Are you always jumping to the negative outcomes in situations? Do you expect the worse to happen? Have you anticipated failure before you are even in a bad situation? You could struggle with negative thought patterns. Today, we are going to talk about that and how to stop negative thought patterns. Have you considered your thoughts lately? How many are negative compared to positive?
How Do Negative Thoughts Affect Me?
Negative thought patterns are more than just a thought. While it is normal for everyone to have negative thoughts, it is not healthy for us to have primarily negative thoughts or thoughts that remain in a negative cycle. This affects more than just the thought. It can affect your physical health as well as emotional and mental health. Below are a few ways having primarily negative thoughts can affect our us and our lives. Do you see these in your own life?
- Upset stomach or digestion issues
- Social withdraw or isolation
- Frequent headaches
- Chest pain
- Depression and/or anxiety
- Issues sleeping
- Addiction
- Negative impact coping mechanisms
- Strained relationships
Do you recognize these traits in your life? Are you ready for change but not sure how to stop negative thoughts? Keep reading for suggestions that could help.
What are Examples of Negative Thoughts?
If you have struggled with negative thoughts throughout your life there may reasons that contributed to it. Trauma, neglect or an unstable childhood are just a few factors that could contribute. Our thoughts become so normal to us that we often don’t realize how our own patterns or the severity of how often we come to a negative conclusion. Below are some examples of negative thought patterns. Do you recognize these for yourself?
- You see one single negative event as a continuum of bad events
- Seeing a circumstance as the worst ever, or blowing out of proportion
- You gauge your life based on how you currently feel
- You focus on what you should have done
- Assuming something in the future is going to be bad
- Believing something is either absolutely perfect or a failure
- Measuring your worth or value from your successes or failures
- Blaming others for how you feel
- Not seeing positive outcomes and only focusing on the negatives
Breaking free from these thought patterns can be hard but there is hope. With determination and honesty with yourself, you can, over time, improve the way you think. Ready to know more about how to do that?
How Can I Stop Negative Thought Patterns?
Most people who have thought patterns that are primarily negative desire a change. They often can recognize the condition of their mental health but just don’t know how to stop the negative thoughts. Remember that change takes time. If you have struggled the majority of your life with an issue, change is not going to come overnight. With time and effort, we can take small steps of change to improve ourselves. Below are few suggestions that could help you make that step.
- Write something you are grateful for and add to it each day
- Spend 15 a day writing out how you feel to identify your thoughts
- Replace negative surroundings such as TV, music, websites, social media or people
- Get more exercise
- Confide in someone your trust about your thoughts and efforts to improve
- Seek professional help and talk it through
If you are someone who comes from a family of past abuse, neglect or trauma, it can be hard to make changes on your own. You are not alone. Upstate Restorative Counseling understands and has a passion to help people just like you with taking steps toward freedom to live their lives.
