3 Ways to Handle Troublesome Negative Thoughts

Negative thoughts are harmful and can damage our relationship with others. It is necessary for us to embrace positive thoughts to live a more fruitful life. It might be hard to do so as many negative thoughts creep in from time to time.

In this article you will learn about the following:

1. False thought patterns and
2. Ways to manage negative thoughts

Positive thinking is the antidote to negative thoughts. Positive thinking will help you surmount the negative thoughts and make you better. It is normal for negative thoughts to arise. These thoughts can come up suddenly even when we try to suppress them.

Our minds work against us sometimes. They trick us into believing things that are not true. These tricky, false thoughts promote negative thinking. However, if you can learn to recognize false thoughts before they come up, you can challenge these thoughts.

There are four kinds of false thoughts patterns you must recognize:

• Catastrophic Thinking:

This kind of thinking involves assuming the worst possible thing is going to happen.

• Personalizing Blame:

In this kind of thought pattern, you blame yourself for everything that goes wrong. You may think that you are the cause of other people’s problem or even making their day go bad.

• Thinking in Black and White:

Thinking in black and white is a way of thinking that things could only occur in two ways. You do not think that things could occur in other ways as well.

• Thinking in a Filter Pattern:

This kind of thinking involves seeing only the bad side of things. You never see the good side of situations and scenarios.

There are three ways of managing these negative thoughts:

• You Must Realize That It Is Normal To Have Negative Thoughts:

The first thing is to realize that it is normal to have negative thoughts. Even though these thoughts may not be pleasing, they are quite normal. Everyone has these kinds of thoughts. Even the kindest and gentlest of people have a dark side that keeps them struggling with negative thoughts.

Therefore, you must not blame yourself for having negative thoughts.

• Thoughts Are Nothing More Than Thoughts:

Another thing that you must realize is that thoughts are nothing more than thoughts. They can only be significant if you give them importance. Many times, we give them more weight than they should be given. You must stop those thoughts on time and prevent them from taking hold of you.

• Find The Root Cause:

There is no permanent solution to overcome negativity. You cannot just stop negative thoughts immediately. However, you must address the deeper, underlying issues. Doing this will give you peace of mind and make you mentally stronger.

The best way to handle pessimistic thoughts is to address the root cause of these issues. You need to go back to when you were a child and find the root cause of your negativity. The root cause could be loneliness, insecurity, fear and other things.

As soon as you start to deal with the root cause of the negative feelings, the negative thoughts will start to die, and you will retain control of your mind.

Once you learn to do this well, you will substitute negative thinking patterns with joyful thoughts that will make you happy, productive and satisfied with your life.