I am committed... to being a better
person today than I was yesterday, better thoughts,better decisions, better actions. affirmation.
Positive mental attitude: a simple guide for eliminating negative thought patterns.
Positive mental attitude: a simple guide to eliminating negative thought patterns.
“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else� - Albert Einstein What would happen in your life if you consciously decided to focus on exactly what you wanted, rather than on trivial white noise, random thoughts, old thoughts and negative thoughts?
What is negative thinking
Some thoughts are like passing clouds, we barely notice them before they drift away, but others appear to have taken permanent residence in the chambers of our mysterious brain. Such thoughts run rampant, colouring our perception and shaping our attitude. If they were supportive, motivating and empowering that would be great. Unfortunately, most of the time the thoughts are negative, limiting or unhelpful. These thought patterns will be repeatedly recognised throughout this e-book and will help you understand how to take control of unwanted thoughts.
“The pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty”. -Winston Churchill
Thoughts become unwanted because of the emotional pain they create in their wake. Doubt, fear, insecurity, hesitation, resentment, sadness, or anger are all born out of negative thoughts - either as a by-product of life experiences, or imagined situations.
5
Unwanted thoughts that are repetitive and negative are similar to negative nagging people. No one likes to hang out with them. Like an unwelcome guest, we try to get rid of these thoughts. But they stick around anyway. Is your self-talk positive or negative? Here are some common forms of negative self-talk: Filtering. »» You magnify the negative aspects of a situation and filter out all of the positive ones. »» You had a great day at work. You completed your tasks ahead of time and were complimented for doing a speedy and thorough job. »» That evening, you focus only on your plan to do even more tasks and forget about the compliments you received. Personalising. »» When something bad occurs, you automatically blame yourself. »» You hear that an evening out with friends is cancelled, and you assume that the change in plans is because no one wanted to be around you.
Catastrophising. »» You automatically anticipate the worst. »» For example, the drive-through coffee shop gets your order wrong and you automatically think that the rest of your day will be a disaster. Polarising. »» You see things only as either good or bad. There is no middle ground, you feel that you have to be perfect or you’re a total failure. Worrying. »» This typically involves repetitive thoughts about future potential threats, imagined catastrophes, uncertainties, and risks (e.g. “What if they have an accident?”). It is conceptualised as an attempt to avoid negative events, to prepare for the worst.
“To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it”
- Confucius
Scientific evidence shows we tend to dwell on the same old thoughts day after day, this has a powerful effect on how we see ourselves and how we relate to others. Ruminating and dwelling on negative feelings and consequences in an unformed, purposeless manner, causes emotional distress and can lead to clinical anxiety and depression disorders. However, when a person consciously develops a positive structure for discussing and processing events, with an intention to understand and learn, then repetitive thoughts affect positive change, have purpose and are imbued with healing energy.
“Your life is your garden, Your thoughts are the seeds. If your life isn’t awesome, You’ve been watering the weeds.”
-Author Unknown
Psychologists found that 98 or 99 percent of our thinking is repetitive, a lot of this thinking is very negative. As human beings we tend to dwell more on the negative rather than the good. So the mind then becomes obsessed with negativity, judgements, guilt and anxiety produced by thoughts about the future and so on.
6
Many people live habitually as if the present moment were either an obstacle they need to overcome in order to get to the next moment. Imagine living your whole life like that, where this moment is never quite right, not good enough because you need to get to the next one, the continuous stress and pressure. Do you ever find yourself stuck in a rut of repetitive thinking or an infinite loop of obsessive rumination in which you replay the same thought again, and again? On the flip side, do you find that spurts of repetitive thinking are an important part of your creative process and that being “obsessed” with solving a riddle is essential to having “Eureka!” moments? The answer is “yes” to both questions.
“Staying positive is one of the hardest fights, though I’m happy I’m in it”. -Daniel,@blindedpoet
So lets gets to it, we are going to help you to kick the habit of senseless, negative thinking, and use the same process to create focussed positive thinking, which will in-turn create the life you truly deserve to live.
What you think you become, what you feel you attract, what you imagine you create. wisdom.
First let’s take a further look into this phenomenon and its origins. We are thinking emotional beings, it is estimated that the human brain processes between 12,000-50,000 thoughts per day; other estimates average around 70,000. The mind is always buzzing about something, unfortunately most of these are repetitive negative thoughts, dwelling on the past; fearful of the future or simply utter nonsense.
“I am an optimist. It does not seem to be much use being anything else.” -Winston Churchill
How many of these thoughts do you think we are aware of? Most of the repetitive thoughts are on automatic - programmed into the subconscious mind and beyond your conscious awareness. (The conscious mind
7
can process about 40 bits of information per second; the subconscious mind can process 40 million per second.)
one wonder if we are ever in control. Can we control our thoughts? And do we need to control our thoughts?
The conscious mind is the part of your mind that is responsible for logic and reasoning. If you were asked about the sum of one plus one, it’s your conscious mind that will be used to do the calculation.
We don’t need to control our thoughts, but we need to decipher them and create a mental gate so negativity doesn’t continue to seep into our subconscious based on previous thought patterns and experiences. The negativity was programmed by having thoughts go straight to the subconscious, unquestioned, and unchallenged. Over time, they turn into habitual nagging beliefs, they can trigger emotional responses before we can process what has happened.
The subconscious mind is responsible for all of your involuntary actions like, breathing rate and heart beats. Your emotions are also controlled by your subconscious mind. That’s why you sometimes might feel afraid, anxious or down without choosing to experience such a feeling. Beliefs and memories are also stored in this part of the mind. The sheer number of thoughts and incredible power of the subconscious mind can make
“Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.” -Willie Nelson