Stinking Thinking!

Negative thoughts can lead to anxiety, depression and low self-esteem. Negative thinking can affect your relationships, business dealings and even your overall health. However, by admitting we are victims of negative thinking, we can learn to replace our negative thoughts with positive ones, we can begin to transform our state of mind, our outlook, and when these positive thoughts lead to positive actions, our life changes.

So how do we replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts? This past year as I lost my excessive weight, I learned that the food I eat can determine my level of health. Likewise the thoughts I think can determine my mental health.  When I identify and remove those toxic negative thoughts from my mind and by replacing them with positive thoughts,  I begin to create a  create a healthy mindset that nurtures  my confidence and releases my fears and resentments

 Here are some points to look at this week.  They can help you to begin the process of replacing negative  thoughts with positive thoughts.

1. Examine Your Thoughts
   Most of the time, we are not aware of the thoughts we think in the moment. Those of you that are close to me have heard me talk about not turning a bad moment into a bad day.  Try this Every time I begin to feel negatively about a person, place, thing, or situation,  I make myself stop  and recognize the negative thought that brought me to that feeling.
2. Question Negative Thoughts
   Please refuse to accept negative thoughts as truth. I ask myself why I feel this way and ask God to help me change my thinking.  I have found that most often they are based more from fear, resentment, past hurts, and or the famous “worst-case scenario” thinking.
3. Don’t turn a bad moment into a bad day!
   When I catch myself thinking negatively, I have to stay away from my old enemy rationalization. I have learned over the years that negative thoughts will never benefit me.  If I struggle to release the negative thought, I ask God to re direct my thinking by forcing myself to focus on helping someone else for the moment. This is not fun at times, but it really works!
4. Am I my own worst enemy?
   Thanks to God and AA I no longer suffer from stinking thinking like I used to, but if I find my thoughts becoming negative and self centered with a whopper like, “I’ll never amount to anything,” I replace it with, “I have already become someone special! I am a good husband, father and friend.”

Dear friends, I don’t have the answers, but I do have the personal experiences that have helped me to grow and change.

"Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear. When these crop up, we ask God at once to remove them. We discuss them with someone immediately and make amends quickly if we have harmed anyone. Then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help. Love and tolerance of others is our code."                                                                                            Alcoholics Anonymous,
 4th Edition, Into Action, pg. 84

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear . . ." 1 John 4:18