This post will convince you about the importance of removing negative thoughts and how to silence negative thoughts from your mind.
Many thoughts come to our minds every day.
If you are naturally pessimistic, then most of your thoughts will be negative.
Negative thoughts can take over our minds and can easily cause discomfort in our daily activities.
They can prevent us from having a peaceful sleep, leading a happy and healthy life and a healthy lifestyle.
They can also lead to severe anxiety and depression.
Four simple steps help you eliminate negative thoughts that invade your brain anytime.
You are not your thoughts.
It is very important to realise that you are not your thoughts.
You’re just holding on to your thoughts, so that doesn’t mean that they’re the reflection of who you are.
You provide a space for those thoughts to exist; you don’t have to act upon what your thoughts tell you.
There’s another way to address your negative thoughts; you can give a name to them.
For example, you can name them ‘kali’, which is actually the name of the Hindu goddess of destruction.
Whenever a negative thought comes across your mind, tell yourself, “O kali there you are again, what do you have for me today?”
This way, you will realize your thoughts are not you; they are someone else.
You will also realize that they are not supposed to drive you, but you should change them into positive ones.
And also, remember your thoughts are temporary; they are not there to stay forever.
You will find it easy this way to silence your negative thoughts.
1. Acknowledge your thoughts
As mentioned before, your negative thoughts are not what you are.
Imagine that they’re just untamed dogs who keep barking without any reason.
This is what your thoughts do.
They’ll try to convince you to do what they tell you.
Listen to them but ignore them.
The more you ignore them, the more they will feel neglected and vanish from the scenario.
Keep yourself busy somewhere else, or you can just on the television and watch your favorite season.
Whenever you realize your negative thoughts are here, just close your eyes and try to focus on something good.
Or ask your negative thoughts, “why are you here?”
When you think for a while, you’ll know that these thoughts are about something that happened earlier that day or something in the past.
Any wound from the past or present that needs to be healed will make your thoughts more negative.
If you find it difficult to distract your thoughts, find yourself any activity that keeps you busy.
For example, you can spend quality time with a friend or go for a walk in nature.
This may help you get distracted from all the negative thoughts.
2. Feel them
It is said you have to feel if you want to heal it.
Most of the time, your negative thoughts lead to grief, depression, fear and anger.
Try to figure out where you feel these emotions physically.
For example, your chest may get tightened when you feel grief.
Or your hands and legs may start shivering whenever you get angry.
In such cases, take at least ten deep breaths and imagine sending them to that particular area of your body where you’re feeling that emotion.
You will notice that this will help calm your nervous system and calm down the fight, flight or freeze response.
It will calm you down by stopping the release of stress hormones.
This technique will help you to stop worrying about what you’re going through and make you start thinking to come up with a solution instead of just sitting there and engaging yourself in negativity.
3. They are a blessing
You’ll be surprised to know, but yes, it’s true; negative thoughts are a blessing, weirdly.
If there were no negative thoughts, how would you know that there’s something wrong going on?
They are the ones who warn you when something bad is happening around you.
So thank them, welcome them and also provide them with a small room within your head.
This does not mean you have to act upon them; it is your job to know what is right and wrong.
You should know what you have to do.
Also, you should know the difference between right and wrong.
Negative thoughts are just there to make you anxious and worried.
They warn you.
It’s up to you what you do next.
Accept that they are an annoying yet very important part of us.
They are a blessing.
Next time sit with your negative thoughts in meditation.
You won’t believe it, but meditation will help you find positivity within your negative thoughts.
You can carve them in good thoughts.
With time you will get more and more control over your negative thoughts.
Meditation works in layers; each session builds over the previous one.
Eventually, you will notice a very good change.
4. Write them on a paper
A very good technique to get rid of negative thoughts is writing them on paper.
For example, if you have negative thoughts about a toxic relationship, write a letter to the person you were in a relationship with.
Make sure to hold back nothing and write everything you have in your mind.
You will not send this letter to that person, but it is only for yourself.
After you’ve written it, read it aloud to yourself.
It will help you to pour out everything you have in your mind.
If the negative thoughts are about someone else, you can imagine that person is sitting in front of you.
Write the letter in the same way and read it aloud, imagining you’re reading it to that person.
After you’re done, give yourself a moment of silence and absorb the calmness you’re feeling.
For full relaxation, burn the letter at the end or throw it in the dustbin; this will make you realize you’ve thrown your negative thoughts away or burnt them.
So now they no longer belong to you.
5. Discuss with someone
Another very peaceful thing you can do for your mind is to discuss the negative thoughts disturbing you for a while.
Make sure the person you choose is trustworthy.
This will help your mind to relax, and you will feel peaceful.
It will be reassuring to know that now you’re not the only one carrying all of the burdens, but someone else is sharing your burden with you.
6. Share with nature
Another very effective technique to get rid of your negative thoughts is to go sit in nature and share your thoughts with nature.
If you live near the ocean, go and write your thoughts in the sand.
Write whatever you’re feeling, then take a few steps back, and stand there till the waves wash over your words.
Imagine water has taken all your thoughts, and now they’re not yours, but they’re gone in the ocean to never come back.
If you can’t find an ocean but have a forest or mountains nearby, go and sit there for some time.
Gather all your negative thoughts and then shout your words as loud as you can.
Shout whatever comes to your mind.
You will feel light and relaxed by imagining that you’ve poured all your thoughts out, and now they are lost somewhere in nature, never coming back.
7. Worry box technique
The worry box technique is a very creative way to get rid of your negative thoughts.
Find a small spare box, decorate it however you want, and write on the top of it the ‘worry box’.
Now, whenever any negative thought comes to your mind, write it immediately on a piece of paper.
Fold that paper and put it in your worry box.
It will feel so good to imagine that your thoughts will not rule you anymore; you can simply lock them in the worry box.
Now that they’re locked inside the box, they no longer belong to you.
And they’re locked inside the box permanently to never come back again.
Shake it off
If you have noticed the animal behavior, you know that they shake their bodies and carry on with their day whenever they face any stressful event in the wild.
It is exclusively a human trait to think about something over and over again and stress over it.
Learn from animals how they shake off their thoughts, stress, and negativity.
So next time you are stressed over any negative thought that has been disturbing you, shake it off.
You can dance, do yoga, go swimming or do any other physical activity you enjoy.
After all, physical activities help in stress relief and have many other benefits.
Conclusion
Every one of us goes through everyday events that may stress us.
We all face problems and get stuck somewhere.
The negative thought of things not going the right way can occupy our minds.
These negative thoughts can be very unhealthy for our mental and physical health.
Just remember that these thoughts are not you; they only occupy a space in your head.
We should make ourselves capable of silencing them.
I hope the above article will help you tackle your negative thoughts.