Victim or Victor, Part 2

1-2 min read

Our best leaders have been ones that have lead with an aspiration for better lives for people.  They have a vision for the future.  Other leaders appeal ever so successfully to our collective victim mentality.

There is no shortage of individuals, systems, and governments for us to blame.  There is no limit to the number of problems that others have created that we have inherited.  We can spend decades or even lifetimes feeling and defending our notion that the deck has been stacked against us.

However, I’m much more interested in what we do have control over.  How can we help ourselves and others?  How do we help ourselves and others overcome a victim mentality?  How do we switch to a victor mentality?

Personally, I’ve struggled a lot with negative thinking through the years (see my last few blogs about the coming crisis for verification :) ).  There have been episodes of depression but even apart from that it’s all too easy for me to become ensnared in a cycle of negative thinking that quickly clouds my ability to be grateful or even think clearly.

Something I’ve been mulling over is a twist on something my dad used to tell me.  One piece of advice he gave me in the past is that you get an abundance of what you tolerate.  I’ve seen that to be true in just about every arena of life.

The twist I’ve been wondering about is if I might get an abundance of what I focus on.  If I focus on gratitude might I have an abundance of positive thinking as a result?  If I focus on my problems and society’s problems might I have an abundance of negative thinking and feelings of hopelessness?

If I focus on who I am in Christ might I forget about myself altogether in the best possible way?