It is easy to become held hostage to a dynamic of negative thoughts, especially when we have several accumulated ones and cause inertia that mainly affects the filters we use to process information, the thoughts we talk about accumulate in the same way that a small snowball increases in size when we throw it from the mountain. Thus, a small innocent thought, freed without conscience or intention, can end up becoming a huge thing that will contaminate all our emotions, our behaviors and other thoughts.
As the force of the ball that descends uncontrolled, becomes bigger and faster, negative thoughts deplete our energy and leave us without strength, and the more you give yourself to these thoughts, the stronger they become, just as it is harder to stop. This little ball after it has rolled several meters and increased in size, it is also harder to stop a ball of negative thoughts that has already started rolling.
- Thus.
- Intervening in time to stop the descent of this ball can be a good strategy so that then it is not necessary to make a great effort to achieve the same goal.
Life challenges us, often without truce and regardless of the resources we have, it is normal to have negative or defeatist thoughts in this scenario, however, feeding them, maintaining them or even chasing them diminishes the quality of life and poisons our image of ourselves. Do we need to attack our self-esteem in this way?
Negative thoughts are part of your own prison, a prison you create for yourself. Getting rid of your prison is as simple as changing the way you think.
Negative thinking sometimes hurts and sometimes conditions our behavior, this can make us act desperately when we don’t need it or even encourage the possibility of throwing in the towel when we still have a lot to do with our resources and abilities. tend to condition our decisions, not really for the better.
So why do we have negative thoughts when we know it hurts?, the problem begins when the first negative thoughts appear and we do not handle them properly, anyway, when the ball is still small and has not polluted our whole mind, for example. , are there people who deal with the negative thoughts, or rather, the anxiety they cause them, “attack” the refrigerator. A strategy that usually produces even more negative thoughts, in this case in relation to our ability to control ourselves and control our bodies.
With this kind of thinking there is another curious phenomenon: even if you are aware that you must forget this thought, it is always very difficult not to think, the more you think you have to forget, the more it becomes present. Think of an idea that puts you in an uncomfortable state and can lead you to seriously compromise your mental health.
So how can we eliminate these negative thoughts? In fact, it is not possible to completely avoid negative thoughts, sometimes these thoughts are just a spark in our minds, when this happens, we must be aware to recognize them immediately and, in this way, know when we think negatively.
Only by being aware of our negative thoughts can we take steps to address them.
The following strategies will turn off negative thinking and facilitate the task of positive thinking.
Observe your thoughts: negative thoughts are usually the product of cognitive distortions or irrational thought patterns, look at them as if you were a spectator. If you don’t let them take control of your mind, they will just disappear. See them as top-down newspapers. Sooner or later, you will lose sight of them. Accept your negative thoughts and let them go.
2. Reformulate any questions you rumin about: ruminations are patterns of excessive thinking. When we reflect on an idea, we are convinced that we can solve a situation by simply thinking more about it. Something that, in general, is useless. You need to shed light on what’s really in your thoughts and reject what your mind has created before you start looking for a solution. Don’t be surprised if, after eliminating fantasy, you don’t have any problems other than the ones you’ve created yourself.
3. Move and work physically on your thinking: when you are trapped in a negative thought, put it moving. Changing the chip to arouse positive thoughts is not so easy when your mind is busy looking for a way to suffer. That’s the perfect thing. It’s time to go out, walk, run, dance or do yoga. Don’t stop to think, just let your body take over and take your mind somewhere else.
4. Avoid negative thought triggers: a song, an image, a reading, TV shows, the company of some people. . . When you find out which stimuli trigger your negative thoughts, avoid them and whenever possible replace them with others who give your pleasant feelings Don’t worry about it and don’t make it harder.
Look for the company of positive people and pleasant experiences: if what you see, what you hear and what you read is positive, if the people around you are positive, it will be easier to stay away from negative thoughts. The trigger will be easier to eliminate if optimism is all around you.
6. Repeat statements in which there were previously negative thoughts: negative thinking is usually an acquired habit, so instead of being overwhelmed by the usual negative thoughts, it acquires the habit of thinking positively in these circumstances, to remember or reinforce this attitude. , you can write on paper, on your clothes, on the bottom of your computer or mobile phone or even on your own skin.
7. Remember that no one is perfect and moves on: it is easy to stop making mistakes, but all you can do is learn from them and move on, nothing will change, no matter how much rumies. And if vulnerability or limitation awakens your negative thoughts, focus on your strengths and virtues, if you can’t change what’s there, make the most of what you already have.
Negative thoughts are fleeting and temporary, unless we encourage them otherwise. They don’t have their own power, but they can do a lot of damage if we give them growth opportunities. A thought has no more power than the power you give it. thoughts grow when activated, turning them off is then a more difficult task: it is no longer a thought, it becomes a dynamic.
Everyone is responsible for how to handle their own thoughts, no matter why this thought was born: the important thing is to be able to extinguish it and create an appropriate environment for these thoughts to go out, the secret is to identify these negative thoughts before they appear. have time to settle in your head and win allies.