Negative Thoughts Win Because You Get Sucked Into Believing Them. Here's How To Break The Cycle.

Thoughts are a dime a dozen. Much more than that actually - over 5,000 a day for the average adult human. Thoughts are crucial to say the least. After all, they are the filter through which we perceive the world around us. If you have consistently negative thought patterns, it doesn’t matter how beautiful or rich you are, you’re GOING to be miserable. The opposite is also true - cultivating a consistently positive thought process can open so many wonderful emotional doors that you may have been blinded to before. But why do so many people (likely the majority) consistently have negative thoughts throughout the day, even when those thoughts are unnecessary? Some studies estimate that up to 80% of thoughts a day lean negative. This can partly be blamed on biology - an evolutionary survival mechanism to want to perceive threats (such as a snake in the wild) as often and as quickly as possible. The other part is someones past - if all you know and were raised with is negativity, then your view of the world is going to skew in that direction.

This isn’t just important information because you want to feel happy all the time (who doesn’t?). But your physical health is also at stake. It’s pretty common knowledge at this point that mental health can directly effect the physical. Chronic stress can contribute to an increased of heart disease, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, obesity, insomnia, and so much more. So yes, this stuff is really important. Most of us probably watch what we eat for the sake of our physical health. If you eat pizza and donuts every day, you aren’t going to feel so good pretty quickly. If we eat whole grains, lean protein and veggies every day (or most days), you’re going to see physical benefits, both in how you feel and on paper. But why don’t many of us treat our mind the same way? If you start feeding your mind junk (the negative and misleading thoughts), then it’s quickly going to not feel to great, and just like bad habits when it comes to poor diet and lifestyle choices, the longer it goes on, the more it eats away at you without you taking action because you’ve been doing it for so long.

Here’s the good news though: You don’t always have to believe your thoughts. In fact, it’s probably better not to the majority of the time. Here’s an example. A car cuts Derek off in traffic. Derek’s immediate thought is one of disappointment. He’s already running late to work, and this jerk probably made his chances of getting there on time just a little slimmer. He then takes that thought and runs with it - Yes, the driver’s a jerk. Yes, his anger is justified, etc. This turns into him tailgating and honking at the driver in front of him, which at best spikes his blood pressure and heart rate, and at worst causes a road range incident. Then there’s Steven. He’s also running late to work and the exact same thing happens to him. And guess what? He knows that the fact he got cut off in traffic isn’t necessarily a good thing, but he puts no weight in the thought. He knows that there’s no possible positive outcome for himself if he really pursues the thought, so he remains unaffected by it, and gets to work happier and probably healthier than Derek.

One tip on practicing this is distancing yourself from a thought. As a living breathing human, you are capable and likely have experienced a wide range of emotions throughout the day - anger, anxiety, sadness, fear, joy, serenity, gratitude, etc. But it’s always the same you experiencing those emotions. Obviously it’s the same person, but what I mean by “you” is the awareness. The awareness is unchanging. If you, the awareness, is capable of achieving bliss 10% of the time, then it’s capable of doing so for much more of the time as well. And the first step towards that is rising above raw emotions and negative thought patterns by having a neutral stance instead of immediately believing all of them. If a thought comes in, accept that it’s there, but analyze it to see if it’s worth your time. You do that when you choose your significant other. Why not do it here?

Email me at optimizedmindacct@gmail.com for individualized coaching.