I mentioned last week trying to get rid of what Mary Baker Eddy calls “bland denials of truth” (which she defines as “malpractice”). My husband and I have recently coined this acronym, “Bdot,” in our conversations with one another, to help us notice these pesky fallacious claims, as we attempt to refrain from them.

We are approaching this like a fast, but with our acronym, we are trying to have it feel like a game; otherwise, becoming conscious how much the average person thwarts themselves in this way is rather appalling. These mistaken assertions seem innocuous, but in reality they are not, taking our bandwidth on an enormous detour from what is actually true. This work is vitally important, for we know our thoughts govern our experience.

Bland denials come in all sorts and I hear them all the time. Here are some prevalent examples:

• You can’t win.
• I usually forget to ____.
• I’m not able to sing/draw/sleep, etc
• I lack _____.
• She doesn’t know her worth.
• He’s having a senior moment.
• Sons are less attentive than daughters.
• I feel like (something negative).
• You always let people down.
• It takes time to recover.
• What will people think?
• Nobody listens to me.
• I’m overwhelmed, exhausted, too busy.
• She lets them walk all over her.
• I can never seem to drink enough water.
• I have outlived my usefulness.
• I’m not equal to others (better or worse).
• I’m blown away.
• I can’t take in all the good.

That list could go on and on and on and on. We predict or expect error, limitation, or downward spiraling, based on questionable anecdotal evidence. Stop that already! Claim a limitation and it is yours. Is that what you want?

When our minds are occupied with what is contrary to absolute truth, that derails, obstructs, and curtails our experience of goodness. We need to get out of our own way, and be more alert to the popular parlance we take in.

I’ve learned that it is not so much that we don’t believe in supreme good, as we are unwittingly worn down and distracted by these types of bland false beliefs, which we’ve never even closely examined.  We just obliviously take them in, filling our consciousness with this tripe, and then have far less room to be hospitable to the progress that is brought on by focusing solely on what is good.

Don’t be so receptive to vaguely erroneous views that the word of actual Truth seems foreign, radical, or extreme. We need to guard against the insidious nature of apathy, which would allow us to repeatedly assert things that are neither beneficial nor ultimately true. We need to rouse ourselves, and awake to wield a firmer discipline over our thought. Doing this is very beneficial.

We can abolish these irritating wrong beliefs by clearing from our thought whatever has a dubious basis. By casting off these false beliefs, we also assail unbelief itself; let us no longer be preoccupied with that! Let us focus on complete goodness instead.

As bland denials of truth are identified and disengaged with, they disperse like a fog. Then we see more vividly the glory that is already present and has an enduring, benevolent Source. Let’s welcome that in, instead.