Mondays start the work week off for many of us making it is easy to go into the week with a negative frame of thinking. We often complain that the weekend wasn’t long enough, traffic on the way to work was backed up, we didn’t pack lunch, need to stop to get gas, etc. What if we changed our frame of thinking and started the week off on a cheerful note. Happy Monday everyone! Let’s reflect on all the positive things happening this week. For starters you woke up today, that’s a major win! Next week is Christmas, which means a short work week (won’t He do it), and New Year’s Day will soon follow. Doesn’t that feel better? Trust me as a new parent it is easy to get bogged down by everything that is going wrong instead of being thankful for everything that is going right. Why is that? I’m not sure the exact answer however, I was once told it’s harder to frown than it is to smile. Isn’t the same thing true for our thoughts? It’s much easier to fill our minds with positive thoughts rather than negative ones. I myself am still not convinced about the previous statement so let’s dig a little deeper, shall we?
As someone who has a stubborn brain, as I like to call it, thinking positively all the time can be tedious. Then on the flip side thinking negatively is toxic and bad for my mental health. I’d like to think I am in between the two. My main vice is being a worrywart. So, to help me help you figure out why we think the way we do, I broke it down into three different types of thinkers. Let’s identify the type of thinker/thinkers we are and see how we can make some modifications for a better outcome in the future.
Thinker 1: Meet the positive thinker commonly known as the optimist, their thoughts are guided by hoping an outcome will be good even though it may not. If you align with this frame of thinking, no matter what is happening in your life you always hope for the best and never the worse, even when circumstances don’t look the greatest. Examples of positive thinkers that come to mind are Gandhi and Mother Teresa. One might say the only vice to being an optimist is lacking realistic thinking. Is there such a thing as being too positive?
Thinker 2: Meet the over-thinker, this thinker coined the term “worry wart”. The worrywart is driven by fear, the fear of something happening or not happening. They can be indecisive when making decisions for fear of not picking the best answer. These thinkers often have a plan A-Z, thinking of everything that could go wrong or right. The main vice of this thinker is often thinking so much about the future that the forget to bask in the glory of their present. An example of the over-thinker is any man’s girlfriend when he asks her what she wants to eat (as Uncle Jesse would say “Have Mercy!”).
Thinker 3: Meet the negative thinker also known as the pessimist, they are known to be skeptical about everything. Most of their thoughts consist of doubt. They see the worse in everything and lower their expectations to avoid being upset for trying to be optimistic. Who thinks like this you might ask? No comment, you know who you are.
I’m sure you all know the different variations of thinking, but it doesn’t hurt to have a reminder. I also am super extra and love breaking things down, I create lists for everything. So, seeing the descriptions and examples of thinkers helped me remember the importance of my thoughts. It’s like food, we are what we eat but we also have to remember we are what we think. No matter the type of thinker/thinkers, it’s okay to be a little bit of all of them, you should be conscious of the thoughts you allow to take up space in your mind. Even when life is hard speak life into yourself (when life is tough don’t wallow in self-pity and succumb to being a Debbie Downer). I’ve learned that you can think life into where you want to be and where you want to go. Chin up buttercup 2019 is on its way out and 2020 is on its way in! If 2019 was a hard year for you it’s almost over leave the negative thoughts and feelings there, start 2020 off with a positive bang.
A Peace of Ty 