Turning Negative Thoughts Into Positive Thoughts: How Do You Get There?
Experts in emotional psychology say it is tolerable to have up to three negative thoughts a day. At the end of the day, it’s not at all about turning a blind eye to reality. Nor to turn your back on difficulties, fears and worries. The secret is to focus on letting ourselves be carried away by these thought patterns where, almost without knowing how, we are blocking the path to resilience. To surpassing. To motivation or to surpassing oneself.
Let’s face it: we all have thoughts like this. Those which at a given moment intensify and dictate very characteristic messages to us: “You are worth nothing. You won’t be able to. You will fail. Strive as much as you want, it won’t change anything, the outcome will be the same… ” We are human beings. And our minds tend to drift far more often than we would like.
For example, researchers at the University of California Neuroimaging Laboratory tell us that we can have up to 70,000 thoughts a day. Many of them are negative, limiting and frustrating. However, faced with this sometimes powerful omnipresence, only one option is possible: to accept and transform them. Let’s see how to turn negative thoughts into positive thoughts.
Learn how to turn negative thoughts into positive thoughts
A negative emotional state ends up generating negative thoughts and feeding on them. This is something that most of us understand, but do not perceive. Because we do not devote the time and the adequate strategies to better manage these emotional universes which can cause so much damage.
For example, we refer to that feeling we sometimes have when we come home from work, where fatigue, discomfort, and worry orbit around us like a giant satellite. However, we don’t want to pay any attention to it, we prefer to disconnect and not go to the root of the problems, in these black holes that are growing more and more, but from which we look away.
Day after day, these negative emotions end up changing the internal speech and the quality of our thoughts. The discomfort and frustration germinate these mental patterns where only negative and obsessive dialogue grows. So, and in the case of these long-lasting states, we will end up leaving the door ajar in the shadow of depression or anxiety disorders.
Identify negative thoughts and accept them without resistance
In 2012, the University of Rhode Island published an interesting study in the journal Psychology and Aging to find out how negative thoughts affect us at any age. The results were very clear; whether we are young or have already reached an advanced age, these psychological realities generate anxiety and are often the trigger for many diseases.
First, a key strategy for turning negative thoughts into positive thoughts is knowing how to identify negative dialogue. What may surprise us at first is actually obvious: We don’t realize the extent to which we are subjected to obsessive, negative, and limiting thoughts.
- We need to detect this negative reasoning. For that, nothing better than to keep a journal and to write down at a time of the day what we are thinking about.
- Negative thoughts should not be hidden or blocked. It is simply a matter of accepting them as they are, as they come. Once detected, the second step will undoubtedly be to “transform” them.
Contrast, refute and question
Is this negative thought justified? What evidence do I have to say that what I think is 100% likely to happen? We have to understand that just thinking about something does not make it true. The mind is deceptive, it plays bad tricks on us. He lets himself be carried away by the wind of fear, the shadow of fear and the need to always stay in our comfort zone.
Take a closer look at your thoughts, one at a time, and find that evidence that demonstrates or contradicts each of these ideas.
Reformulate the thought appropriately
Reformulating our thoughts in a more adjusted way will always have its negative weight. However, it must be done with skill and discernment and not be carried away by an ingenuous and unrealistic positivity. Let us take other examples:
- I will be fired ⇔ as of this writing, there is no hard evidence that can predict that this will happen. Especially since I work well. On the other hand, in case this does happen, I know I have to be prepared for it. So what I have to do is plan other outcomes in the event that my dismissal is effective. While trying to give the best of me in this job.
- I think my partner doesn’t love me like he used to ⇔ how can I prove that I am correct in thinking this? If I really believe in it, I have to talk it over with my partner. I have to understand that relationships have to be nurtured on a daily basis. And if my attitude is negative, it will only make the situation worse.
- I’m scared, I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen ⇔ what makes me think so? Is there something in my life that is wrong? I must understand that to date, everything is fine. That I’m fine, and so are my loved ones. The best thing to do is to distract my mind by thinking about other things, by initiating other projects. And by nurturing new passions in order to find motivation.
Drain your negative emotions and inject yourself with positive emotions
Let us first point out that emotions condition the quality of our thoughts. In this way, one strategy to stop the course of this wandering, negative mind obsessed with fatalistic and negative ideas is to bring us closer to the positive emotions.
Often a small change in our routine generates a productive change. Spending quality free time leads to relief and well-being. Thus, useful practices, such as mindfulness, artistic therapy or meeting new people, will always bring us enriching benefits.
The mind can often turn negative again, and again be haunted by bad thoughts. When that happens, nothing better than opening a window for him to breathe in, and see new perspectives and other possibilities. Let’s put all these strategies into practice, let’s learn to have control over our thoughts.
Our thoughts The computer screen metaphor shows us how negative thoughts can influence us as we seek to achieve our goals …
