18 Jan Bumble Bees and Harmful Thoughts

When I was a little girl—and I do mean little, we’re talking maybe 4 or 5 years old, I had the strangest pastime. I loved to dash around the backyard, trapping bumble bees beneath my bright yellow sand pail. Don’t ask me why (because I don’t even know to this day), but for whatever reason, I loved the sound they made as they bumped against the side of the bucket.

Sadly, I still have this pastime to this day.

It’s just taken a different form.

Today, the yellow sand pail is my head, and the bumble bees are my own negative thoughts.

Why do I have the habit of thinking the same (usually negative) thoughts over and over and over again? Why do any of us put ourselves through this?

I’ve acquired a number of theories about this over the years:

Self-reflection is an important and noble thing to do.

If we don’t learn from our own history, we’re doomed to repeat it.

There’s value in trying to figure out the “why” behind our decision-making.

And, yes, all of these are true. But—as is true for most things—moderation is important here, too.

Sometimes we needlessly and undeservedly create a harmful echo chamber from which we can’t escape. We know our weaknesses best, so we hit ourselves with low blows. We know past goals we’ve missed, so we presume failure the next time. We know when we’re already hurting, so we, unfortunately, know all too well exactly when to cue those “bumble bee” thoughts.

Thankfully, though, we can learn how to kick this bucket, so to speak. We practice stopping these thoughts as soon as they happen and instead replace them with positive affirmations.

Because mindset matters and to get the ball rolling (in a more positive direction) for all of us, I’ve created a printable of 10 simple affirmations. Use these the next time you feel the bumble bees of negative thoughts start to buzz around inside your head! I hope they help.

Click here to download the affirmations printable.