Have you ever realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?

I'm reading "When I don't Desire God, How to fight for Joy" by John Piper. I thought I'd share a section I was encouraged by. Piper is talking about a book by Martyn Lloyd-Jones. In this book he is talking about Psalm 42 specifically verse 5 which says "Why are thou cast down, O my soul? And why are thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance." This is important to know since he quotes him. :) just so you aren't confused haha. Anyway, here it is:

Far too many Christians are passive in their fight for joy. They tell me about their condition of joylessness, and I ask about the kinds of strategies they have pursued to defeat this enemy, and they give the impression that they are a helpless victim: "Joylessness is just there. What can I do?" Well, God does not mean for us to be passive. He means for us to fight the fight of faith-the fight for joy. And the central strategy is to preach the gospel to yourself. This is war. Satan is preaching for sure. If we remain passive, we surrender the field to him.
So Martyn Lloyd- Jones gets specific and gets tough:

The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself.... You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: "Hope thou in God"-instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way, and then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and...what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do. Then having done that, end on this great note: defy yourself, defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: "I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance, which is also the health of my countenance and my God."

I've been experiencing this very much so in my walk with God lately. He has been teaching me many things the past couple months through various hardships and preaching the gospel to myself everyday really has been the key in keeping my joy in Christ going. It's so easy to just get caught up in the difficult things in life, but I feel the more I praise God and thank Him for everything, including the obstacles in life, the more joy He gives me.