We all succumb to negative thoughts once in awhile. We naturally pay more attention to negative thoughts than positive ones and they seem to even “demand” our attention. When we allow our negative thoughts to impact our decision making or relationships, and intensify an already difficult mood, the outcomes can be less than ideal.

Before I venture out on vacation, especially the beach, I always check the weather ahead of time.  I look at the 10 day weather forecasts scouting for any possibility of clouds and rain.  Basically, I always want it to be sunny!  When I end up getting to my destination, when clouds or rain appear, I start making judgements and interpretations about what this means.  Usually, these thoughts are mostly negative.  On a logical level I understand, and genetic testing has confirmed, that my fair-skinned ancestors don’t particularly do well with seven days of direct sunshine on a tropical island.  By day two, I would be desperately seeking shade under the nearest palm tree.  However, I judge the weather anyway. While this is not particularly damaging on a vacation, this type of thinking can have detrimental consequences when applied to other areas of my life.  

The innocent days of riding bikes, playing at the park and swimming at the pool abruptly came to a crashing halt. One morning, on the way to middle school, I noticed that my daughter had left her favorite hula hoop in our neighbor’s yard. She refused to pick it up convinced that it was not in our neighbor’s yard. Next thing you know, we were standing in the street measuring (and debating) the property line of our home (as if any of that mattered!).