Similar to stress, negative thinking is an integral part of life. This mindset will entail many consequences for both physical and mental health. However, you can completely turn negative thoughts into positive ones.
9 Secrets to Turning Negative Thoughts into Positives
Thoughts (perceptions) are the factors that govern each person’s emotions and behavior. When you think positively, you will always feel happy, optimistic and maintain good habits. On the contrary, negative thinking will make you always feel tired, anxious, afraid, and increase unhealthy habits such as staying up late, using alcohol, drugs, etc.
In life, sometimes we have to go through things we don’t like. With bad experiences, it is understandable that we form negative thoughts. However, the most important thing is that you know how to regulate your thoughts and stabilize your emotions after events.
In fact, you can turn negative thoughts into positive ones if you equip yourself with the following tips:
1. Know that negative thinking is part of life
Like stress, negative thinking is a part of life. Therefore, it is completely understandable that you have pessimistic thoughts. When you realize your nature, you can calmly accept it instead of being overly fearful and anxious.
Negative thinking does not always cause negative effects. Scientists have found that, when there are negative thoughts, the ability to focus will increase and you can fully develop your ability to resist the pressures and difficulties in life.
When there are negative thoughts, the brain can increase short-term memory and work stronger. Understanding this will help you know how to take advantage of your negative thoughts to work and study more effectively. Moreover, negative thinking also creates a great source of energy thanks to an increase in the hormone cortisol.
In addition, negative thoughts will also help you see things and yourself from a multi-dimensional perspective, thereby helping to prevent toxic positivity. Toxic positivity is understood as optimistic thoughts about yourself being able to overcome any situation. However, thinking too positively will make you ignore your true feelings and hinder your growth.
Positive and negative thoughts always coexist. So, negative is not necessarily bad and positive is not necessarily good. The only thing that you should do is accept negative emotions and thoughts and know that this is an integral part of life. When you accept negative things, they will disappear and make way for new positives.
2. Monologue with yourself
Self-talk is a skill everyone should have. This skill was first studied in 1880 by the psychologist Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky. When you talk to yourself, you can see clearly what is happening and practice independent thinking instead of being dominated by personal emotions.
In fact, self-talk is not as strange as many people think. Through talking to yourself, you can learn more about yourself and your life. When you say negative thoughts, you will recognize the “negative” better than thinking. In this way, you can self-regulate negative thoughts into positive ones and learn to balance your emotions.
In addition to the benefits of turning negative thoughts into positive, self-talk will help you increase your ability to focus, remember, regulate emotions and be able to reassure yourself when in a panic state, agitation. So don’t hesitate to talk to yourself when feeling hopeless and negative.
3. Share negative thoughts with others
Negative thoughts can “eat away” positive emotions and leave you in misery, pessimism, and despair. To turn a negative thought into a positive, share with someone your thoughts and feelings.
As an outsider, the other person will see more clearly the negativity in your thoughts and feelings. From there, it helps you to re-evaluate and adjust your behavior and emotions. In addition, sharing with others will help you feel lighter instead of keeping the heaviness inside.
Sharing will also make you feel that you are not alone and always have spiritual support in any situation. When sadness and negative thoughts are gone, you will feel that you have a positive energy to cope with difficulties and challenges.
4. Find the source of negative thinking
Negative thoughts will often appear after life events such as unemployment, poor school results, loss of loved ones, loss of investment, .. In addition, negativity in thinking sometimes also originates. from past traumas, anxiety-prone personality, bohemian lifestyle. In some cases, negative thinking is caused by the influence of those around you.
Once you find the source of your negative thinking, you can adjust your thinking. Meanwhile, if you don’t try to find the source, negative thoughts will always make you tired and sad. You don’t have to forcefully dismiss negative thoughts and feelings. However, understanding the cause will help you self-regulate your thoughts by reflecting and forming a more optimistic, positive life attitude.
In case the negative thinking is caused by a toxic relationship, end the relationship as soon as possible. After the end of the relationship, you will inevitably feel sad and disappointed. However, don’t try to force yourself to be positive. Be honest with your true feelings and thoughts. After a while, you can readjust your mind.
