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Get Your Mind Out of the Gutter

By Cheryl Pullins

Published: September 21, 2011

I spend a great deal of time coaching women and there is a recurring theme. Many of the women I coach end up with a similar conclusion. Their minds are stuck in past negative experiences which are showing up in their lives. How are they showing up, you may ask?

Worry. Unbelief. Low self-esteem. Lack of confidence. Doubt. Fear.

Those negative experiences have projected themselves from years past into the present, and if continued, they will significantly impact their future life. Many are operating with a faulty mindset and because of this mindset they use phrases like:

“I can’t.”
“I won’t.”
“I don’t.”
“I will never…”

A mindset of can’t, never will. An attitude of won’t, don’t. It’s just that simple. Can’t is a deception of your ability and won’t is an attitude. You have deceived yourself when you begin to think that you can’t be who God has called you to be. You are acting as if you are incapable of being confident, secure and empowered. Those negative scripts you continuously play in your mind have set you up to actively defeat, discourage and sabotage every plan designed for your life.

Where the mind goes, the rest is sure to follow. What you think about is vitally important. What you think about impacts how you think about your life, your attitude and your circumstances. There is scientific evidence and biblical confirmation that what you think about, dwell on, meditate on and focus on will manifest itself in your life; whether good or bad.
In my line of work, I often hear a lot of new age theory and terms, but I know there is nothing new under the sun. I know there is no secret. The Bible is clear: As a man thinks in his heart (mind), so is he (Proverbs 23:7).

It is past time to get your mind out of the gutter. Stop allowing your mind to be used as a garbage can. Stop hoarding junk and mess in your head. Clean it out.

Think of your mind as a receptacle, a container of past, present and future information. Now imagine a garbage can, a receptacle for trash, old food and unwanted items. Whatever you don’t want, what do you do with it? Throw it in the trash – the garbage. Why? Because after a while it smells, gets moldy and it has no further use. Then you take the garbage out so it is properly hauled off and carried away from you and your home.

Now go back to your mind being a receptacle. Think about the things you are holding onto in your mind that are causing you to have stinking thinking – those negative thoughts and experiences that have become smelly and have no use. Your mind “smells” to the point where all that garbage is spilling out into your life, your business and your relationships. You are full of worry, fear, doubt and unbelief. But you have the responsibility to make the change. You have the capacity to trash the mind-trash, get your mind out of the gutter and have all that mental garbage hauled out of your mind and removed from your life.

How? How can you get rid of the thinking that has plagued you and your life for so long? How can you get beyond those negative experiences that have dominated your life?

Here are three ways to get your mind out of the gutter and live the life you dream about.

1. Set the intention about how you will think about your life, your business and your relationships. Intentionally change your attitude. Replace those negative sabotaging scripts with positive and empowering thoughts and words. Decide that you will no longer live out of those past negative experiences. Make a choice to respond differently to situations and circumstances.

2. Pay attention to what you are thinking about. Find the root of your thinking. Why do you think the way you think? How did you get here? Why are you operating from a place a defeat, worry and negativity? What is compelling you to give up? How are those past experiences showing up in your present circumstances and how will they impact your future self? Create a journal to answer those questions and then monitor your thoughts.

3. Renew your mind, daily. Mind renewal is not a one-time event, but it is a daily and consistent plan of action. Life happens and situations come. It is imperative to constantly and regularly renew your mind to rid it of those toxic thoughts and negative situations. You cannot afford to let any negativity creep in and stink up your mind. Meditate on what’s good, perfect and lovely that is planned for your life. (Philippians 4:8)

You are responsible for your mind. You are the gatekeeper. Your thoughts are creative and powerful. You have the power to create the life you dream about. Your thoughts create words. Those words become actions. Those actions become results – outcomes. Those outcomes create the experiences in which you live on a daily basis.

When you trash the mind-trash and get your mind out of the gutter by changing your thoughts, then you will without a doubt change your life.

© Cheryl Pullins. All rights reserved.

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