Re-Train your Brain to Think More Positively
Often we associate all the things outside of ourselves as a doorway to our happiness. We are surrounded by expensive and materialistic objects and possessions. We are enticed by delicious foods and can associate eating with pleasure. Alcohol, drugs and smoking help us through the good times and the bad. When you repeat the need for these things into your daily life, you will be subconsciously forming habits to cover up your real feelings, real anxieties and real emotions. Unless you allow yourself to feel your real feelings, real emotions and real anxieties, the props only act as a plaster and the core pain always remains resulting in continuous negative thoughts.
When I was in a health centre the other day, I couldn’t help but notice the fear bellowing off the walls from all the warning posters about negative ailments and diseases and how to not catch them. Already the fear had been planted in people’s subconscious mind and I felt a real sense of disharmony and quite overwhelmed with it! There were 3 people talking about all their health problems and past negativities re-living the experiences as though they were happening now. This is a good example of how some people live their life, like a broken record, going over and over the past, stuck in a miserable tangle of negative thinking. When you focus on all that negative stuff, it is impossible to consciously become happier because your subconscious mind will always work towards getting more of what you think about.
We are surrounded every day by fear coming from many different channels; the news, the media and the doctors surgeries. Just because there is a large portal of this information coming at us, doesn’t mean we have to believe and live by it. If we make the decision to follow the crowd and live in fear for the rest of our life, we will continue to do so. But if we believe we have choice and can make decisions based on our own thoughts, the world can be seen from a very different perspective, a much more positive one at that.
If you find yourself caught up in repeated negative thinking, decide to invest in yourself. Whether it’s with a book, reading stuff off the internet, writing, or seeking help from a professional. If you are a naturally negative thinker or feel like a powerless victim, remember that there is always a choice to how you feel. You can make a decision to change your state and think differently, the negative thoughts and feelings don’t have to be with you forever as you can re-train your brain to think more positively!
So How Can I Reframe My Negative Thinking?
- Instead of telling everyone your problems, talk about what went well yesterday, last week or last month. If you are defaulted to noticing all the things that go wrong during the day, make a conscious effort to notice the things that go right. You will be surprised, even if it’s something simple like getting through two sets of green traffic lights on a busy cross roads! Be thankful for that. A simple re-framing of thoughts has a powerful impact. Like a muscle, the more you do it, the easier it gets and the more you will naturally think like a positive person.
- Write stuff down. If you are feeling hurt, lost, sad or betrayed, write it out, talk about it a little bit but also focus on the positive aspects of the situation. All situations that come to us are to help us grow and become a better person. Thank the person or the situation for helping you in your life journey.
- Make some time to do something in your daily life that relaxes you or that you enjoy. This lessens your need to look to your environment or other people to seek out a happier self. If you can’t think of anything presently, what about when you were in your younger years? What brought you absolute joy as a child? When was the last time you can remember being happy and what triggered it? What would you do even if you weren’t being paid for it?
- For the next month write a daily list of all the good/nice things that happened as you went about your day. Perhaps someone made you a cup of tea without asking you, or someone smiled at you in the street. Maybe you got some nice feedback at work or someone gave you a compliment.
Commit to doing the above for a whole month and you will be re-framing your mind towards more positive thinking.
Good luck
