Negative thinking is a habit
by Che Garman
All conscious thoughts, repeated often enough, become part of our subconscious program. The subconscious mind is unable to create it's own thoughts. We do that with our conscious minds. And if we think the same thoughts repeatedly, our subconscious will incorporate these thoughts into our mental programming. This includes negative self-talk - that annoying voice in our heads that naggingly tells us why we can't, won't, or shouldn't do something.
We create our negative thinking. And we do it consciously. Ouch! But the good news is we can un-create it any time we want. The only problem is we will be fighting our subconscious programming to do it, and that's not so easy.
One way to get a jump start on this process is to become more aware of our emotions. Anytime we feel a negative emotion, such as anger, helplessness, fear, frustration, resentment, worry, etc, we can be sure that negative thinking is the cause. So how can we turn these negatives around?
Here's a simple mental game that can help interrupt negative thinking habits. It's meant to be fun, so don't stress if it takes some time to learn the process. If it doesn't work the first time you play it, play it again. But do be aware that if you want to hang on to your negative thoughts (and for some reason, many people do) this game won't work. You must want to get rid of the negative thinking for this game to work.
How to Play
So here's how it goes. Every time you become aware of negative thinking, go through the steps listed below:1. Determine what event, situation, person, or thing has triggered the negative emotion. In doing this, your subconscious mind will immediately present you with a list of negatives relating to this issue. Tell it to be quiet. Seriously. This is not a game the subconscious mind is allowed to play.
2. Now consciously challenge yourself to find 5 positive things about whatever or whoever triggered the situation. If it was triggered by the words or behavior of another person, find 5 positive things about that person. If your negative thoughts are the result of a situation that arose, find 5 positive things about the situation. You goal is to 'positivize' the trigger. Forget about the negatives. Find 5 positives.
3. Think laterally. Think outside the box. Think upside-down. Look at the issue from all perspectives. There are always positives to be found. You just need to look for them. They may be small things. They may be closer to neutral than positive. That's okay. As long as they are not negative. Trivial or ridiculous thoughts count as positives too. If your new thoughts about the issue make you smile, then you know you are on the right track.
4. By now, your emotions should have shifted from negative to positive (or at least neutral). Once this shift in focus occurs, the negative thoughts and emotions will disappear. If you're still feeling negative, repeat step 3.
5. The game is won when you have forgotten the negative thoughts that prompted the game in the first place.
And that's it! A simple method for gaining control over negative thinking. The beauty of the game is that negative thoughts aren't even allowed to join in. So if you play the game often enough, your negative thoughts will eventually give up entirely.
