My son and I were on our way home from his soccer training last night when my husband called me with the bad news. The hot water was coming out rusty, so he went downstairs to check and sure enough the hot water heater was leaking. Turns out, it had rusted out the bottom and a new hot water heater was in order. My mind wanted to go the worst of it.
It’s going to cost a fortune.
There are so many better ways to spend this money… like a post-COVID vacation!
2021 is just as bad as 2020.
I am going to die without a hot shower in the morning.
UGH! All those thoughts lead to the pit of drama and despair. I know that our thoughts create our feelings, but don’t give me any of this baloney that I can talk myself into a space of positivity with thoughts like:
You can’t put a price on comforts like hot water.
This is the best use of our money right now.
2021 is awesome.
I am so grateful that I can boil hot water.
I have one word for those thoughts…fake. Totally unbelievable so they aren’t really helpful! But wait, isn’t that what self help tells us? We should make every negative a positive? It only works if the positive is believable.
When negative thinking takes me to the land down under and positive thinking puts me in a fairy tale forest that is entirely unconvincing, there is another option. That is, neutral thinking.
Neutral thinking takes away the need for the sentences in our brain to be good or bad and just leaves us with what is.
The heater costs what it costs.
We have savings to pay for this.
This bad thing doesn’t have to overshadow what is good or working right now.
I can go next door to take a shower right now or wait until the plumber leaves.
I’ve found that in situations that naturally produce the negative thinking that leads to stress, frustration and worry, neutral thinking is the way I can diffuse the despair and simply put myself in a place of acceptance for what is.
Where in your life could neutral thinking help you?