Stinking Thinking - Are Your Negative Thoughts Holding You Back?
Posted: Wednesday, May 05, 2010
by Val Silver
TapInfinity
How can you tell if you are guilty of "stinking thinking"? Everyone does some negative thinking at times. It's normal. But there are some negative thinking patterns that, when used regularly, can hold you back from achieving your goals.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself.
Are you the kind of person that looks for the silver lining in the cloud or do you focus on what's wrong in a situation?
Do your thoughts make you feel good and encouraged, or do they cause you to lose energy and feel bad about yourself?
If you answered yes to the second part of either question, you may have some "stinking thinking" patterns.
These thoughts are judgmental, critical and limiting. They are generally accompanied by negative emotions such as anger, despondency or shame. When aimed at someone else, these thoughts may provide a temporary ego boost, but that's just a cover-up for how you really feel.
When thoughts serve as an excuse to wallow, stay stuck, or to keep you from taking responsibility for your life, it is a case of "stinking thinking." If, despite your best effort to achieve a realistic goal you find that you sabotage your self within a few weeks or so, look for those limiting beliefs.
You can be sure that if a thought or belief is absolute, controlling, or provides an excuse, it is negative. If it limits you from becoming who they really are, or doing what you really believe is in your best interest, it is a limiting belief. I've even heard it said that all thoughts and beliefs are limiting. There is truth to that statement!
Stinky thoughts sound something like this:
"I can't, I should, he needs to..."
"It's not my fault, I'm the victim."
"It's been this way and always will be, so what's the use?"
"This is the way it is"
"This is what I was taught and I'm sticking to it," and so on.
You have about 60,000 thoughts a day. Are your thoughts mostly positive, neutral or negative? It may be impossible to monitor all your thoughts, but with some awareness, you will notice your dominant thinking patterns. You'll notice where and when you engage in unproductive negative thoughts. It is possible to shift your thoughts and be more positive. It is possible to have your thoughts serve you and not the other way around. You can take control of your thoughts. Awareness is the first step.
To learn more about negative thoughts and beliefs and how shift them to better feeling thoughts, Val invites you to visit the Emotional and Mental Healing Guide at Holistic Mindbody Healing.
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More commentsHello Val! It has been a long time! How are you doing? So good to read your encouraging and helpful articles. Blessings to you! TeresaHi Teresa! Good to "see" you! I'm doing great- been very busy with my website. I hope you check it out. Doing a bit of article writing again too. Thanks for the Kudos. Val
Good article Val. Reminds me of the pamphlet "as a man thinketh". I had to spend years practacing breaking the pattern of negative thining. Today it is rare that I let it consume me. Glad to see one of your articles again.Hi Linda, Thanks for the kudos. Yes, as a man thinketh, so is he! Congrats on breaking the pattern. Quite a relief, isn't it? Especially when we break those nasty, self-torturing ones. It's the less innocuous seeming ones that are sometimes harder to catch.
I like this article. It sold a problem while offering hope, and one would hope that the author's eventual solution is a good one. It certainly is a tidy problem, what do we do when we have bad thoughts? Stinking thinking is a catchy phrase, too.Thanks for your comments. Glad you like the article.
I am sure this would be of value to many but I would advise that nagative thinking can be related to some very serious psychological issues and shoul not be treated lightly.
I will really try to be more optimistic in all the things that I do, thanks for the great article
I think sometimes I'm an optimistic fool- I see silver linings all over thunderclouds.I feel like this: if something bad is going to happen- it's going to happen no matter how I feel about it, so I may as well look on the bright side- almost everything has one of those too.-Always- EllaGood for you! I usually find that too- once I'm on the other side of an issue. It used to take a while, but now I've trained myself to start looking for the lesson in the midst of the turmoil. It makes it easier and feels more purposeful.
Val Great article! Nice name you call it - "stinking thinking". I definitely agree with you, there is so much self sabotage that goes on daily in the human mind that can be replaced with positive, and healthy happy thoughts that would make this world a better place! Thanks for sharing.Yes, when you just move into observer mode and listen you your thoughts it's amazing how much of it is limiting, bossy and negative. Having happy thoughts makes life so much more pleasant.
Wonderful article Val, I enjoyed it. Frankly I've never had enough intelligence to be able to analyze my thoughts. But I've not been bothered with despondency, not much anger and very little shame. So maybe that is where the old cliche "Ignorance is bliss" came into being. Thanks for sharing this article with us.
Thank you for sharing this article. It's a good article. Good encouragement too.
Val,A very good article here. I know sometimes I catch myself in that mode, and rectify it right away, then the outcome is quite different.(for the better) Thank you for the reminder.
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