Stop Giving the Stage to Bad Reruns

Have you ever had a bad experience at the grocery store or a frustrating phone call, or been cut off in traffic? Do you spend the next hour telling every person you know about it? Maybe you only told yourself for 3 hours. Ever have a conversation that you wish you had told someone off but didn’t and then rehearse the actual conversation, the one you wish you had and the one you are thinking about doing? Yeah right…we all do it. Oh Yes, you do.

Every time you retell the story of what went wrong, you aren't venting. You are re-living it. You are inviting that negative scene back onto your stage and giving it a second, third, and fourth take.

People think it is ok to vent. NO, it is not ok; let it go. Venting is not good for anyone. Especially not you. This harms you and the people who are in ear shot of your venting. Venting is nothing more than a false rehearsal for something you will never speak or do in the same situation and probably is not completely accurate to begin with, we do distort when we are upset. You are not consistent in your mind; therefore, you will not be consistent in your talk and actions. I wish I had or I should have done…seldom happens especially if someone cut you off in traffic. You will never see them again. Get the picture.

The problem of talking to others isn’t just that you are re-living the episode; you are also sharing your negative energy with someone else. Now they too can be frustrated or maybe they will give you good advice. Hopefully they tell you to stop wasting your time on something that is over. You didn’t take care of it then; you don’t get to take care of it by talking to me. That is not being rude, it is being conservative with their peace and helping you do the same. That is a good friend.

Your peace of mind is more important than the loss of a perfectly good day. You have just taken your focus from a good day and allowed something negative to control it. Seriously, why? Is this how you want to spend your day? Then is it a good idea to dampen someone else’s day?

Real sovereignty is knowing when to be silent. It’s the realization that some situations don't need resolution through talk; they just need to be left alone to die. When you over-talk a problem, you make it bigger than it is. You give it an abundant life and take away from your abundance of peace.

Treat your peace of mind like it is gold, because it is. If a thought doesn't move your story forward, repeating it makes it toxic. Don't give it a voice.

Today’s 1 Thought:

When something goes wrong today, notice the urge to call someone or post about it on social media... STOP!

You are not “venting” you are disturbing your peace and the peace of others.