The other night, I watched Joel Osteen. He was talking about toxic thoughts. As he was speaking about the importance of detoxing your thoughts, something he said really struck me.
Toxic Thoughts
He was explaining how damaging bad thoughts can be. How they shut you down, stifle you, keep you stuck, and prevent you from living up to your full potential. Because bad thoughts are toxic ones and toxins build up over time, contaminating your mind, body, soul, and life.
But by detoxing your thoughts, you can live a happier and more positive life and therefore a better one.
But how do you go about detoxing your thoughts?
Clean Water In, Dirty Water Out
He made a really cool analogy that I thought was brilliant. He used the example of a glass with dirty water in it. The dirty water represents bad thoughts. Sure, you could dump out the dirty water and pour fresh, clean water in, but that’s unrealistic. Who is ever able to totally empty their thoughts?
But if you pour clean water in, you can replace the dirty water. The clean water represents positive thoughts. And you don’t just pour some in, you keep the tap turned on and flush the dirty water out until all that’s left is good clean water (thoughts).
How It Applies to Marriage
I was thinking about how this same principle could apply to marriage. Especially one bumping along on a rocky road.
It’s so easy to get stuck in a rut blaming, dwelling on the negative, thinking about all you don’t have. In essence, it’s easy to let toxic thinking invade your marriage. Which leads to toxic behaviors.
But if you turn on the tap and let the good thoughts and behaviors flow in, you can flush out the toxins and detox your marriage.
This means replacing accusations with praise. Cold shoulders with hugs and kisses. Spending time doing your own thing with doing more things together.
And even if you’re not undergoing a hard time, you’ve got to keep pouring that clean water into your relationship every day. After all, preventing the toxins from coming in is better than detoxing your marriage later.
Courtney Mroch also writes in Pets and Marriage. For a full listing of her articles click here.
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