It’s something we’re all guilty of from time to time. Some minor inconvenience occurs to you on what happens to be an already bad day, and all of a sudden you can feel yourself going down a rabbit hole of negativity.
Negative thoughts can affect not only your productivity and stress levels, but can also have long term effects on your health and wellbeing. It’s natural to want to distract yourself, rather than dealing with those thoughts, but the next time you’re having one of “those days,” try out these 5 techniques instead to shift your negative thinking to positive thinking.
1. Look at each negative thought as an opportunity. What did you learn from the situation? If you focus on each negative thought as a form of growth, it is easier to shift the thought to a positive one instead.
2. Take action. If it’s negative environment that is causing negative thoughts to manifest, remove yourself from the environment. If that’s not possible, refer to #1 and focus on what you are learning from what you’re going through.
3. Deal with strictly the facts. When emotions come into the picture, this may cloud your judgment. By coming up with a solution based on factual evidence alone, it may keep your negative thoughts at bay.
4. Ask yourself what advice you would give to someone else in your situation. Treat yourself like your own best friend. If it was someone else in your shoes, you would probably have some advice to offer them, maybe even a pep talk. Give yourself the same pep talk!
5. Choose to focus on positivity. Being mindful of the fact that you’re having negative thoughts is a huge step in the right direction. Once you do that, you can actively choose to look at the bright side of things.
If negative thoughts are something you struggle with on a regular basis. Save this blog, so that you can come back to it! Remember, the more mindful you are of negativity entering your life, the quicker you will be able to counteract that negativity with positivity.
If you’re interested in learning more about how to shift your negative thinking to positive thinking, read my blog post on the Delete Delete™ technique which replaces negative, non-productive thinking with positive, supportive, and insightful thoughts.
