Have you ever been afflicted with rats you know, really awful thoughts or been plagued with stinking thinking? Do you find that you are stuck in life and can't move along? On today's podcast, I am both honored and excited to have my friend and published author Kathy Anderson, as my guest. She is an expert on making choices about what she thinks on call it mindfulness or call it mindset reset. Kathy offers help to those who are stuck in negative thinking. Let me tell you a little bit about my guest. Cathy Anderson is a teacher, a public speaker, student of Biblical Studies, and Longtime Christ follower. She is one of the kindest women I have ever had the pleasure to know. She is a friend to so many women with joy in her eyes and a smile on her face. She demonstrates putting others first with her care and love. Kathy has been married to her amazing husband, Dan for over 30 years.

Their love story is one of faith and love that is pretty incredible. Kathy, his mom to three grown children, one daughter in law, and she's a grandma to one grandbaby. Kathy enjoys writing music, reading and writing books, and loves anything related to health and fitness. Her journey to reclaim her health is inspiring. She currently lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where she teaches health and fitness classes for women who have been rescued out of sex trafficking. Cathy's new book, recalculating walkaway from negative thinking with the course correcting power of words was released last fall and became an Amazon's hot new release as well as an Amazon number one best seller. So here with me on today's podcast is Kathy Anderson. Cathy, thank you so much for joining me today. Sandra. It is such an honor to be here on your show. Thank you. Well, Kathy, we shared a little bit about your topic about recalculating.

Could you tell us more about your topic and why it's so important? Sure. Sandra, you know, you probably remember the Tom Tom Navigation system prompt that would chime in, you know, anytime that there was a roadblock or a detour or like a traffic jam and it would say the words recalculating and then it would find you a new route to get you to your destination. It would redirect you so you could still get to where you wanted to go and I got to thinking, wouldn't it be nice if our lives actually came equipped with our very own internal navigation system that would recalculate another route for us whenever our lives got off track? Wouldn't that be. Yes,

Yes, and in our society that we live in right here in the US, I, I think especially here in the metropolitan hubbub, you know, the east coast where I live, negative thinking is just one of those roadblocks in our lives. Negative thinking is just so pervasive and widespread. It, it just seems to dominate the tone of most of the media. The at facebook or other social media, TV, you know, podcasts talk shows and I find that I can hardly have a conversation anymore without some sort of negativity creeping in and just dominating the direction of the discussion and it just seems like negative negativity is just steering the focus of our lives and it's sowing seeds of discouragement and depression, anxiety and really it's just all around us and it's. It's basically infiltrated the very fabric of our nation and it's actually making us sick and because people have been so immersed in negativity, they think, speak and behave negatively as a result.

So you know, when you're steeped in it, it gets in you. It becomes part of you. And you know what's so fascinating to me, Sandra, it's that most people don't even realize that they're trapped in a negative mindset and that they need to recalculate. You know, to find another route, another pathway to a healthier way of thinking, speaking and behaving. And so I wrote my book recalculating as sort of a guidebook to give a new set of directions to take us off the negative road that we often find ourselves on and our words are a huge part of the course correcting process. So my book basically helps the reader to identify areas of negativity in their life and to make a course correction by implementing an amazingly effective technique that God actually invented. And it's called renewing your mind. And so it's basically just learning to think the way God thinks and you know, it's, it's all based on scripture rather than thinking the way the world around us. Thanks.

Well that's, that's really very compelling thoughts and I know that would resonate with so many people and as you said it, we become a meshed in that thinking. We aren't even aware of it sometimes.

What are some common myths related to negative thinking? Well, I would say that one common myth is that a lot of people believe that it's normal and appropriate to speak negatively if a situation isn't going the way that they'd like and that to speak otherwise is being fake or is being phony or hypocritical. But this couldn't be farther than the truth. Sandra, because you see it's okay to not like something that's happening. And to be honest about it and to be upset by it, but it's not okay to stay there in that negative place. See what I'm saying is it's not okay to marinate yourself in that negative mindset. It's actually scientifically proven to be hurtful to the body and the mind to do that. Wow. And the amazing thing is it's these very situations, the ones that we don't like that are the very situations that we need to be recalculating our thoughts so that they steer away from negative thinking and to embrace a different faith-filled perspective.

One that aligns itself with how God sees the situation. And you know, this is, this is simple, but it's really, it's, it's profound in its life, a life changing concept for most people and it can truly revolutionize, revolutionize their lives. Yeah. Oh, that's, that's wonderful. Have you run into the other myths that people have a question to ask you about? Um, yeah, there's, there's, there's a lot. Um, I'm sorry I wasn't prepared for all that. That's okay. If you don't mind. I was just going to have, as you were talking, it made me think about, um, because I think we think it's mutually exclusive. Um, I had, uh, it seems silly now, but my two dogs got lost and it was pretty traumatic for me and my, my daughter as I'm going through this and just agonizing over them. Um, and my daughter said to me, mom, no matter the circumstances or the outcome, are you going to be able to praise God?

Yes. So is that Kinda what you're speaking of with thinking? Yes. Brilliant. Just aligning yourself with how God sees the situation and to be able to be thankful because you know, when you're renewing your mind and you're recalculating away from the negative, even if that situation doesn't change, you have changed. And what your daughter reminded you to do was really to have a faith filled perspective, to keep your eyes focused on God. Even though you know something terrible was happening and the unknown was there with, you know, your, your pups that you love so much and you were able to steer your way away from that negative thinking and to just keep a faith filled perspective by, you know, by keeping your focus on the Lord and thanking him. Well, and I like what you said is that also reminded me that, you know, I certainly couldn't be thankful for that circumstances.

My dogs were lost. They were in peril, but I could be thankful in that circumstance because God is saying he doesn't change according to circumstances. He remains the same. That's right. Absolutely. Oh, that's wonderful. Well, your book, which I've had the pleasure to read, is it speaks about your own journey and challenges in life. Would you please share with us which hurdles you personally faced and how did you overcome them? Yep. So, so earlier I referred to a scenario describing how two different people might choose to walk through the same set of difficult circumstances. You know, one was a negative perspective and one with a face perspective. And I used illness as an example. Well, I was both of those people. I was describing my own responses as I walked through a debilitating illness just a few short years ago actually. And I'm still walking down that healing road.

I'm not completely well yet, but I'm approaching greater health and vitality each day. But, um, so my story is when, when my doctor told me that I would be dead by Christmas, which at the time was only about six months away, I knew that I needed to do something pretty major. And that's when the Lord led me to discover the dynamic power of really renewing my mind. And, and so, you know, God speaks and it's done. He's, he's the god of endless possibilities. And he uses his words to create all that there is. And he still uses his words to recreate, to create. And we're made in his image. So just like our heavenly father creates with his words, we have been granted the mind boggling privilege of using our words to create also and, and our thoughts. And our words are like tiny little seeds and they grow into plants that bear fruit in our lives.

And so what we sow, we reap because in Galatians it says people only harvest what they plant. And so for me, it had to start with the conclusions that I was making about my circumstances, my health and the diagnosis that I was given. I had to make a choice. Was I going to become engulfed in what I saw with my eyes and felt in my body and what was happening around me? Or was I going to view my situation at a higher level? You know, just basically daring to believe what God said about me in his word and about my circumstances. So I had a choice there. And as difficult as it was, much of the time I chose to trust and embrace what the Lord says was my inheritance in his word. And I chose to trust that over my circumstances. So it was a conscious choice.

And