Rein in Your Thinking

When someone calls you into their office or says they need to talk to you, do you get feelings of being back in school and called to the dean’s office or do you get excited about what may be coming next? When the girls are in a bad mood, my mind races over everything that has happened in our home lately trying to figure out where I dropped some ball I was supposed to be carrying. If your first question is “What did I do now?” and you find yourself going back over everything you’ve done recently to see where you screwed up or what you may have gotten busted doing, you need to change some habits.

You may also need to rein in your thinking.

How we allow our attitude to go will determine whether we live a stressful or peaceful life. However, most often our thinking will be what determines our attitude. In order to live the positive life we want, we must learn to control our thinking. Like a horse, if we allow it free rein it could very well lead to trouble; wander off a calm path and into the thickets where it finds itself in trouble.

Negative thinking is like that cartoon snowball. It may start off small, but it will pick up speed, collecting other negative thoughts along the way and soon it is gigantic, knocking over every positive thing in sight. It will just barrel through, rolling completely out of control.

One of the ways this happens is by practicing those negative conversations in our head. You’re either anticipating a future talking to or you’re rehashing one that has already transpired. You keep thinking of what will be said, preparing yourself, getting your arguments in place. If not, you’re going over what was said and how you should have responded if you had had the time to prepare your argument. Either way, you’re building yourself up into one giant snowball of negative energy ready to destroy anything in your path.

As Barney Fife would say, it’s time to nip it in the bud. Train yourself to catch those conversations and thoughts in your head and bring them to a halt. Talk to yourself if you have to. There is nothing wrong with that. I talk to myself on a normal basis just to remember what I went into the kitchen to get. We might as well put that solo conversation to good use. Rationalize within that if you dwell on the unknown it will only cause you heartburn and headaches. It will also detract from your current situation and quite possibly compound your problems. It may not even be a problem to begin with and dwelling on it, fantasizing the conversations and possibilities in your head is building it into one. When the time finally comes to deal with whatever is wrong, you’re already worked up into a frenzy and immediately blast with your storage of anger.

However, your thinking can also work the other way around. You can build yourself up with positive energy by giving yourself a pep talk. You are your biggest encourager and supporter. Constantly tell yourself that you can do it, you can achieve your dreams, and you can make everything you want a reality. Guide your thoughts where you want them to go and soon you will find yourself walking the path you wanted to be on instead of someone else’s.

Start today. Slide that harness over your mind and lead yourself into a positive future not allowing the distractions of negativity to lead you down a faulty trail. You’ll soon find yourself on the path to a peaceful year and life. Problems will arise. They always do. However, you’ll be in a better mindset to handle them without making them bigger than they are.

It’s all about attitude, but that attitude begins in your mind. Spend some time there cleaning house..

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