9 Ways to Overcome Negative Thoughts and Think Positively

Negative thoughts are like a cancer to your spirit. They slowly eat away at you until there isn’t enough left to support your hopes and dreams. Negative thoughts are damaging because they affect everything that comes afterwards. This includes your decisions, goals, actions, and results.

Negative thinking can impact every area of your life. It limits your effectiveness and poisons your outlook on life. If the time you have to spend on self-development is limited, dealing with your negative thinking is good way to allocate your time.

Take control of your thinking and be more positive:

1. Avoid thinking of yourself as a victim. When you have the mindset of a victim, you’re dooming yourself to a plethora of negative thoughts. A victim has neither hope nor options. There are always ways to move forward. You have choices.

2. Recognize your negative thought patterns. Your thoughts can be just as habitual as your morning coffee or your cigarette break. Notice your repetitive thoughts and when they occur. The first step to changing these thought patterns is to catch them when they first begin. When you notice negative thinking, change your thought.

• Either think a positive thought or redirect your thinking and focus to whatever you’re doing at that moment.

3. Read positive quotes each day. If you can’t find the time to read a book, at least read a few positive quotes each day. You can buy calendars with positive quotes. There are also plenty of websites with quotes on a wide variety of topics.

4. Keep your mind in the present. Sure, you can look ahead, as needed, to make plans. But your thoughts should remain rooted in the present. Thinking about the past results in frustration and regret. Thoughts of the future can cause anxiety. Keep your mind on your current surroundings and task.

• There’s no reason to worry about the next step. Take care of the current step first.

5. Ask yourself, “Do I know for certain this is a fact? Or is it just my opinion?” You don’t know as much as you think you do. You make a lot of assumptions based on faulty knowledge. This can lead to the belief that a situation is less solvable than it really is. If you don’t have accurate beliefs, you’re already at a huge disadvantage.

6. Avoid the idea that perfection is possible. Expect that you won’t be perfect at anything. When perfection is the goal, you’ll always fall short and that opens the door for negative thinking.

7. Spend time doing something that makes you feel good. It’s easy to have positive thoughts if you’re doing something enjoyable. Spend time with your partner or a good friend. Make a list of things you like to do and spend some time each day doing at least one of them. Enjoy yourself each day.

8. Meditate. Meditation seems to be a cure for everything. It’s one of the best ways to learn more about your thought patterns. It’s also an effective way for learning to focus and direct your thoughts.

9. Make a list of affirmations and take control of your self-talk. Instead of inventing positive self-talk on the fly, have a list prepared of positive things you can say to yourself. Build your self-talk around your goals and kill two birds with one stone.

Are your negative thoughts impacting your results and future? Negative thinking is a challenging habit to defeat. Monitor your thoughts and defeat negative thinking before it can take root. Replace those negative thoughts with a positive alternative. Make an effort to spend some time each day enjoying yourself.

Little by little, you’ll find that you’re spending more of your time thinking positively, and your life will take a turn for the better!