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Negative thinking is something that I used to struggle with so much… Just like you, I was brought up believing that having negative thoughts meant I was ‘doing life wrong’.

In fact, most people see negative thinking as something that needs to be avoided at all cost.

But extensive research is revealing that trying to get rid of thoughts can actually backfire and make them more ‘pervasive’ than ever.

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Chances are that if your reading this article, you are probably looking for a solution to never have a negative thought again…

But, in this article, I’ll show you why your quest for complete freedom from negative thoughts is actually useless, and ill show you what you should do instead.

If you want to learn how to stop negative thinking, you need to understand two things first…

What Negative Thinking Is And Why We Have It

Negative thinking is a natural and healthy thing to have and its one of humans most valuable assets.

In society today, negative thinking gets a bad rap that it does not deserve.

In fact, the staggering amount of bad information on the internet or in books about negative thinking can leave many of us believing that we are “broken” if we think negatively.

But what most people fail to remember is that negative thinking is one of our most useful survival mechanism.

Without it, we would not be here today. Negative thinking has kept us alive for hundreds of thousands of years and it has saved your life many time this week, heck even today!

Think about it, what kept you from crossing the road on a red light?

Our brain’s ability to quickly imagine the worst case scenario possible and putting it at the forefront of our mind is what negative thinking is…

Humans are bound to think negatively because it is how we are wired.

When we try to ‘stop’ negative thinking, we are going against our very nature.

But since our bubble wrapped society has taken care of most of the dangers we used to have to deal with (sabre tooth tigers, severe weather, attacks from neighbouring tribes, finding food), our brain’s ‘negative thinking power’ gets redirected towards problems of a more general nature… Ourselves.

We start to worry if we are good enough, we find all the little faults in our character and our physical attributes, we worry about money, about relationships, about our future, about what this person said, about how we handled this problem, etc…

But it doesn’t have to be this way…

What We Can Do

Stopping negative thinking is a battle that cannot be won. Negative thoughts will show up from time to time for the remainder of our lives.

Therefore, the trick is not to try to completely eradicate our negative thoughts (since doing this is impossible) but to find ways in which to detach ourselves from our thoughts when they arise …

We cannot reach a point where negative thinking no longer shows up, but what we can do is learn how to greatly reduce their effect on us and prevent going down a negative spiral.

This article will teach you the 3 best ways to do that!

3 Best Techniques To Stop Negative Thinking

All of the techniques listed in this article have to do with something called ‘thought diffusion’.

It is a concept developed by the creators of ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy) that seeks to see thoughts for what they are; just thoughts, instead of fusing with them and what they imply.

Acceptance and cognitive therapy is backed by decades of research and is quickly gaining grounds as one of the best and most effective ways to stop negative thinking.

I can personally attest to the potency of this technique in my own experience as it is the only thing that has worked for me personally, and I think it can do the same for you.

Technique #1: Unhooking From The “Mind Machine” By Thanking It

Your “mind machine” is the part of your brain that creates all of your thoughts.

It works 24/7, constantly producing thoughts all day, everyday .

Most people believe that the roots of their suffering (whether it be social anxiety or depression) is ‘thinking negatively’, but the truth is that thoughts are nothing more tha just words and images created by our brain.

Thoughts are not tangible and they cannot hurt us if we don’t let them.

The problem arises when we forget to see thoughts for what they really are; just thoughts, and nothing more…

Instead of ‘fusing’ with what the thoughts imply, we can ‘unhook’ or ‘diffuse’ them by snapping ourselves out of the mind machine and distancing ourselves from it.

One of the best ways to do this is to ‘thank’ your mind for doing its job (looking out for you and your survival).

“Thanks mind machine, thanks for doing what you do best; create thoughts”.

The truth is that we cannot stop our brain from doing what it is meant to do.

Our brain is a thought-creating machine and it can be very easy to fall into the trap of believing every single thought that pops into our mind.

But we simply DO NOT have to entertain every single one of our thoughts… We can ‘unhook’ from them simply by realizing that thoughts can only have power over us if we let them.

‘Unhooking’ from thoughts means that we prevent ourselves from fusing with whatever the thought implies.

For example, if you’re on your way to a social event and you have the negative thought: “Omg, I’m freaking out, everybody is going to think I’m a complete weirdo”, ‘fusing’ with the thought would mean that you believe the thought and the result will be an increased amount of anxiety.

