The wagging finger words

Imagine you were told that you must eat a slice of cake every day this year. Notice how suddenly cake doesn’t seem so appealing?  We are all prone to ‘demanding thinking’, using the words, ‘should’, ‘ought’ and ‘must’, to some
extent. However, the more we use these words, either in our thinking or when we speak, the more pressure  we put on ourselves.  The more wagging-finger words we have weighing down on our shoulders, the more we are likely to feel frustration, disappointment, anxiety, guilt and depression.
The word ‘should’ can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon word ‘sceolde’; undoubtedly we are scolding ourselves when we use it. Most people learn this type of thinking during childhood, when we first learn about right and wrong, and take pleasure in pleasing others by ‘doing the right thing’. However, sometimes these ideas get overblown or become too rigid, and then we become more critical towards ourselves or others.  So mind your language and avoid thoughts such as ‘I must’, ‘I ought’ and ‘I should’ and instead be guided by your real positive motivations, eg I want… I like… I enjoy…