A negative attitude is a sure-fire way to keep one’s self down in the dumps for a lifetime. The sad thing is that few of us actually listen to the thoughts that reside in our head. It’s not so much what you say to others, as what you think constantly, that causes depression and all-round lack of motivation in so many souls out there.
“What if I can’t do it?”
“What will so-and-so think of this?”
“I can’t do it!”
There are so many frustrating thoughts and feelings we all experience on a day to day basis that can act as an impenetrable barrier to our success and sense of happiness in this life…
Regardless, we are at fault when negative thoughts become an oh-too-common part of our existence.
How to Fix it?
Fixing negative thought patterns is actually much easier than most of us are willing to admit. Really, the only thing required to have a more positive outlook on life and the “negative” things that come into it, is to change the way you deal with the thoughts that come into your head.
Identify that you feel restless about the way your life is going.
Learn to be the governor of your thoughts and recognize when they’re heading down that dead end road that leads to unhappiness and a lack of satisfaction.
After you learn to recognize bad patterns in your thinking and behavior, commit to stopping them in their tracks before they become a problem. Immediately think of something positive such as the wonderful colors that surround you, or how you have a commitment or goal on the horizon that needs your absolute positive and complete self to accomplish.
Cut negativity. Replace with positivity…
Strange how these two main steps often require the help of mentors, counsellors, PhD’s, etc., to heed success right?
Here’s a few great tips to get you on the path to positivity and enlightenment:
Sleep more soundly!
Sleep is important, inside and out. Your immune system, mental focus and all-round emotional health depend on at least 6 hours of sound sleep per night. If you’re not sleeping well, figure out why and fix the problem ASAP!
Meditate on it for a bit:
In fact, meditate often! Learn how to sit in a quiet room and think of nothing at all. Once you’ve mastered that, sit in loud places like the subway, main street, and the airport! Don’t allow any thoughts to enter your mind for at least 5 minutes. Hard, but the discipline will pay off in the form of a more cool, calm, down-to-earth you.
Find your STOP signal for negative thinking!
This will be different for everyone and depending on how long you’ve been allowing the negative thought patterns to take over: when a negative thought enters your consciousness, do something drastic — inside or out of your head. Think of the silliest memory you can think of from your life and allow yourself to laugh about it, or yell something wacky in front of a crowd of people like “I do the hokey pokey and I turn myself about” while spinning in circles. This might seem drastic, but drastic times…
Stop watching the news…
What a great way to feel like there’s nothing good left to embrace in this world than a heaping dose of “Everything that’s going wrong in the world today.? Or “Everything bad that’s looming on the horizon on the entire planet.? Listen to some soothing classical music or nature noise soundtracks and leave the doom and gloom for the helpless of the world. This goes double for most forms of public media which use negative thoughts like fear, desperation and loathing to draw you into their storylines.
Talk to people and laugh!
Laughter really is the best medicine. When negativity enters your life, laugh at it. Laugh like a group of middle-schoolers ridiculing a classmate in the playground! While humiliating another human being usually leads to a bad dose of karma at the very least; laughing at those things that trigger bad emotions like fear or embarrassment makes them much less powerful in our conscious mind.
Tips of your own?
Share em’ down below!
You are the artist standing over the canvas that will become the story of your life…
