Four steps to break out of negative thinking

Do you ever battle with pessimism? If you have a harsh inner critic, are prone to worry, tension, anxiety, depression or struggle with poor self-worth, you are familiar with many of the symptoms.

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Negative thought patterns may have a significant and sometimes debilitating effect on our relationships, health, work, and ultimately on our life. Try the following methods to break out of that negative aura surrounding you mentally and focus on personal development.

1. Utilise your rage and fury for good

At times, we may experience moral indignation about what we believe is unjust or unfair. We take action to defend what is right — which, on the surface, seems to be a positive thing.

However, it does not take much for your anger to drive you from productive to harmful behaviour. To avoid negativity in your mind and emotions, you must learn to channel your irritation and anger into constructive activity. Think about what that activity could be and embark on it. A few suggestions could be exercising, walking, dancing, singing, boxing, and so on. 

While your outrage may be legitimate, if your conduct is harmful or destructive, it may negate the beneficial, positive change you were trying to make. Remember to provide compassion and empathy to people with whom you disagree or are furious. This way, you may affect long-lasting, good change.

2. Give yourself a boost of confidence

To fully free yourself from the prison of negative thought, you must commit to daily good behaviour. This will assist you in eradicating negativity by preventing it from festering in your thoughts. One method to do this is to create a pep talk for yourself that sounds like advertising — as if you are selling yourself by highlighting your finest characteristics.

Consider this as an internal advertising effort that will be visible only to you. This is an internal advertisement that you may play repeatedly in your head — it is a continuous pep talk to yourself. At least once a day (ideally in the morning), read this pep talk aloud to yourself and many times during the day.

3. The power of forgiving people

We may think that refusing to forgive someone is a kind of punishment for them; a means of making them pay for the wrongs they have committed against us. Withholding our forgiveness may seem like a means of confirming our own pain and clinging to our feeling of rightness. We have been wronged, and we must hold the other party accountable for their actions.

However, the reality is that forgiveness is first and foremost a gift to yourself, since it enables you to let go and move on. Forgiveness is an essential component in letting go of unpleasant emotions such as bitterness, stress, resentment, and rage. When we really forgive someone, we also heal ourselves and may begin to develop a more hopeful and caring attitude. 

4. Hire a personal development coach

If you are motivated to change your life around but have trouble doing it yourself, a personal life coach will help you achieve your goal to get mental peace through coaching. A personal development coach will motivate you to let go of the toxicity that’s making your life and thoughts negative!

The views expressed in this article are those of the author. All articles published on Life Coach Directory are reviewed by our editorial team.

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Richmond, Surrey, TW10
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Written by Daniela Marinova, Counselling Coach (BA, MSc, HPD, DipCHyp, NLP Pract)
Richmond, Surrey, TW10

Richmond Counselling was founded by Daniela Marinova in 2013. Prior to that, she obtained her bachelor's degree in psychology at Richmond University (London) and later on her master's degree in Psychoanalytic Developmental Psychology at UCL and Anna Freud Centre. Daniela then went on to train as a cognitive hypnotherapist and NLP Practitioner.

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