Content

• Steps

Surely you will be surprised to know the fact that all of us have negative thoughts, they are part of human evolution. We are programmed to look at our environment, look for problems that need fixing, and spend a lot of mental energy weighing the worst that could happen. Negative thoughts are only worrisome when you start to believe them. Luckily, by incorporating a variety of strategies, you can silence negative thoughts and learn to think more positively.

Steps

Part 1 of 4: Identify and Challenge Negative Thinking

1. 

   Identify your negative thoughts. Test your negative thoughts and anxiety by assessing patterns of cognitive distortions, in other words identifying your own separate or unreliable thoughts. Some forms of cognitive distortion include:
   • Think all or nothing: Extreme thinking according to the "all or no" thought. You always see things in a good or bad direction, wrong or right, without the complexity or the average level.
   • Excessive generalization: Turn a negative experience into the unchanging "rule". These thoughts are usually in the form "You always ...", "I never ...", or "Everyone ..."
   • Psychological screening: Screen all the positives of the situation and leave only the negative ones. For example, when you have a great date, but focus only on the shyness of silence at the start of the date.
   • Hurry to conclude: Draw negative conclusions yourself and don't give appropriate evidence, such as concluding that you know what others think or what will happen in the future.
   • Serious problem: Always think worst-case scenario and "blow up" the trivial matters.
   • Emotional reasoning: Believe that your current emotions reflect real objects. When you feel pitied, the present situation will turn bad.
   • "Should" and "shouldn't": Say you should or shouldn't do something and assume that someone else likes or dislikes doing it.
   • Labeling: Label yourself or someone else based on just one behavior, even though there is evidence against it.
   • Personalized: Take full responsibility for yourself in situations beyond your control. For example, you prepare a party and it suddenly rains even though the forecast says it's sunny, you blame yourself for bad weather.
   • Amplification and minimization: You underestimate the positives of yourself while you value others. When someone praises you, you refuse.

2. 

   
   
   Take note of your negative thoughts. You should write a "thought diary" to keep track of. When you have negative thoughts, open a new page and follow these steps:
   • Take note of trigger event, thought, or situation. For example: "I shouted out at my lover before going to work this morning."
   • Note down any negative thoughts or beliefs during and after the incident. Ask yourself: "What did I think?". "What do I say to myself?" and "What thought came to mind at that moment?". Example: "I ruined it. The end of a relationship. He's tired of pampering me and not loving me anymore, he will break up with me."
   • Write words that describe how you feel and underline the word that most closely matches the incident. For example: "fear, loneliness, hurt" and underline the word "fear".
   • Check the page you just wrote to see if you can identify your own way of thinking uselessly.For example: "serious matter, hurry to conclusions, think black and white."

3. 

   
   
   Check the authenticity of the thought. Create two columns under your negative thoughts: one that lists your evidence donate negative thoughts, the other column records the evidence against Negative thoughts. Fill in the two columns above to check the authenticity of your negative thoughts.
   • Continuing with the example aloud to your lover, in the column "Proof of Support" you could write: "His face was angry and red and then ran out of the house. He didn't call me at lunch like everyone else. day."
   • In the column "Proof against" you can write: "We have quarreled many times, even worse this time, but still make up. He said he needed time to calm down, once calm. He will be more rational and willing to compromise Last week he said that he was busy all day, so he couldn't call me at lunch. He promised our marriage would be happy no matter what. going on again. Chatting with us is unusual "etc
   • This process helps you observe your thoughts objectively. You analyze, evaluate, and evaluate your thoughts to know the degree of authenticity instead of accepting without question.

4. 

   
   
   Challenge negative thinking. Ask yourself the following questions about your negative thoughts and write down your responses in your thought journal:
   • How else can I assess this situation?
   • If I don't feel that way, in what direction will I observe the situation?
   • In fact, what is likely to happen?
   • How do others view the situation?
   • Does thinking this way help?
   • Some useful words to tell yourself?
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Part 2 of 4: Learning the Positive Thinking Skills

1. 

   Make a daily gratitude list. Think of five things big or small that make you feel grateful, from the house you live in to the smile of a stranger on the bus, to the beautiful sunset you watched yesterday. Expressing gratitude can bring positive feelings, optimism, and self-control.
   • Another way to show gratitude is to write thank you notes, tell your partner that you appreciate them, or secretly thank the other person.

2. 

   List the positive attributes. It can be difficult at first, but you will be surprised to see the growing list. Remember to include the physical attributes ("Strong athletic feet"), the personality aspects ("I'm kind and kind"), the things you're good at ("I'm good at painting"), etc
   • If you can't make your own list, you can consult with friends or family about what traits they like best about you.
   • Keep your list in an easily accessible place, like in your bedside desk drawer, a cupboard near your bedroom mirror, or in your journal. Read this list as you get caught up in negative thoughts.

3. 

