by Cunfusious 14 Replies latest jw experiences
stinkin thinkin!
OH NO! Please dont take me back there. If that is not one of the most over used JW "talk" phrase, I dont know what is. I remember when each elder, one by one, used this phrase in talks. They thought the were so cool, ugh! Thanks for the memories.
Welcome to the board Michelle
I haven't been here long myself. So I empathise with what you are feeling right now. My only advice to you would be not to be too hard on yourself and take things one day at a time. You are an individual just like everyone else in the world, and everyone has the right to make their own choices and decisions in life. Noone can live your life for you. What I have learnt so far is that some people mainly within the organisation feel they have a right to say what you should or shouldnt do but they are not actually LIVING your life...YOU ARE!
Be true to your feelings, follow you gut instinct and I really dont feel you can go far wrong from there.
I am sure the above sounds quite cliche I know, but what I am realising is that life is really not as hard as you think, well it certainly doesnt have to be.
Thinking of you.
((((((((Michelle))))))))
Love
Chok
It just takes time, Michelle, to strip away the pattern of thinking.
The first time I encountered the phrase "stinking thinking (leads to drinking)" was at an Al-Anon meeting (sounds like the elders borrowed it in some areas). I learned there that I had developed ways of thinking and acting to deal with the alcoholism in my family. Although I was then physically away from it, I still was living my life as if alcoholism/alcoholics were still controlling my life. I learned from others in the group how to do that, by what they said and I what I saw them doing. It gave me hope that I could change, that things would improve, that my life could be more "normal."
http://alcoholism.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2FJoy2MeU.com%2Fcolumn.htm
Many of the same ways of dealing with leaving the JW/WTS thinking are very similar. Plus this is a group that has had many experiences on doing it, being at various points along the road.
So keep posting and reading.
Blondie
Everyone needs and wants to have a place with God and Jesus, but when you have so many out there to choose from, it becomes rather depressing.
hi michelle, welcome to the board! hope you have a looooooooong and prosperous posting life here!
on the topic: not everyone needs or wants a place with god and jesus, but i do think that for those who do want and need that place, if god and jesus really care, they will guide your steps in the right direction, you have been guided away from the jehovah's witnesses already, because they are based upon lies and deceit, and perhaps you've been guided here, to a place where though not everyone cares about god and jesus, everyone will be honest in telling you their own views.
it's good to have a touchstone, contrasting views, people who disagree but will talk about it... i think that's the only way to find your way down the path to the place you want to be.
all the same, welcome to jwd, hope to see more of your posts!
Hi Michelle! For me overcoming the anxiety of visiting other houses of worship required some time, but more so a lot of research into the nature of all religions. They have all suffered over time the wear and tear of human dabbling, interpretation and political intrigue. Christianity has suffered the most from division and disunity. Once I accepted the premise that nothing that we see today resembles what the founders of each of the religions had in mind, it kind of equalizes them and you can realize the structure is not the religion. The ceremony and ritual are all acretions from hundreds of years of gradual evolution. Accept them for whence they came and enjoy the fact that people are celebrating in their own way their vain imaginations as to the nature of the deity and the relics and concepts that represent that mental creation.
Celebrate life and it will embrace you!
hugs, carmel
