No More Stinking Thinking...Get to a More Positive Mindset

There was a time that my Grandmother would ask me; “Do you think you are smarter than God?”

Ridiculous, right? No one would ever say that… at least not out loud.

But as is true with so many things in life, our true belief system is not measured with our words; it’s measured by our actions.

So how do you know if you think you’re smarter than God? You measure it by your reaction when things don’t go as you think they ought to.

You work on a project at work that falls short despite your best efforts. No matter how much homework help and tutoring you get your child isn’t performing at the level the class requires. Stuff starts breaking in your home and there’s not enough in the budget to fix them. You are passed over for a promotion that you (and everyone else around you) know should have been yours.

What is the right mindset and what does your reaction to those moments say? What testimony does your anger and frustration give? What statement does your obsessing and lack of joy make?

That reaction screams out, “This is not how it’s supposed to be.” And it’s in those words, “supposed to”, that we find the truth.

At some level, we all think we’re smarter than God. We believe we know the way things must, or are supposed to go.

God created all things, and through evolution we have been attuned to notice negative stimuli more readily and remember them more vividly compared to positive ones. This threat-focused negativity bias helped for our early ancestors’ survival. While we don’t face the same dangers, it still plays an important role as we look for potential threats. For instance, we become focused on criticism, hung up on life’s unpleasantries, worldly comparisons and consistently weigh the negative aspects of events more heavily than the positive things we experience.

When our mindset is distorted, we filter and disqualify the positive things that happen, and we undermine the richness in our lives. We disregard or dismiss countless enjoyable aspects of everyday life as insignificant. However, tuning into the positive, seemingly insignificant things that happen in everyday life can deepen our understanding of what is going well and allow us to marvel in God’s works.

I hope this reading and the following exercises give you the freedom to choose to move toward a more flexible mindset. One that is based not on our limited knowledge and plans, but one that's rooted in positivity and a reminder of God’s love. One that recognizes the surprising and intimate work of God in your life. One that trusts without seeing. One that may get disappointed but can fight that disappointment by not comparing yourself to others or obsessing over why things went wrong.

One that recognizes that God is not only with you. He’s FOR you.

I hope that the tools presented in the blog inspire you too to increase your own mindset and the wellbeing of the people around you. Please feel free join our community and subscribe to my newsletter on this site. #positivemindset