10 POWERFUL Ways To Let Go of Negative Thought Patterns
Negative thought patterns tend to feel like brick walls, and it’s like your mind is in a prison cell. The more you try to free yourself from such thoughts, the more powerful they become.
I have been trying to fight negative thoughts since I was in class four. It has been more than 30 years, but even though the content of these thoughts has changed into different ones, the intensity remains the same.
To combat these thoughts, I do a few things. These strategies enable me to get rid of these thoughts.
1. Let the Negative Thoughts talk
The first thing you do when an uninvited thought pops up in your head is you argue with it. By responding to your thoughts, you think that you can shut the voice up. But what happens is, the voice gets more encouragement. You allow it to make its case. When you argue with the voice, you are paying it more heed, which is why its intensity increases.
2. Be Patient with your thoughts
For a minute, I can’t do anything when these obsessive thoughts start bombarding my head. Some thoughts last for an hour and a lot of them for a few days.
The most intense phase of these intrusive thoughts often lasts two to three days. But I feel like it is a lot simpler to manage them when I compare them to my alcohol cravings during my initial years of sobriety. In the beginning, the desires were too much, but then they went away. All I did was endure it for 24 hours and keep myself from giving in. I knew that if I am successful in this, my brain will be under my control again.
Always know that it doesn’t matter how intense these thoughts are because they will not stay for long.
Use Affirmations to help guide your negative thoughts. Positive statements can tremendously help guide negative thoughts to something more positive and make you feel better immediately. You can read more about the POWER OF POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS here
3. Live in the present
These stuck negative thoughts usually come from being stuck in the past or worrying about the future. We tend to forget to “live in the moment” and are rarely obsessed with things happening in the present.
When these thoughts pop up in our heads unannounced, it becomes harder to concentrate in the moment and forget the talks in mind. But the better we get at ignoring them, the less tormented we will be. My way of dealing with a situation like this is to distract myself by indulging in conversations.
4. Focus on your senses
One of the ways that work to keep your mind in the present is paying attention to yourself. The five senses that we have, sight, touch, taste, hearing, and smell, can help us.
Our senses are more powerful than you think. You ever been to a place and have smelled a particular scent and that brought you old memories or joy? Ever had an old dish that bought back intense childhood memories? Ever listen to a song and it brought you intense emotional reactions?
You can use these sensory tools to help you get out of a negative state. Find a piece of music that is very motivational gives you goosebumps. Eat something you ate when you were a child that made you feel safe and comfortable.
5. Keep yourself busy
If it is possible for you, try keeping yourself occupied with some activity. Now, this does not mean that you need to come up with an ambitious project. Something as simple as painting your bathroom walls could help, walking around the block or doing a word puzzle for that matter.
The goal is to get so indulged in other tasks that the voices in the head would go away.
6. Direct focus on other negative thoughts
It would help if you tried to change your thoughts to things that are not harmful to you. An example of this is once I was fixating over something while going to Starbucks to write down my thoughts. I wanted some private space, so I sat at a smaller table, waiting for a booth to free up. I sat there looking at people and their gestures, wondering if they were leaving.
At one point, a woman who uses Panera Bread as an office came in holding her laptop, also looking to find herself a booth. When I saw that both of us were scouting for the same thing, I panicked. Suddenly, all I could think of was securing a booth before her. As a result of this, my old though left me in light of this less damaging obsession.
7. Your obsessions are a fabrication of your brain
I feel thoroughly relieved when I realize that I’m not bothered by any thoughts because that is vital to my survival and should reinstate my top 3 priorities. However, due to the unique biochemistry inside, my brain is wired to contemplate a lot.
When this happens, I tell myself that the subject of my thoughts are important and that no problem needs to be dealt with in the next 24 hours. In reality, the unstuck thought is just a 100% fuzz or a made-up story that the brain fabricated because it had nothing interesting to stress about.
8. Visualize your thoughts
I have a child who also gets overwhelmed by these obsessive negative thoughts. But the difference is he doesn’t realize that these thoughts are not real. This is why when the thoughts in his head tell him that he cannot do his homework because he is dumb, he throws a tantrum and puts all his work away because he believes it.
Even though this is highly heartbreaking for me to see, it gives me a sense of what is going on in my head, and when I picture it, I see how ridiculous it all looks.
9, Let out your emotions
Once I have tried all the techniques mentioned above and still don’t feel relief, I cry and surrender to my negative thoughts. I come down on my knees and accept that my brain has won. I stop my efforts to get rid of the thoughts and allow them to express themselves as much as they want and as loudly as they please. I do this for the reason I mentioned above: I know it will finally go away.
10. Talk to someone
Talking to someone about your obsessive negative thoughts is a great relief. It does not matter if you speak to a professional or someone you love and trust. The point is to talk to someone. It is possible that doing this may not free you of your anxiety, but it will help giving words to the emotions you’re feeling. And you never know, the person you talk to might relate to your feelings and give you more tips on overcoming them.
