Do you ever find yourself suffering fromthe affliction of stinkin'thinkin' ?
You second guess yourself and speak self talk that does not bless your psyche. Things in your mind such as, "You are such a dope!"..."I look terrible and fat. I am such a pig."...or "I failed again! What a loser I am!"
Then there is another version of this kind of thinking, when you critize or judge someone either to yourself or to another in the form of gossip. And finally, there is the complaining and whining we do when we don't like the way things are going, when we do not get our way, or when we are trying to enforce our superiority over someone else.
Hopefully, this kind of thinking is not habitual. And we have to admit that we all get frustrated from time to time which results in stinkin' thinkin.' The point is that when we do fall into this pit we hurt ourselves. We end up feeling disgruntled, and this just tends to feed our disatisfaction. We also end up with feelings of guilt for being so crabby or critial. Our self image also suffers as well.
Hopefully, this kind of thinking is not habitual. And we have to admit that we all get frustrated from time to time which results in stinkin' thinkin.' The point is that when we do fall into this pit we hurt ourselves. We end up feeling disgruntled, and this just tends to feed our disatisfaction. We also end up with feelings of guilt for being so crabby or critial. Our self image also suffers as well.
I have to admit I have participated in this type of thinking more often than I would like to admit. The result is to be discomforted about my behavior with the end result that my self image suffers. Then I end up with more self talk that is damaging, words such as you always, you never, you shouldn't and so on. It becomes a vicious circle of negativity that pulls us down.
The Bible says this...
Finally, brothers,
whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,
whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—
if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Philippians 4:8 (NIV)
It is hard to avoid stinkin' thinkin' at all times, but we need to make it a work in progress. The Bible provides excellent wisdom in this verse in Phillipians, giving instruction on what one must do. How we interpret and use it is by individual choice which is dictated by personality. What works for me may not work for another person.
Would you please share on the following if you would like...
- How do you raise yourself away from stinkin' thinkin' when you are caught in its snare. Your suggestions and examples might be just what another reader might benefit from.
- Share what you consider to be true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable or praiseworthy that you love to think about.
- Any other topic or thought that comes to your mind.
4 comments:
I raise myself away from stinkin thinkin by being honest about why I am having those thoughts. Most often there is an underlying fear to it. Fear of not measuring up, fear of rejection, fear I will fail, etc.. Once I tap into that I am more likely to get real with myself.
When I catch myself calling myself a "stupid idiot" - and it is often for very small things, not even major ones - I try to do these things:
1. I apologize to myself, as if I were a dear friend, and try to imagine what I would say to this dear friend in the same situation, because I tend to treat others much better than I treat myself.
2. I try to think "will this matter in a year from now?" or more, and I usually realize it will not. I have found that things I even THOUGHT might be remembered by others as a negative event, end up not even being remembered at all by other people who heard me or saw me say or do whatever it was that upset me.
3. I try to hear God forgiving me for what I have done or said, and remember that He not only forgives me, He TOTALLY forgets what was done or said... He only sees Jesus covering me - and I try to feel that as a huge HUG. And I try to picture that the blood-red offense is as white as snow in his sight. And I try to see how in my weakness, I am strong through Him. These are the things I feel are true, noble, right, pure, lovely etc.
Thanks for your blog :)
Whenever I have an unkind thought about someone, I tell myself to list at least 3 things that I like about him/her. I am always surprised for I can always surpass those 3 traits to list many more and that puts a full stop to any further negative thoughts.
These are all very good ideas...stinkin thinkin only hurts ourselves and needs to be cut short in whatever way works for us
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