I put off thinking negatively about things

Daily writing promptWhat have you been putting off doing? Why?View all responses

Being quick to be negative is not a nice thing. There’s so much that troubles me about the world today–unkindness, hostility, anger, hatred, bullying, cruelty, violence, wars, and rumors of wars (especially concerning politics). I could easily let my mind run wild with negativity and vengeance. However, I choose to put it off and not get around to it.

In the meantime, I’m going to focus my mind on whatever is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, kind, hopeful, and peaceful. In today’s environment those things are hard to find, but I am determined to find them!

I delay believing accusations and conspiracy theories, until they can be proven beyond a doubt. When I disagree with people’s beliefs or behaviors, I don’t get around to writing those people off and I try to speak the truth to them with love, patience, and kindness. When I’m feeling discouraged, I put it off until later and then I don’t get around to it.

Sometimes negative thoughts, feelings, and desires swarm my mind and emotions like a hive of angry killer bees tempting me to surrender to hopelessness and self-destruction. When they do, I continually swat them down one after the other and never give up until they leave me alone.

When something happens that I don’t like, I’m tempted to declare it to be bad. Instead, I put off giving in to that temptation and delay my negative judgements by saying: “This seems bad to me, but It’s too soon to tell. I’m going to put off evaluating it and see how it turns out in the future.” That delay keeps anxiety and worry from consuming me. Then after a few days, months, or years the situation I thought was bad often in retrospect looks good.