How to Stop Negative Thinking and the Benefits of Positive Thinking

Positive Thinking is not only beneficial for the health; it also affects the people around you as well. Negative thinking is more crippling than most people think. Read on to Stop Negative Thinking and enjoy the benefits of Positive Thinking instead!

“Think positive!” I’m sure you’ve had someone give you that advice before. Whenever you’re down and about to lose hope, your friends and family often tell you to keep your head up and move forward because things will work themselves out in the end.

What are the benefits of Positive Thinking?

Psychological studies have documented that people with a positive attitude in life live healthier lives. According to experts, having a positive mood is good for the morale. This enables to person to overcome adversities in life more efficiently compared to a pessimist. They are also able to reach their goal faster because of their perseverance and determination.

The American Psychological association released a journal linking the benefits of positive thinking to better overall health. The journal documents that the pessimistic respondents were more likely to become frail later in life.

Frailty in the journal was measure using weight loss, exhaustion, walking speed and grip strength. Although there was no concrete conclusion, psychologists say that having a positive outlook increases a person’s resources which helps them cope with stress and illnesses better.

The benefits of positive thinking are not only with health; it also affects the people around you as well. A person with a positive attitude is more likely able to cheer up a friend in need compared to a pessimistic individual. In some cases, having a positive attitude is infectious which brings balance and harmony in the workplace or at home.

How to Stop Negative Thinking

Negative thinking is more crippling than most people think. It not only affects a person emotionally but psychologically, socially and even physically as well. Eliminating negative thoughts is not as simple as saying to yourself “stop negative thinking!” Thankfully, there are techniques and tips developed by experts to help pessimists stop negative thinking.

The first step to stop negative thinking is to recognize that you are thinking negative thoughts. You won’t be able to stop a problem in its tracks if you can’t address it properly. You need to be self-aware whenever you feel any negative emotions like anger, sadness or frustration. Once you realize you are having negative thoughts, you can restrain yourself from having them.

Whenever you feel bad about something, you can rationalize why you feel that way. This is the second step in addressing your negative attitude. Why are you angry? Why are you sad? What makes you feel frustrated? Address the reasons and stop dwelling on it.

It may not be as easy as it sounds, but trust me, you’ll get there soon. You have to remember that some things are out of your control and it’s ok to feel sad or angry when something bad happens. The important thing is that you don’t let the feeling linger anymore than it should.

Find a hobby or an activity to distract your mind from thinking negative thoughts. A hobby that involves thinking is a good way to distract your mind; try solving jigsaw puzzles to help calm yourself.

Have a hobby that is as productive as possible. Set up a woodshop in your home, write or paint; it doesn’t matter whether you think you’re artistic enough or not. Instead of spending your free time sulking around the house, you can start creating works of art.

Final thoughts on Positive Thinking and Negative Thinking

Finally, focus on the positive instead of the negative. Instead of dwelling on the things you’ve lost, remind yourself of what you have in the present. Bad things happen to everyone, so does good things; count your blessings no matter how small it may seem.

Remember that good and bad times come and go – its called life! If you can train your brain to stop negative thinking quickly by using the above suggestions, you are well on the way to experiencing the benefits of Positive Thinking!

By MaryAnn Roche

Tell Me, Are You a Negative Thinker?
I’m a positive person but I notice so often, that people around me are really quite negative!

Why would you want to be negative? Maybe you dont want to think poorly all the time but the doom, gloom and pessimism just creep into your day?

My friend Kelly is very different to me. She is definately a negative thinker. I guess sometimes opposites attract….lol

The medical profession has long told us that stress is one of the leading causes of illness. Stress sets into motion the body’s fight or flight response, pouring cortisol into the body and eventually exhausting the adrenal glands. Adrenal exhaustion can be one of the results of so much negative thinking.

So, back to Kelly……Kelly sought my help because she just couldn’t sleep. She had been going to different kinds of doctors and trying different nutrition plans for years and nothing was helping her. One of the doctors suggested that she talk to someone she trusted about what was really going on.

I already knew she was a bit on the gloomy side but it became evident early in our discussion than Kelly was deeply addicted to thinking the worst. Constant negativity went through her mind about every aspect of her life. She would get out of her car and worry about getting robbed. In social situations, she would tell herself that people didn’t like her. She was always worried about money, even though she was a successful lawyer. Her husband could never do anything right. There was something wrong with every doctor she saw.

Negative thinking causes much stress in the body. I told Kelly to imagine that she was telling these negative thoughts to a child. How would the child feel most of the time? Kelly could see that this child would, of course, feel anxious and stressed much of the time in response to all the negativity and catastrophic thinking.

While Kelly could understand the possible effect her negative thinking was having on her health, it was extremely challenging for her to give up her pessimism. She deeply believed that being a negative thinker kept her safe from disappointment. She believed that thinking the negative thought before the bad thing would happen prepared her to deal with it. She didn’t want to be caught off guard. She believed that she could not handle the pain of disappointment, so that if she knew about it ahead of time and actually expected it, she wouldn’t feel disappointed.

Sadly, Kelly also believed that she could control how people felt about her by acting right and saying the right thing. She was constantly vigilant about her behavior with others in her attempts to control how they felt about her and treated her.

To top that off, Kelly believed that if she was vigilant enough and thought through all the bad things that could happen, she could prevent them. She believed that by thinking ahead, she could somehow have control over the outcome of things.

However, in trying to control her feelings, others’ feelings and the outcome of things, Kelly was probably causing her own ill being. The underlying cause of her negative thinking was her devotion to this control.

The problem with all of this is that it is based on an illusion – the illusion of control. The fact is that she could not foresee every event that could cause her some pain. She was devastated every time something happened that she had not thought of beforehand. How could something painful come out of the blue like that? How could she have not foreseen it?

The biggest problem with all of this, is that, in trying to foresee future disasters, Kelly was not present in the moment. Real safety is in being present, now – so we can respond appropriately to whatever is happening in the moment. When we are fully present in the moment, we are available to receiving information from our inner guidance system. All of us have a source of guidance that is always available to us, and that is here to help us and protect us. But we can access our guidance system only when we have made our selves available to see it!

Kelly is in the process of becoming more aware of her negative thinking. She is not yet healthy, but she has some better days now, days that are lighter and more fun.

The power of positive thought is absolutely amazing.
People can achieve virtually anything if they tell themselves they can. Disease can be overcome and even the poor or the abused will often feel better about their situations, than you imagine possible.

With so much negativity around us, its easy to get sucked into the downward spiral of doom and gloom – but you can make negative thinking go away!

If you take a look at yourself and see ‘Kelly’ please, please take measures to eliminate negative thinking from your life.