Negative thinking is a spiral into stress, anxiety, panic attacks and depression. Often people tell me they are ‘worriers’ and they worry about everything. They lie awake at night and can’t sleep, they wake up the next morning and the first thing in their head is negative thinking which could affect their day. They are stressed, anxious, don’t take time out for themselves, don’t eat properly and spend their time rushing from one place to another. Does this sound like you, or your partner, or kids?
Unfortunately once we get into the pattern of negative thinking it’s hard to break. Couple that with the labels we put on ourselves and our negative head talk and it makes for a recipe of an unhappy lifestyle. Head talk such as I am too fat, too thin and stupid. I hate myself, I want to die, I can’t do this, I blew it again, nothing good happens to me etc. Can you hear how bad this is? This is the negative thinking that goes through some people’s heads, not just sometimes, or once a day but every day, all day.
Negative thinking takes hold, like most things and forms a pattern then it becomes automatic that you defeat yourself in everything before you even start. Catch yourself in the pattern. Start to look at what you say to yourself in your head and what negative thinking is there.
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A huge part of this negative thinking is the way we also speak of ourselves to others. Many of us lack the ability to see the glass full, or even half full. We worry, we whinge and complain about all the things we don’t have and totally miss the present moment of what we do have.
Last night in Sydney there was a huge storm in my area around midnight. The whole bit with winds and hail and it sounded like the roof was about to lift off. My partners comment when I called him to come look at the mess outside was, ‘so what. You got a roof over your head. It will be ok.’ I have never liked storms but his comment made me stop and spurred me to even contemplate this morning to write this article.
Stop the negative thinking just for a moment. Look at where you are in life. If you are reading this ‘you got a roof over your head’. You also have a computer, electricity, food on the table, a mobile phone and/or Ipad. Let’s look further than that. You have a family and if not a family a friend, and if not a friend even possibly work colleagues. You have food on the table, a warm bed – you are not sleeping in the streets like some. Your children may be grown and moved but you may have children. You quite likely have at least a few people that love you. You may have a job. You may not like the job you have but you do have one and that brings money in. My point is please stop whinging!
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All of the above are good things but we fill our heads so easily with the bad. The negative thinking that goes with the ‘have nots’ in life. The negative thinking that comes when we listen to the news, that spreads fear and terror, which informs us of the plight of others suffering illness and famine. Stop! We already know. We do need to know but we don’t need to spin it round our heads. We need to Act! We need to bring change for our personal lifestyles and in the world around us and all that negative thinking and whinging is not going to do it.
Problem is negative thinking is a habit. A bad habit and often you can’t just stop it from happening. You need someone to give you the tools to start a new way of thinking. To help you integrate the new pattern and make it a new part of your life. A life where you see the cup full, not empty and then your thinking will begin to manifest positive things in your life instead of negative ones. It’s a good idea to see someone who can help you break that pattern and that is what trained counselors and therapist can do. You also can start by reading positive books, listening to podcasts, learn to meditate, write a journal to get those negative thoughts out of your head.
‘The Secret’ is a well known book based on the law of attraction and how thinking shapes our lives. Our negative thinking will draw negativity into your life. If you keep worrying and whinging your negative thinking will make negative things happen again and again. So stop worrying and whinging and count your blessings. Watch how good things start to happen in your life. Positive thinking makes it so!
