Mouth Hygiene for Your Mind-Remove the Negative Thoughts

Sometimes we need to think about applying mouth hygiene principles to our mind by removing negative thoughts. They have much in common. When my husband fully recuperated from some oral surgery Mouth Hygiene was on my mind a lot.  The whole thing got me to thinking about a different form of Mouth Hygiene. Hygiene for the mind, specifically the Negative thoughts….

As you know, the basic standard daily mouth hygiene that we have been taught:

• Brush your teeth twice a day
• Floss to remove unwanted particles
• Rinse your mouth with a mouth wash

Brushing twice a day keeps all the gunk and bacteria out of your mouth and off your gums.  That’s fine for food.   But have you ever been around someone that does nothing but spew negative thoughts and/or negative, hurtful words out of their mouth…daily? I would like to introduce you to —

Mouth Hygiene for Your Mind

I have, and that person was like poison. I found myself not wanting to be around them and going out of my way to avoid them because I knew being around them was going to be nothing but a downer and eventually their poisonous attitude would be bringing me down into their sick world right along with them.

So, I thought for today I would give you some quick pointers of how to have good Mouth Hygiene for Your Mind.

Read Daily – Brush Your Mind

First, you have to FEED your mind with good thoughts.  There is a saying in the computer coding world called WYSIWYG.  If you say the letters it sounds like “wissy wig” but it means “What You See Is What You Get”.  Well, what you read and listen to is what you get.

If you listen to negativity downer stuff all the time that is naturally what is going to come out of your mouth.  OK, so it doesn’t take you long in watching the evening news to be pumped full of negative thoughts..I’m good for only about 5 minutes and then I have to turn it off.

Yes, there is natural bad we are exposed to that we just can’t ignore or get away from. BUT, we can counter that by taking and making a very focused effort to feed our mind good stuff.  I read from my Bible daily and I always read at least 10 pages from a good, self-development book.  The key is doing it DAILY.

Remove The Negative Thoughts – Floss Your Mind

The next step may be the hardest and that is removing the negative. I personally limit myself to watching the news to no more than twice a week. You may can endure more, but none the less, I know when my attitude has been overloaded with too much negative input. I’ve also taken a stronger stand against submitting myself to negative people. I choose to not participate in activities where I know a negative person is going to be spewing their poison. I politely remove myself from conversations where the negative words are flying and I know I’m not going to be able to say anything to impact the situation. I wouldn’t say I’m doing anything monumental to protect myself from the negative, but since I can easily control those issues I’m doing it.

Yes, I know, life has it’s ups and downs and despite all the best plans there are some “thorns among the roses.” I’m not saying that you should remove yourself completely from life and ignore “reality.” BUT, I am suggesting that you take a concentrated and specific look at your life and see if there isn’t some negativity you can remove.

Daily Refreshment – Rinse and Swish

I get very intense when I am working on a project and surprise myself to look up and see that 4 or 5 hours have passed without my having taken a break. And the stress shows when I work so intensely. My shoulders will be knotted and tight and I usually have a headache from the intense concentration. I’ve found a technique I’ve been applying lately that has been helping me to work with more concentration and actually get more done in less time.

The main thing I learned from the technique is that it’s OK to take a BREAK. Novel idea, right? But truly, it IS ok to stop, breathe, walk away and clear your mind.

I even find when I’m at home and working on sewing project that I need to stand up, stretch and step outside to listen to the birds.

We live in such a hurry-rush society now that we forget to pause. In fact, RIGHT NOW…Take 30 seconds right now…don’t read farther.
Just take a deep breath and PAUSE….

Now..Didn’t that feel GOOD to be allowed to rest your mind? PLEASE, I beg you to give that gift to yourself daily. Take moments to stop and breathe, rest and refresh your mind. AND, take a moment to apply some daily Mouth Hygiene to your Mind!

Hugs and feathers from the nest~~()~~

Kim Steadman is the Content Curator and COOP (Chief Online Operating Person) for The Re-Feathered Nest, a place of encouragement for moms entering the Empty Nest Zone who are ready to RePurpose and ReDesign themselves according to God’s purpose for their lives now that the kids have flown the coop. She is the author of the soon to be released book ““My Little Book of Empty Nest Quotes & Wisdom.’ Kim can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TheRefeatheredNest and on Google+ at +Kim