How To Exchange Negative Thinking For Gratitude

One of my three children tends to view life from a more pessimistic lens than the other two. Recently on a rainy drive to school, I encouraged him to capture his thoughts before he said them out loud and filter those thoughts through a lens of either gratitude or joy. Then I challenged myself to do the same with my thoughts.

Guess what I discovered?

First, I have A LOT of thoughts throughout the day.

Second, A LOT of my thoughts are negative.

Here are just a few of the negative thoughts that I found myself thinking and how I captured them to instead see the situations through the lens of gratitude or joy:

Negative thought – “If that stupid car in front of me wasn’t going so slow, we both would have made it through that light”.

Lens of joy & gratitude – “I am so grateful that I have a car to drive in and I don’t have to walk in this rain”.

Negative thought – “Now that I’m 40, I hate that I have to get this medical screening done. I’m so stressed and they make me wait a week for the results”.

Lens of joy & gratitude – “I’m so grateful for the health insurance and access to technology to get the recommended screenings”.

Negative thought – “That person said that, but I’m sure the motive was something else”.

Lens of joy & gratitude – “That person is made in the image of God and I will assume the best about them”.

When revisiting this conversation a few days later, my child asked me a great question as I shared with them my experience of exchanging my negative thoughts, “But Mom, what about being authentic? I don’t want to be fake”.

I absolutely get that; both of us place a high value on authenticity. The amazing thing is, according to Scripture and confirmed by science, we can actually renew our minds and change our thinking patterns. Here are Scriptures to meditate on and memorize to exchange our negative lens for a lens of gratitude and joy:

“take every thought captive to obey Christ”. -2 Corinthians 2:5

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” – Romans 12:2

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” – Philippians 4:8

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”. – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

If that doesn’t convince you to take inventory of your thoughts, not only is a negative person an unpleasant person to be around, but there are actual negative health effects on a person with a negative world view. According to Marque Medical Group, some of them include

• headaches

• chest pain

• fatigue

• digestive problems

• sleep problems

• anxiety

• depression

• social withdrawal

• drastic changes in metabolism (overeating or undereating)

Science is discovering more thought-body connections all of the time, which is fascinating to me! Especially since almost 3,000 years ago King Solomon wrote, “As a man thinks, so is he”. If you want to read more about how science is catching up with Scripture in this area, check out “Switch on Your Brain” by Dr. Caroline Leaf.

I invite you to take the challenge of capturing your thoughts and exchanging the negative lens for one of joy and gratitude. Mediate on the Scriptures and see what happens!

 

 

 

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