Stinking Thinking

Stinking thinking leads me to drinking. I would love to get as many tips from anyone who reads this as to how you stop Stinking Thinking.

I catch how I’m feeling, and exercise Gratitude, flexibility, and perspective, love not hate, unselfish ness, not selfishness. This relieves the mental suffering that leads me to drinking. Takes continual practice.

It's easy, just stop thinking 🤣 I'm yet to think of a way to stop stinking thinking by thinking alone , the more I try to stop the more I think.
I am again trapped and suffering the bondage of self without even realising I'm trying to exert my will and wants. When I have stinking thinking I feel in dis-ease, this is what my alcoholic mind wants .

Only one thing works for me, and that's taking action to make conscious contact with God .When and where do I find God =Right Now .
Ego can't exist if we are in the moment.
When I have a pity party no one gets invited ,when I'm drinking the poison of resentment no one dies except part of me.
I have to take responsibility, drop the blame game, realise I have a choice in joy or misery and it's in the actions I take that determine my state of being.

I agree with AussieDrunk. I need to do something to connect to my Higher Power to get rid of stinking thinking. If I try to think my way out of stinking thinking, I start a long confusing mental committee meeting. What is an action I do to connect to HP? Helping others, write down 5 things I am grateful for, call a friend, click on this app, do something creative, listen to music, sing.

When I am having stinking thinking, I first become aware that I am thinking badly, then I force myself to list five things I am grateful for. Another thing I do is try to look at things more realistically because a lot of my thinking stems from black and white, All or Nothing thinking. For example, when my father died, I was surprised at myself because I rarely felt any sadness. I think it was because I felt like he had treated me unjustly. so, I had to look at it more realistically by admitting that he did some things that I felt were just and felt were un just and that I did some things too that were unjust and that we are all human beings with different assets and liabilities that affect other people in many ways. I also had to admit that it was okay to feel some relief that he was gone and that it was okay to have mixed feelings with some sadness and some relief. this helped me put things, especially my feelings, in perspective. By sharing these feelings in this app, I am doing an action which connects to a higher power that takes away my stinking thinking. If I kept all of this to myself, I do not think that I could think my way out of stinking thinking.

I am learning to recognize such thoughts early and remind myself that my biggest enemy are my own unguided thoughts. then distract myself. it's attributed to Buddha "no enemy can hurt you as much as your own unguided thoughts" it's not always easy but i think it gets easier to install a new habit of recognizing the thoughts and switching over to an alternative program. It's probably the most powerful thing but also very hard. Viktor frankl wrote about something similar too: even in the worst situation you have a split second to decide how you react. all the best.

Think it also helps to talk to another person about whatever else. It worked a few times, not that it was planned. Just a friendly person at a dog park.


So I guess i use distractions or they happen to be in my responsibilities, When I can choose, I'll go for music, nature walks, messing with the flowers outside, playing with the dog, watching favorite TV shows, etc... I think because it gets absurd, it can topple down on its own after a distraction. For one of the reoccurring negative talks - not being good enough, did find some triggers , perhaps I'll be able to re-frame them, not to have the same effect, otherwise it's a roller-coaster of things I should have done to be better. So far, I just remind myself that I am 46 years old, the life I have now works for me, and I am lucky in many ways. All I really need to do, is be kind. When I was drinking, that talk, I'd consider true, and with filters of reason removed, it was really hard to get out of it.  It got me to a place that I couldn't see anything else.


I like to think that I have some wits left, and sometimes I'll let the day go in the spoiled mood, there are only that many hours in a day, I'll be fine, tomorrow morning most of it would be gone anyway - but that's just me.  "How often is a bush supposed a bear", said the Bard....