But ‘unhooking’ or ‘diffusing’ from the thought would mean that you see the negative thinking for what it is; just words and images produced by your brain… Not a glimpse into the future or a depiction of reality.

A simple way to diffuse from our thoughts is by ‘thanking’ your brain (your mind machine) for doing its job correctly. So it might go something like this:

“Hey, I’m noticing that my brain is telling me that ill look like a weirdo, it’s just doing its job… Thanks mind!”

Or

“My brain is telling me that ill look like a weirdo, this is just my evolutionary survival mechanism trying to help me, thanks for looking out for my mind, but I don’t have to believe everything you throw at me”.

You distance yourself from what it says by saying “thanks… but no thanks”.

Doing this allows us to look at the situation for what it is; your mind machine just created a thought, nothing more, nothing less …

Technique #2: Catch And Label The Thoughts

This technique can actually be a fun little game to play with yourself. The idea is to ‘catch’ your next thought and then label it.

For example, if you are wondering how to stop your negative thinking before giving a speech to reduce your nervousness, ask yourself the following question; “ what will my next thought be ?”

Doing this enables you to access a state of ‘no-mind’ where no thoughts are produced for a couple of seconds.

This happens because the mere act of ‘looking’ at what your mind is doing allows you to see thoughts for what they really are; just thoughts… And this greatly reduces the emotional reaction normally associated with them .

The goal is to go inside your mind and see what going on. “What thoughts is my brain producing?”

Exercise: Are you able to catch your next thought? You can try this right now. Once you have ‘caught’ your thought, the next step is to simply put a label on it. We do this by recognizing the TYPE of thought it is. Was it a judgmental thought, is it criticizing you, is it a worry thought , is it a sadness thought? See the examples below: Thought: “She walks funny”. Label: Judgment. Thought: “I’m such a loser, why am I so darn shy!” Label: Self-criticism. Thought: “Everybody is going to think I’m a weirdo”. Label: Worry Note : It’s important to note that when you do this exercise and tell yourself “ok, I’m just waiting on my next thought, where is my next thought”, this is a thought in itself. I can remember when I first started doing this and would forget to realize that me telling myself “where are the damn thoughts”, “I can’t see them” or “this exercise is dumb” are the thoughts I was actually trying to catch. They are no different than any other thoughts.

Doing this is my personal favourite and most effective way of stopping negative thinking.

I think the reason why this technique is so powerful is because the process of catching and then labeling the thoughts automatically diffuses them. You can see that it’s just your brain creating these thoughts and you become the ‘watcher’ of your brain’s antics instead of being its victim.

It can be tricky to do at first but with a little practice it gets much easier to do and thoughts will just stop affecting you as much.

Technique #3: Using Negative Thoughts As A Way To Initiate Deep Breathing

Most people don’t know this, but there is actually a way that you can use negative thinking to make you feel more and more relaxed.

Yes, you heard right!

You can use negative thinking as a signal to initiate a deep breathing practice.

To do this, switch your goal from “how do I stop thinking negatively?” to “how can I use my negative thinking to my advantage?”.

Instead of trying to eliminate negative thinking altogether, the aim becomes to notice when you are thinking negatively and use it as a calling for deep breathing.

Every time that you are able to catch yourself having a negative thought, pause, and use it as an ‘alarm’ to take one, full, slow deep breath .

Here is exactly how I do it…

Step 1 : Once I have caught myself thinking negatively, I immediately start focusing on the sensations of the air coming into my nose as I breathe in.

: Once I have caught myself thinking negatively, I immediately start focusing on the sensations of the air coming into my nose as I breathe in. Step 2 : Then I focus on the sensations of the air coming out through my mouth as I exhale.

I purposefully take very slow and deep breaths and make it a priority to really ‘feel’ the air coming in and out from my body.

It’s important to try and have all of your undivided attention on the sensations that the air coming in through your nose and out through your mouth creates.

Doing this will steer your focus away from the negative thoughts, which will allow you to slowly start feeling more relaxed .

Also, doing this is a great way to practice meditation as each an every breath you can successfully focus on will make it slightly easier to do again next time.

If you feel confident enough to increase the numbers of breath you take each time you catch yourself having negative thoughts, try taking three breaths instated of just one for an added challenge.

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Anyways, that’s it for today my freind …

Until next time!

Steph