November 25, 2014
Suicidal thoughts are unfortunate thoughts. They make you feel like there is no way out of a bad situation. However, as many have said before, suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. What we do not often realize is that every bad situation can often be new beginning. The problem with suicidal thought is that they do not let you look at the situation as a new beginning and prevent you from looking at your options. Essentially, your intense emotional pain distorts your thinking. You are stuck on thinking about what it could’ve and should’ve been but never was as the only thought to entertain. Also, because of such thoughts you may not realize that this type of approach is futile when dealing with a problem. As long as your mind is stuck in that mode the problem is not going to go away on its own. Only your mind can make it go away and if your mind chooses to dwell on the shortcomings of the situation, those thoughts will stay with you.
As such, it is important for the conscious part of your brain to take over your subconscious. Most of the negative feelings and the anger that you feel towards yourself comes from your subconscious. Such feelings come about an accumulation of past negative experiences associated with feelings of failure and rejection that overtime have translated into self-hate and anger. As I have said in my book, and some of my previous posts, suicidal thoughts usually come about the anger that you feel towards yourself. What you have to realize is that all your negative experiences are in the past and your subconscious is telling you that if things did not work out in the past, they are not going to be better this time around either.
This is where you can make a conscious decision to not let the past control your decisions today. In my previous posts I have talked about the importance of letting go and this is another example where you need to let go of your past negative experiences and do a fresh start where you will only use such negative experiences as a foundation to build a positive outcome this time around.
However, even if you focus on improving your emotions, to move away from your suicidal thoughts, it is best not to lock yourself in a room and hope that your mind will do all the job to fix itself. It is important to engage in activities that will distract it from entertaining such thoughts. For me, just going for a walk was very helpful. Sometimes I would go to a restaurant to eat dessert or to an ice cream parlor to eat a banana split and I would feel emotionally relieved after that ready to look at my options. You can also go to a crowded place, like a shopping mall or a park and seat in a bench to write a letter to yourself about how you feel so blue but you are going to make things work. Being surrounded by people that you don’t know sometimes can take the edge out of feeling down or suicidal.
Once your suicidal thoughts begin to fade away you can then start to work on ways to improve your situation by spending time looking at viable options rather than entertaining self-defeating thoughts. What is important is that you give your life another chance by choosing to live another day.