Choose Positive Thoughts

In my last blog I invited you to try to stop complaining…for an hour, a day or a week. How did that work for you?  It is more challenging than it seems. That’s not a reason to give up, however. It’s just information for you, awareness that complaining and negative thinking may be more deeply ingrained than you realized. Hopefully, this awareness will act as an incentive to practice being positive and grateful more often. It really can and does have a wonderful impact on your own mood and those around you. Here are a few more simple ways to help you shift from habitual negative thinking or complaining into more positive and uplifting thoughts.

Did you know that, on average, you have between 60,000-70,000 thoughts a day? Of those, approximately 95% are repetitive and about 80% are negative. OUCH! Do the math...that's about 50,000 negative thoughts each and every day. It's no wonder you feel mentally stressed out and physically worn out.

First, as soon as you notice yourself having a negative thought, CUT IT OFF. Whether is after the thought is over, or in mid-thought, CANCEL, DELETE or STOP the thought and insert some other, more positive thought in its place. Remember, you always have the choice to decide which thought you want to hold on to and which you want to release. In time, you will raise your awareness and be able to catch yourself before the thought is formed.

Second, LABEL THE THOUGHT; imagine it as a leaf drifting by on a stream or a cloud on a windy day. "Here I go, having another one of those negative thoughts." This places the thought outside of you and you begin to realize that you are not your thoughts. Your thoughts are simply mental constructs and you can choose whether to allow them to take up space in your brain or not. Once you realize this you take the power out of the thoughts and take back the control. 

Third, COUNTERACT WITH THE EXACT OPPOSITE THOUGHT. This relates back to Cut It Off, where you insert a new thought in place of the negative thought.  If the opposite thought is too far out for you to believe, then replace it with a better feeling thought that you can believe. For example, if you have overeaten while you are trying to lose weight, you might think, "I’m a loser, I never do anything right, I’ll never be able to do this." Or, you could tell yourself, "I slipped. It’s not the end of the world. I can get back on track right now." Feels quite different, doesn’t it?  Your mind can only hold one thought at a time. You get to choose whether it will be a thought that supports you or one that brings you down.  Which will it be?

Fourth, EXAGGERATE TO RIDICULOUSNESS. Let yourself get silly with taking your thought to its most outrageous possible outcome. For example, if you are a parent concerned about your child failing Algebra, follow your fear: “if she fails Algebra she won’t graduate high school and get into a good college. She’ll end up on the street hanging out with some creepy guy, doing drugs and will end up pregnant and broke. etc. etc. etc.   You get my drift. We often allow our thoughts to snowball and create scenarios that are much worse that what will likely occur. Hopefully, through the process of exaggeration, you will see the humor in this and start laughing at yourself. 

Play around with these techniques and find one or two that work for you. You'd be amazed at what a difference paying attention to your thoughts, and making a conscious choice to eliminate your negative thinking, can make. Simply making a commitment to increase your awareness will bring results. It may feel a little overwhelming at first, but your persistence will pay off. After all, what have you got to lose but a few thousand negative thoughts!