"What we dwell on is who we become." ~ Oprah Winfrey
Stinkin’ Thinkin’…
The first time I ever heard that phrase was sometime in the mid-90s by Joyce Meyer, a Christian author and speaker. The visual that sprang to mind was of the Charlie Brown character, Pigpen.
Pigpen was a kid who avoided bathing. His stench was a discernible odor that floated around him. I conceived stinkin’ thinkin’ as an invisible dark cloud suspended above our heads.
The conjured image is self-explanatory. If a broader definition is necessary, it is pervasive negativity in our thoughts.
It’s difficult not to absorb negative vibes in our digital world of news cycles and social media platforms. We are constantly bombarded minute-by-minute.
The message that Meyer’s shared was prudent. Her theory was if you spent your time focusing on the negative, there was very little room left for the positive. Further, your thoughts become your reality.
I have shared often that words have power; equally so, our thoughts. After all our words are merely a reflection of our thoughts. We witness this in our country right now. America is suffering from a pandemic of stinkin’ thinkin’ and we need a vaccine of positivity.
The more negativity we allow in, the more we spew out. If we spend our days thinking about the things in our lives that are wrong, we begin to develop an adversarial mindset.
This breeds anger, hurt, resentment, and depression to name a few resulting outcomes. Is this how we want to spend precious time? Not me.
I must confess my own guilt in the matter. Lately, my thoughts have been hyper focused on worries and anxieties. Daily life inconveniences that in the scheme of things are not worthy of my time and energy.
When this happens, I try to reign my thoughts and practice the opposite of stinkin’ thinkin’. How does that look?
Recently, we had an issue with our dryer. Given it’s 19 years old, I automatically assumed the purchase of a new dryer was going to be the outcome. The minute I caught myself mentally complaining, I stopped and quieted my mind. Then I intentionally began filling my head with positive thoughts.
Things like:
Wow! That dryer has worked beautifully for 19 years!
I am so grateful we have a great repairman coming.
Thank you, Lord, that we have money to pay for a repair visit.
I have other means to dry our clothes should our dryer be dead.
Did those positive thoughts change the fact our dryer was not working? NO, but what it did was change my attitude about the situation. (Note: the dryer had a clog on the line and once removed, works perfectly.)
Granted, if we live long enough, we are going to experience major life issues. It’s part of being human and grief and trauma are real. But here’s the thing, eventually we must pull ourselves up. We cannot stay in the pit forever or it will destroy us.
I do not want to be a bitter, angry person that no one wants to be around because all I do is complain. I want to be a person that others look forward to seeing. I also want to be a person who spreads love and laughter. What about you?
Practice gratitude. Flood your mind with things in your life that are good. It will not stop life happening, but it will go a long way in stopping stinkin’ thinkin’.
Amen.
Yes, my friend turn that “kaleidoscope”! It ain’ what happens to you, it’s your response to it.
This SOOO hits home! 3 years ago, my town was hit HARD by Hurricane Ida (in Hammond, La.). It downed about 1/3 of all trees, smashed roofs, destroyed homes, took out our power grid for nearly a month. We all were without services, our town looked like a World War had hit it. No power, no food, no gas for generators (no generators for most of us). Hot, humid, miserable days! But positive thinking helped us get thru this. We all hand washed our clothes, strung it out on porches to dry. We shared our resources and shared books! Magazines. I had a gas stove, so I made coffee and baked goods for our neighbors. We chatted, laughed, took turns driving 100 miles to fill all of our gas cans. Red Cross delivered hot meals to us. It was nearly 100 degrees outside. BUT, somehow we all managed to smile, help one another, be grateful for our lives not lost. We got thru it. Every little bit of progress made us ALL smile. Your blog is so right on!!
Well said!💜