3 Ways to Shift Negative Thoughts and Uplift your Mood
In my practice I often get asked for tips on how to shift overwhelming negative thoughts and negative feelings. Neuroscience shows that negative stimuli induces larger responses in the brain than positive ones which can explain why we tend to dwell more on negative experiences. Ruminating on negative events strengthens the neural pathways so they become stronger and gain more traction which is why it can feel tricky to move on. Like grooves on a record player, when we play the same record we get the same song over and over again and the song can get stuck in our head.
The brain doesn’t know the difference between what’s real and what’s imaginary so ruminating over past memories is going to affect how we feel and think on a daily basis because the mind and body thinks it’s happening in real time. Because negative stimuli can create such a strong reaction in our system, it’s important to get into the habit of consciously changing thoughts and feelings to help us along to feeling better. What we put our attention to affects our mood and temperament.
The good news is these same neural pathways can also be reprogrammed with positive experiences and positive stimuli. So here are 3 ways you can begin to switch your negative thoughts and have more control over what you think about.
- Practice Gratitude – Practicing gratitude strengthens the brains reward pathway so the more you focus on what you are grateful for, the happier you will feel longer term.
- Let go of dwelling. There’s no power in ruminating over the same past memories as there is no power in that, the power is in the future and what you can create for your personal prosperity and abundance!
- Be aware of what you are feeding into your brain;
– What do you watch on a daily basis either online or on the TV?
– What do you read about, is it uplifting and empowering?
– Focus on your small daily wins, small steps are better than nothing at all.
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