Have you ever wondered what Pope Francis thinks about before he goes to bed and falls asleep? Pope Francis tells us:
What do I think about before I go to bed? Sometimes there’s no time to think: boom! You fall asleep because you’re so tired. I am surely not alone in this.
I usually try to go to bed a little earlier so that I can take the time to look back on what has been going on through my heart during the day. What kinds of feelings have I had? Why did I have that feeling in that particular situation? Why did I have other feelings during other situations?
Why did I feel anger toward this person? Why did I feel kindly toward that other person? I try to see what is going on in my heart. This helps me a great deal.
Sometimes I find that my feelings are not good. I find roots of selfishness and envy. Yes, even me! We all have so many bad things inside!
But I also find good things, too, good roots. I don’t want my heart to be a road where feelings come and go without my trying to understand them. No, you have to take the time.
This is what I do: I take a little bit of time, just a little, less than ten minutes, and try to analyze what has gone through my heart and the significance of the feelings I experienced.
I take the good things and thank life and God for them, while I try to examine what the bad things and the bad feelings mean so they don’t happen again.
In other words, I try to look at what happened inside me during the day, to look at my feelings. This is very important. So often we focus on thoughts and say to ourselves, “I thought this or that.” But what did you feel?
It does so much good to be a master of your feelings – not to micro-manage them, but to understand what they mean and the messages they hold.
Words of Pope Francis, from A Gift of Joy and Hope. Thanks to Nacho Artega for the photo.
What are YOUR thoughts before YOU fall asleep at night? How might Pope Francis’ thoughts help YOU to grow spiritually in YOUR life?
SOMETIMES GOD BREAKS YOUR HEART TO SAVE YOUR SOUL!!
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