5. Form positive habits
Thoughts, behaviors, and emotions are closely related. So you can turn negative thoughts into positive ones by building good habits. Healthy habits such as going to bed early, exercising regularly, taking time to rest, reading, learning to cook, a foreign language, etc. will bring you joy and a feeling of happiness.
These emotions will help transform negative thoughts into positive ones completely naturally without any forced effort on yourself. According to psychologists, both positive and negative thoughts contribute to life. So, be true to your own thoughts and transform them naturally instead of trying to avoid it with forced positive thoughts.
Positive habits will also help you improve your physical and mental health. At the same time, there is motivation to make efforts to overcome difficulties and challenges in life. Through many studies, scientists have confirmed that people with a positive lifestyle will have better stress tolerance and mental stability than people with a bohemian lifestyle.
6. Participate in volunteer activities
Volunteering will help you turn negative thoughts into positive ones. When you join hands to help difficult situations in life, donate blood, and protect the environment, you will receive joy, happiness and nurture compassion. These emotions will help you naturally change negative thoughts. Instead, be grateful for the life and the values you own.
The positive energy from volunteering activities also helps you to recover from seemingly insurmountable mental shocks. These activities also help you define your life goals instead of tormenting yourself with negative and chaotic thoughts.
In addition, volunteering activities also help you connect with people, improve teamwork skills, communication skills and handling situations. These skills are often not taught but are only accumulated through real life experiences. Therefore, instead of wallowing in negative thoughts, you should convert them into motivation by participating in meaningful volunteer activities.
7. Spend your free time on personal hobbies
Negative thinkers always take the time to think about themselves and life’s problems with a pessimistic view. However, this habit will make you think more and face stress or more seriously, depression.
In your free time, you should do activities that you love such as cooking, practicing yoga, taking care of plants, pets, painting, reading, etc. When focusing on these activities, Your emotions and behavior will not be dominated by negative thoughts.
Moreover, making time for personal interests also brings you joy and optimism. These positive emotions will harmonize the negative energy in the body. So instead of spending time thinking too much, put your worries aside and enjoy life starting from personal preferences.
8. Set specific goals
Negative thinking makes you dramatize the problems you are facing and sometimes tends to belittle yourself. In the view of many, this reaction is not good and needs to be changed. However, according to psychologists, the dramatization of problems is sometimes the source of motivation. When you think your life is too bad, you can set goals to strive for.
Meanwhile, people who are always positive are almost completely satisfied with life and don’t try to grow. So looking at it objectively, negative thinking is not all bad.
When you have negative thoughts, you should systematize and set specific goals. For example, the job is too difficult and stressful, try to set a goal to improve capacity and promote. Negative thinking will create motivation for you to improve every day and contribute to building a better future.
9. Find a psychologist
In fact, some people can’t get rid of the negative thinking that leads to long-lasting anxiety, sadness, and distress. Although negative thinking is not necessarily a bad thing, if it goes on for a long time, you will completely lose motivation and lose interest in anything.
In some cases, negative thinking can be a sign of psychological problems such as generalized anxiety disorder and depression. Or it can also be a manifestation of Burnout syndrome – a state of physical and mental exhaustion caused by work.
In the context of globalization, modern people are increasingly facing pressure and stress from study, career, etc., so the rate of psychological problems is also constantly increasing. Therefore, you should not be subjective if you find yourself immersed in negative thoughts and emotions for a long time. If you are unable to self-regulate and balance, seek professional help. With the great development of the field of psychotherapy, you will be helped by experts and overcome your mental problems.
In fact, you can find a professional even if you don’t have a mental illness. When facing problems such as conflicts that are difficult to reconcile, difficulties in career orientation, etc., you can still ask for the support of a psychologist. Experts will help you evaluate the situation with a multi-dimensional perspective, from which you can find the most satisfactory solution.
To turn negative thoughts into positive is not so difficult as many people think. However, you should not force yourself, avoid your own true feelings and thoughts. Instead, be honest with yourself and transform negative thoughts as naturally as possible.
