  I wondered if I should let them know they were wrong.

The answer was no.  The situation was past.  There was nothing that needed to be done.  It was over.  Telling the person that I was angry and that they were wrong wasn't going to help.  It was too late for either of us to say or do anything differently and that particular situation wasn't likely to ever happen again.  And, there is always the possibility (believe it or not) that I wasn't completely right either!  So, eventually, after obsessing about it for a while, and talking to Derek, and probably days of prayer, I just let it go.  I stopped thinking about it.

I had thought that what this person had done was wrong and unfair and I was frustrated, but I only felt better when I chose to let go of the angry thoughts and replaced them with kind thoughts of forgiveness, understanding, and charity.  I only felt better when I let go of the pride that had me feeling like I needed to prove that I was right.

Lucius Annaues Seneca said, "Anger if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful than the injury that provokes it."  Being angry hurt me more than anyone, and forgiving was a relief.