In life, we all experience difficult times. For example, you might lose a loved one or fail to achieve a goal that you’ve been working toward for months. In these moments, it’s normal to feel down and pessimistic about the future. However, it’s important not to get stuck in your negative mindset — after all, there are plenty of benefits associated with positive thinking! Here are some tips for overcoming negative thinking and embracing an optimistic outlook on life:
Use positive affirmations
Positive affirmations are positive statements you repeat to yourself. They can be simple phrases, like “I am strong” or more elaborate statements, such as “I am beautiful inside and out.” Positive affirmations can help change your mindset when you’re feeling down or stressed out.
A lot of people confuse positive self-talk with positive affirmations, but they’re not the same thing: while both involve saying things that make you feel good about yourself and your life in general, self-talk focuses on specific situations (like an upcoming performance), while affirmations focus on general qualities (like being kind).
Turn negative thoughts into positive ones
Negative thoughts are those that cause you to feel bad about yourself, or to see the world as a dark and negative place. Positive thinking is the opposite–it helps you to see things in a more positive light, which can make it easier for you to deal with difficult situations.
Here’s how:
- Turn negative thoughts into positive ones by focusing on what you have rather than what you don’t have. For example, if someone says something rude or hurts your feelings, instead of dwelling on their comment (and making yourself feel bad), try thinking of something good that happened earlier in the day instead–maybe an employee complimented your work or one of your friends gave advice?
- This will shift the focus away from whatever negativity was just thrown at us and onto something nice instead!
Change your perspective on the situation
Don’t get stuck in a negative mindset. When you’re having a bad day, it’s easy to get stuck in your head and start thinking about all the things that have gone wrong or could go wrong in the future. If this happens, try shifting your focus onto something positive instead.
Be willing to change your mind if necessary. Sometimes our initial reactions are based on assumptions or preconceived notions, which can lead us astray from reality if we don’t stop ourselves from jumping to conclusions too quickly–and sometimes even after careful consideration! You may have thought one thing was true at first but later discovered that it wasn’t accurate after all; perhaps someone said something hurtful about you (e.g., “You’re lazy”), so naturally being attacked like this would make anyone feel upset at first…but then maybe another person came along who saw things differently (“You’re not lazy”).
It takes courage for some people because they worry about what others think about them changing their minds over time – but remember: no one knows how much effort goes into making these decisions except yourself!
Practice Cognitive Reframing
Cognitive reframing is a way of changing your perspective on a situation. It’s a way to change your mindset, so that you can make better decisions and feel less stressed or unhappy–and ultimately become more positive in life.
For example: If you’re feeling stressed out about an upcoming presentation at work, instead of focusing on how nervous you are about it, think about all the good things that could happen after the presentation instead (e.g., getting praise from coworkers). Or if someone says something mean to you during an argument with someone else, try thinking about why they said those words instead (e.g., because they were jealous).
Think about three things that you’re grateful for every day.
One of the best ways to combat negative thoughts is by practicing gratitude. There are several ways to do this, but one of the simplest is through a gratitude journal.
Gratitude journals are used by some people as a way to write down three things they’re grateful for every day. To get started, all you need is a small notebook and pen (or pencil). If it helps you keep track of your progress better, try using one that has dates on each page so that your entries don’t get mixed up with other notes or lists in your notebook.
The next step is writing down what it was about those three things that made them good enough for inclusion into your list — why did they make such an impact on your life? Was it because someone did something nice for them or helped them out? Was it because they got recognition from someone important at work or school? Or maybe there was just something beautiful about nature itself during their commute to and from work yesterday; whatever reason makes sense here works fine!
You can change how you see a situation by changing your mindset.
Changing the way that you view the world isn’t easy, but it’s possible and it will help you become a happier person overall. When we think negatively about things, it’s easy to let those negative thoughts take over our minds and turn into self-fulfilling prophecies. This can lead us down an endless spiral of negativity that just makes us feel worse about ourselves and our lives in general.
So how do we stop this cycle? The first step is being aware of when these negative thoughts enter our mind–and then learning how to change them into something more positive! An important part of this process is recognizing when we’re thinking negatively so that we can replace those thoughts with ones that are more positive instead; because while having negative thoughts isn’t inherently bad (it just means there are things worth improving), having them all day long without trying anything else isn’t healthy either!
Final Thoughts
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by negative thoughts, remember that it’s okay. You are not alone and there are many ways to overcome this! By practicing some of the techniques we’ve discussed today such as cognitive reframing, practicing gratitude, or self love you can start changing your mindset and becoming more positive.
If you’d like to dig deeper into how to Overcome Negative Self Talk, you can join me in my Free Masterclass where we deep dive into this topic so you can feel empowered as you go about your day! Register Here
