Sunday 15 November 2015

How to Challenge Your Negative Thoughts



Do negative thoughts seem to creep into your mind and ruin your day or at least part of it before you even know what’s happening? You may have spent most of your life thinking that way. Parents or other influences in your life may have been the role models for your negative thinking patterns.

Negative thoughts are a cycle that needs to be broken and you can then begin to replace those thoughts that you banish from your mind with positive ones. Until then, you need to learn how to challenge each negative thought that tries to worm itself into your thinking process and destroy your good mood.

Be sure to ask some questions of yourself when negative thoughts do appear in your thinking process. Ask yourself if the thought is reasonable or does it lack the facts to support it. The situation may not be as bad as you perceive it to be or you’re thinking, “What if…,” and it may never happen.

Many people go through life never knowing that their negative thoughts are sabotaging their lives. If you realize that and are currently doing what you can to reverse those thoughts, you’re way ahead of the others.

Self-talk is said by psychologists to be the best way to either sabotage our lives or go on with our lives with confidence and positivity. Unfortunately, self-talk is most often geared toward negativity, but if you are determined to reverse the pattern and think positively about your life and the situations you’re going through, you’re way ahead of the game.

Look for the evidence in the thoughts you’re having. For example, if you’re thinking, “the weather is bad and the plane might crash,” you know intelligently that you have no evidence to support that thought. Most planes take off and land with no incidence at all. So, you can think that your thoughts aren’t factual, but made up of interpretations.

Also, challenge your negative thinking by asking yourself what is the worst thing that could happen in a situation and how likely is it to happen. If you were thinking positive thoughts, would the situation remain as serious as it is in your mind right now? Probably not.

Another thing you can do to challenge your negative thinking is to direct your thinking toward the goals you want to accomplish. For example, ask yourself if what you’re thinking will help you achieve your goals – or not.


Can you learn from the situation you’re in and know how to think about it next time? After you conquer your negative thinking, you can begin to think positively about any situation you’re in and ease your way through life.

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