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Diet & Nutrition

2007-04-01 16:32:00

Negative thoughts leave us blue

My friend confronted me the other day and said I was “negative”. At first I was angry with her, then I started thinking about it, and she’s right. I caught myself complaining about the weather, a co-worker, and the new office color. I’m even negative in the way I talk to myself; “ I’m fat“. “ If anything is going to get done right, I’ll just have to do it myself”, and “There’s never enough time.” All this in the space of a few hours. What can I do? I don’t want to be seen this way.

ANSWER: The great news is that you absolutely can change your thinking, 90 % of the thoughts you have today are the same ones you had yesterday. In other words, we are creatures of habit. In order to change a negative habit, you must put a positive in its place. One way to do that is to “catch yourself in the act.” When you hear yourself speaking negatively, stop, write down the negative thought and then reframe it by writing a positive thought next to it. For example if your thought is, “ I’m fat”, say instead, “I am learning ways to make my body healthier.” If the thought is, “If I want something done right I have to do it myself”, say instead, “If I want something done right, I give it to the one who can do it best.” Instead of “there’s never enough time”, say “God in His wisdom made 24 hours enough.” When you replace the negative thought with a positive one you begin to change not only your attitude but how your life runs as well. The truth is you become what you think about. In other words, whatever you think about typically becomes your reality. Your thoughts become your beliefs, and your beliefs become your actions. If you continually think the worst about everything, that will play out in your life as well: in how you treat people, and how you handle situations. For example, if you always think about “I need to lose weight, I need to lose weight, I need to lose weight,” you will probably do things to self- sabotage, keeping you in that cycle of always needing to lose weight. If, however, you tell yourself “ I eat healthy foods, to stay at a healthy weight,” or “I move every day so my body responds favorably”, you will begin to move towards those activities that put you at your desired weight. It works the same way for time. If your thoughts are, “I have to do things myself to get them done right”, you will probably react negatively toward your co-workers. You’ll probably come off as a snooty person, a person who thinks they are better than anyone else. Replace the negative thinking habit with the reframing habit. It’s like the little boy helping his mom in the kitchen. The boy’s hands got messy so he wiped them on his pants. No matter how many times his mother said, “Don’t wipe your hands on your pants”, the little boy persisted. He persisted until she gave him a towel to wipe his hands on. Once he had a positive action to replace the negative action, he was able to change his behavior. This thought changing process does not happen over night. It takes practice to reframe habitual thoughts The key is to persistently put positive thoughts and actions in place of negative thoughts and actions. Remember, “As a man thinks, so is he”. It’s like the little boy helping his mom in the kitchen. The boy’s hands got messy so he wiped them on his pants. No matter how many times his mother said, “Don’t wipe your hands on your pants”, the little boy persisted. He persisted until she gave him a towel to wipe his hands on. Once he had a positive action to replace the negative action, he was able to change his behavior. Proverbs 23:7. Positive thoughts equal positive actions. Positive actions equal positive results.