   Reorganize your negative thoughts. When a negative thought arises, do not assume this negative, critical, and useless word of belief. Isolate the negative thought (such as "I ruined the test") and rearrange it in a positive, supportive, and encouraging way ("It's too early to say anything. Maybe I could do better. I think.")
   • When you begin to realize and intentionally interrupt negative thoughts and then rearrange them in a positive way, it will be easier for you to see things in a positive way.
   • Remember that things do not cause emotions, at first things form thoughts, then thinking again affects emotions. If you can train yourself to respond with positive thoughts, you will experience more positive or neutral emotions.

4. 

   With optimistic people. Research shows that people often have some of the same characteristics as those around them. While you can't always avoid negative people, do something to minimize their presence in your life. Energetic, optimistic people will be your role models to compete. advertisement

Part 3 of 4: Adopting a Long Term Coping Strategy

1. 

   Set up a "worry time". Set aside a specific time and place each day to allow yourself to worry. Choose a suitable time to avoid worrying yourself before going to bed.
   • Postpone your daily worries by focusing them all on the "worry time". If a negative thought comes up, take a quick note and postpone it for later thinking.
   • Take "worry time" to get past the list you've just written down. If the thought is no longer relevant or disturbing, cross it off the list. You realize that many of the previous negative thoughts have weakened and are no longer a concern, you don't need to worry about them.
   • If something still upsets you, allow yourself to worry - but only for the preset time.

2. 

   Accept uncertainty. You cannot be absolutely certain of everything in life, many people struggle because things go wrong. Understand that thinking about what's going to happen doesn't make life any more predictable or prepare you better, you waste your time worrying about what will happen instead of acting. It will take a long time to get used to uncertainty, you can practice the following:
   • When you find yourself paralyzed by things going out of orbit, you need to be aware that you're in trouble and don't know what's going to happen.
   • Unresponsive feelings (don't "run after" anxiety). Instead, switch to thinking about the future to thinking about the present. Use mindfulness meditation to bring yourself back to reality, focus on your breath, and notice how each part of your body feels.

3. 

   Seeking growth opportunities. Research how to form your interests and replace negative stories you told yourself in the past with positive stories. Develop a new skill or hobby. Allow yourself to learn, understand that there will be mistakes, and that is perfectly normal!

4. 

   Applying problem solving skills to determine solution-oriented actions. Addressing negative thoughts with problem-solving skills means working to reduce or eliminate the source of stress. So if you are unemployed and think "I will never find a job" you can solve the problem and find a solution. Since your negative thoughts are caused by unemployment, you can say to yourself, "I got a job before I got fired. The only way to find a new job is to get out of here and start looking. . "
   • Write down things you can do to start solving problems, such as searching for a job online, calling recruiters, asking friends, watching newspaper ads. Then let's get started!
   • When negative thoughts arise, remind yourself that you have a plan to take action and that you are working on the solution.
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Part 4 of 4: Managing Stress, Anxiety and Fear

1. 

   Practice mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness meditation is a form of meditation that helps focus attention on the present - smells, sounds, body sensations, thoughts and feelings - asking you to experience them without judgment. You don't try to fight negative thoughts but don't depend on them. You are aware of their existence (try naming thoughts "anger", "fear", etc.) and try not to react or judge.
   • The benefits of mindfulness meditation include reducing repetition (sinking into negative thoughts), reducing stress and improving cognitive flexibility, making it easier to break old thinking habits.
   • Mindfulness meditation helps you reduce future predictions and regrets the past, and you will focus on the present moment to live your life to the fullest.

2. 

   Try progressive stretching exercises. Negative thoughts can make you anxious, causing muscle tension without even realizing it. Learning to stretch helps you feel the difference between stretching and muscle tension, so you will know when you are anxious and stressed during the day.
   • Progressive stretching of muscles helps you reduce overall stress and stress, improve sleep, and relieve stomach aches and headaches associated with anxiety.

3. 

   Use skills deep breath to combat stress. You can alter your physical and emotional stress response by practicing breathing. This is a simple technique for adults and children, and in just 6 seconds you can stop the stress response.
   • When you begin to feel the tension, start to close your eyes and relax your shoulders.
   • Imagine a black hole under your feet. Take a deep breath and imagine the hot air entering your body through the black hole, filling your lungs. Relax your calves, thighs, and abdomen while visualizing the flow of air.
   • Exhale and reverse visualization, visualizing the flow of air back out of your body and out through the black hole under your feet.

4. 

   Drink warm beverages. This is an immediately effective tactic if you have negative thoughts about loneliness. Researchers found that body warmth could be used as a substitute for emotional warmth. Don't make warm drinks a substitute for person-to-person interactions, but you can drink a cup of warm tea to feel less lonely.

5. 

   Use what you learn. When you experience fear, stress, or negative thoughts, go back to method 1 and keep a daily thought journal. Identify unhelpful thinking patterns, test their authenticity, and challenge them. Negative thoughts don't stop on their own, everyone has negative thoughts, and you can't control the things that naturally come into your mind. However, identifying and challenging these thoughts, combining mindfulness practice and coping strategies allows you to see them as ordinary thoughts, not truths, and to eliminate them to continue the day. new. advertisement