How to deal with negative thoughts is something that comes up a lot with my clients.
In the end, thought is what anxiety is about.
Although it is a complex matter and I suggest you enroll into my Anxiety Recovery Program, I am going to share with you a very simple and basic strategy to get started.
And I promise to keep it short 🙂
I have a very simple yet very powerful technique to deal with negative thoughts.
It’s called Discrimination of Thought.
We are not in the habit of controlling our thoughts and that’s exactly why problems like anxiety and depression find their breeding grounds in our minds.
So, this is the first thing that must change in order to defeat negative thoughts.
Discrimination of Thoughts is simple. Instead of mindlessly allowing our minds to drift aimlessly into negativity, we must separate them in two categories:
Is this a useful or a useless thought?
If I decide to agree with this thoughts… will it be favorable, or unfavorable for me?
We must ask ourselves this constantly, to displace the habit of negative thinking and replace it with Mindfulness. This will allow us to easily identify detrimental thoughts and to correct them with practice.
Negative thoughts are not only useless but hurtful too.
The fictitious scenarios we create when we engage in what-if thinking leave us all stressed, worried and nervous. Or they can damage our self-esteem and confidence.
When we practice Discrimination of Thought we are enabling ourselves to not only identify but eliminate negative thoughts as we increase the awareness and control we have over our minds.
This is only the first step in order to defeat anxiety. If you want to learn how to uproot it I suggest you take a look at my Anxiety Recovery Program.
And to help you get started with the discrimination of thoughts practice:
Tie a red thread to your pinky and throughout the day ask yourself:
- Were those thoughts useful or useless?
- Are the thoughts I am having right now useful or useless?
Your thoughts will be much more under your control if you practice this technique. Negative thoughts won’t have much impact on your mind and emotions if you are mindful enough.
