Stop Negative Thoughts Easily
with these 2 techniques
Does this scenario sound familiar to you?
You say something to your husband and he replies to you indifferently, eyes glued on his phone. You start thinking to yourself, ‘He doesn’t care about me anymore’. Disturbed by that thought, you try to distract yourself with your phone, scrolling on Instagram.
Some time later the thought returns differently, ‘What if he is seeing someone else?’. It may sound too exaggerated for you, yet this is what the brain does. Hunts for dangers or mostly negative messages. For what? For our safety.
You know how painful a little negative thought gets if not attended. It bears a huge potential to throw you into a downward spiral of incessant thinking. It’s wise to catch the bug before it stings you seriously, isn’t it?
What could you do differently in the scenario mentioned above instead of suppressing the thought? Because unresolved thoughts and emotions keep resurfacing, signaling a potential danger to the brain.
At that moment the easiest thing you could do is to ask your agigated brain if the thought is true. If no, thank your brain for its concern and go on. If it has a little bit of truth in it or you think so, ask your husband if everything is OK. Maybe he is bothered by something too. Better resolve the issues instead of numbing them, before they turn into monsters to hunt on both you.
Another thing you can do to eliminate negative thoughts is to postpone it to another time if you have no energy to deal with it at that moment. You kindly tell your brain to resolve the issue another time and focus your mind on an engaging and useful task. Or simply do some calming meditation practice.
To deal with negative thoughts easily you can either slow down your brain with meditation, focusing on your body and environment or engage it with the flow, with deliberate attention on the task at hand.
You are what you think in your default mode. Reprogram your brain to think positively even if it switches on autopilot because the nature of that mode is to wander in negative thoughts most of the time. Remember that you can change that pattern by consistent practice of gratitude and positive thinking thanks to neuroplasticity.
I hope this article is easy to digest and helps you to have a calmer and happier mind. Please comment if you have other hacks to add.
I’d love to read your comments and have a safe space for mindful discussion.
I write to ‘shrink’ the issues on this life journey where spirituality and mindfulness introspect with overall well-being.
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