Encouragement

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SNOWBALLS

Have you ever noticed how quickly your anxious and presumptuous thoughts can begin spiraling out of control? It’s like the proverbial snow ball that begins rolling down the hill only to turn into this huge out of control monstrosity ready to destroy anything that is in its path. The same is true here. What began as an innocent thought has grown and festered into this negative and irrational thought that has now consumed your mind.

The doctor found a lump and all you can think about is cancer. By the time he has finished discussing all the possible things that lump could turn out to be you have arranged your funeral, worried about who will take care of your children and wrote your last will and testament.

It reminds me of the story where a neighbor needed to borrow a shovel from next door so as he was making his way over to the other house it dawned on him that he had never returned the hammer he borrowed some weeks earlier. He thought, “This guy is probably upset over the fact I forgot to return his hammer, there is no way that he will give me a shovel. The hammer was old and rusty, as a matter of fact all his tools are old. If I borrow his shovel it will probably break and then he will want me to buy him a new one”

The more he thought about it the angrier he became. Who does this guy think he is giving me all his old tools and then expecting me to buy him new ones? About that time he was at the neighbor’s front door ringing the bell. Before the neighbor had time to say hello the man said angrily, “here is the old rusty hammer you gave me and you can forget about me borrowing your shovel!”

The point is. The more you get absorbed in the negative details of whatever it is you began thinking about, the more tense and uptight you will feel. A few minutes ago you didn’t have a care in the world, now all of a sudden your whole world is falling apart and this anger or fear has risen out of nowhere and is choking off your air supply.

One thought has led to another until for no rational reason you have become agitated over what turns out in most cases to be nothing. Your only reward is acid reflux and a tension headache.

These thought attacks make it impossible to feel calm and peaceful. Negative, worrisome thoughts produce negative worrisome feelings. The sooner you become aware of the fact that you’re producing a mental snowball by rehearsing these negative scenarios in your mind the quicker you will be able to release them and return to a much calmer you.

The solution is to quickly recognize this “stinking thinking” for what it is by simply listening to the thoughts that are going through your mind. Pull them out as it were and take a good look at them. Ask yourself. “Is this really as big a deal as I am making it? Do I have all the facts? Is it really that important? In most cases you will find that as these thoughts are seen for what they truly are, “just thoughts”, they will loose their power and melt away allowing you to return to a much more peaceful state of mind.

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