Keep Your Vibration High by Taking Your Thoughts Captive

I’ve written often about the concept of vibration on this site. Basically, your vibration is the level of your emotional state. That makes a difference because your external circumstances reflect what your internal vibration is. When your vibration is high, with emotions like love, joy, gratitude, and peace, you experience joyful circumstances and are given more things to be thankful for. When your vibration is low, with emotions like doubt, fear, anger, etc., you are often faced with circumstances that bring about more of those negative emotions. I realize this truth more every day, as there are countless Bible verses to back this up, and I see it play out in my life experience.

It’s a simple formula. Instead of trying to control the circumstances in life (which is very difficult to do), we are solely responsible for controlling our inner state of being. I find this very comforting since I have full control of my inner state. I think you should find this very comforting too. The problem is that it is sometimes easier said than done. Many people have learned this same fact. Yet it is often difficult to control their emotions. As much as I’ve learned and shared about this regularly, I feel your pain and often have that same difficulty. Instead of trying to control my own state of being, I allow people or circumstances to dictate how I feel. It happens much less than it used to, but I am still learning in this area as well.

So how does one best control their emotional vibration and bring it to a level that will allow the manifestation of the ideal life? There are plenty of suggestions out there. One of the best I’ve been taught is from Esther Hicks. If you want to learn about the Law of Attraction and how to apply it, she would be one of my first recommendations. I have learned so much from her that has enhanced the quality of my life. She has a ton of videos on YouTube, as well as a couple of great books too. In one of those books, she shares the concept of the emotional guidance scale. At the top of the scale are the highest emotions, such as the ones I mentioned earlier. At the bottom of the scale are the lowest emotions, also mentioned above. She suggests using this scale as a guide. The recommendation is to have regular check-ins with yourself to see where you stand on the emotional scale. She then challenges you to deliberately think thoughts that bring you higher and higher on the scale until you are in the highest emotional state. One of the most important suggestions is to take things one step at a time, and not try to go from a lower emotional state immediately to the highest. That could be frustrating and end up defeating the whole process. For example, there are 22 emotions listed from lowest to highest. If I am at level 7 for example, which is contentment, instead of going directly to number 1, I should go to level 6 which is hopefulness, then to 5 which is optimism, and eventually work myself up to the highest emotions. Even if I am much lower on the scale, this is very helpful. For example, if I am feeling frustration/irritation which is level 10, it’s almost impossible to start feeling joy immediately. However, if I go up just one level, which is pessimism. Pessimism is still a negative emotion, but it’s better than being frustrated, so I am already feeling a little better than I was. Then I think thoughts that move me up to the next level which is boredom, and so on, until my emotional state has gone from bad to good, to awesome. Here is an excellent article I found that further explains and helps practice the process.

This process has been very helpful to me. However, like I mentioned before, it is sometimes more easily said than done. Sometimes, especially if I am lower on the emotional scale, it takes a long time to start feeling the higher emotions. That sometimes leads me to give up and I end up further down the list again by getting frustrated. Recently, I found other information that I believe is even more helpful than what I mentioned above. Now I am not going to argue with what Esther Hicks says. She is extremely successful, as she has used the Law of Attraction to bring major blessing into her life, and into the lives of millions of others. Her suggestion is excellent, and I know from experience that it works. However, what I am about to share has worked even better for me, and it has taken away the sometimes long and frustrating process of gradually working my way up the emotional scale.

The only problem with what I am about to share is that I don’t remember where I found this excellent information. I do so much reading and research on this topic, that I sometimes don’t save my sources. I cannot properly cite where I found this wonderful information. I can simply tell you that I can’t take credit for creating this idea myself. However, I can also tell that you that it is incredibly powerful, and it has really helped me increase my emotional state, and its resulting manifestations. Here it is… instead of starting from the emotion you are currently feeling and working your way up to the highest emotions, consider this… those highest emotions of love, joy, peace, and gratitude are your natural state! I recently wrote an article about that topic that you can check out here. Remember that the spirit of God lives in you. And the fruits of the spirit are those emotions I just mentioned. Love, joy, and peace are what you naturally are! The only reason you are not feeling that way all the time is because you allow other emotions to block those out. Here’s an illustration. I live outside of Buffalo, New York. This city is known for its snow (over 90 inches or about 250cm per year). From November to April we almost never see the sun. However, it doesn’t mean the sun is not there. The sun is still shining. We just don’t see it because there are clouds, and snowflakes that get in the way and prevent us from experiencing the light. (just for the record… from June through October the sun shines regularly here, and the weather is more beautiful than in many other places).  It’s the same with our emotions. The light of God is always there, right with us. If you are not seeing it and feeling negative emotions, it isn’t because that light of love and joy has disappeared. It’s just that the negative clouds and darkness are blocking the light and the corresponding positive emotions.

2 Corinthians 10:5 says that we “take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ.” That means we watch our thoughts to make sure they line up with the truth of what Jesus says. In fact, another version says that we take it a step further, and “We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One.” Here’s how I use this with what I was discussing earlier. I first reflect on who I am. I am a child of God, created in His image. I have all of His attributes. For that reason, I reflect on the fact that love, joy, peace, and gratitude (the highest emotional vibrations) are my natural state. In fact, I Thessalonians says they are God’s will for my life. In other words, God created me and you with the intention that we would live in love, joy, and peace, and have plenty of reasons to be thankful. When I get into this mode of thinking, I am starting off with a bright and clear sunny day. I am already feeling amazing! Now, I deliberately focus on my thoughts. If any clouds or raindrops come in, I cast them out. If they persist, I speak against them, reminding myself again that my natural state is love and joy.

I have found that this way of thinking and living is highly effective. As I start with my focus feeling and believing on the highest emotions, those positive manifestations begin to occur, and even begin to multiply! Then it gets even easier to stay in that high vibration. Instead of living in dark and cloudy Buffalo, I am living in bright and sunny Los Angeles! And even if there is some temporary smog that blocks the sun, if I continue to live in this state, it eventually burns off and becomes perfectly sunny and clear. I will say this though… the more you live in this higher vibration and continue to take your thoughts captive to maintain this high emotional level, the smog, clouds, and even storms tend to disappear. Even if they don’t completely go away (God says we will ultimately face trials in our lives) you can still deal with them on a much higher level and find positive solutions much quicker and easier.

Remember, you were created to live joyfully and lovingly. That is who you are. When you make the effort to control your thoughts and emotions to ensure you are thinking those kinds of thoughts, you will end up living those kinds of circumstances. The great thing about it is that it’s all in your control. So take that control and enjoy the blessings 🙂