4 Tips on How to Overcome Negative Thoughts

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Dr. Purushothaman
January 9, 2014

 

Negative thinking is a good way to get yourself into a downward spiral. Which means that it's important to keep your negative thoughts in check and stop them from turning you into being the kind of person you've always wanted to avoid. Using these simple tips will help you to overcome your negative thoughts.
1. Don't assume things are forever
It's easy to become trapped in the idea that whatever your current thoughts and circumstances, they will never change.
Unless you've been locked up for life with no chance of parole, that's almost certainly untrue!
So learn to keep telling yourself that nothing is forever. Then start working on ways to get yourself out of whatever negative situation you've landed in fast.
2. Stop blaming anyone and everyone
Blame is bad news.
And if you're the one doing the blaming, that's even worse.
Sure, something or someone may have been at fault. But don't dwell on that. Find a way to turn the situation around so that whatever didn't go right can be retrieved if appropriate or just written off to circumstance if not.
Blaming just means that you're prolonging the negative thought process and retaining the negative thought patterns that likely got you to this position in the first place.
3. Reduce negative influences
Cutting negative thoughts and people out of your life as much as possible is relatively easy.
Negative people can usually be scheduled so that you don't encounter them as often. But if that's not easy - maybe someone you're always working with - then dial up your own positivity so that it almost goes off the scale! Negative people react to positivity in much the same way as vampires react to sunlight - they hate it. So you could find that they start avoiding you of their own accord.
It's also easy to get rid of outside negative influences. Stop buying a daily newspaper for starters. Then don't watch or listen to the news - trust me, unless you're the star of the news bulletin, it won't make the slightest difference to your life whether or not there's been a headlining tragedy somewhere else in the world.
It may sound callous but eliminating negative news stories from your life has so many positive effects that it's well worth doing. And after a couple weeks you won't even notice that you're not getting your daily dose of doom, gloom and despondency.
4. Use affirmations
Affirmations are quite personal things - it's best if they resonate with you to get the most from them.
There are plenty of sites on the web with long lists of positive affirmations. Visit a few and see which ones "grab" you - first instincts are usually the best indicator for that.
Then print out your chosen affirmations, use them as a screensaver, do whatever it takes to make sure that you come into contact with them on a regular basis.
Reading your affirmations, preferably out loud, on a regular basis will start to work wonders on getting rid of your negative thoughts.

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