What matters is not how often we experience negative thoughts, but how we handle them when they come.
Negative thoughts can get the best of us, no matter who we are. I get negative thoughts, and I’m willing to bet the farm on the fact that you do to. Happy people, smart people, rich people – everyone can start feeling negative.
Negativity is one of those dangerous little things that can start as something small (stubbing your toe, being late in the morning, forgetting something at the store) and quickly snowball into a full-on funk.
Over my life, I’ve had my fair share of funks, and I can tell you they aren’t fun. When I am feeling “funky” I am unproductive, uncreative, and a big old mess of “I can’t,” “I don’t,” and the worst of all: “I should have…”
Who can afford to live like that? No one!
As Uncommoners, we more than anyone can’t afford to lose precious hours, days or weeks of our lives feeling less than optimal. We rely on our creativity and our passions to get us out of bed in the morning and achieving our goals – if we allow negativity to seep in it can wreak havoc on our ability to accomplish our one goal: to an Uncommon Life.
In the spirit of overcoming negativity – that little annoying spirit that pops up from time to time in life – I would like to share with you a fool proof exercise I use to stop those feelings of sadness, overwhelmedness, unworthiness, or despair right in their tracks.
You might find it goofy or silly, and that’s OK – but this technique has been psychologically proven to be very effective at reducing feelings of anxiety, depression, or lack of confidence.
I recommend reading it over before doing it the first time. As an Uncommoner, I know you are a creative person, so use your amazing imagination to really get into it!
Exercise: Cleaning Out Negativity
*This exercise is great for when you feel those negative, sad, overwhelmed thoughts threatening to take over.
- Take three deep, slow breaths, being conscious to fill your lungs completely and then let all the air out totally each time.
- As you take your breathes, I want you to create a mental picture of what those negative thoughts look like – do you see them as a person talking to you, a shape or object, or just a color? Take a minute to create as detailed a picture of your negative thoughts as possible (my negative thoughts look like little orange dust bunnies with eyes).
- Once you have a clear picture of what those sad, negative thoughts look like, I want you to imagine you are picking up a broom and you are sweeping them out of your mind. If you are feeling super saucy, you can do what I do which is use a leaf blower to blow them out of my mind.
- Really let you imagination go wild with this step – I imagine my mind as a big room with a wooden floor that becomes shiny and clean when all those negative dust bunnies are swept out. I also will imagine those dust bunnies screaming little screams as they fall out of my mind and disappear into the abyss…no joke – it helps clear them and get me into a better mood. Go crazy – maybe you can beat your negative thoughts over the head with a frying pan until they disappear. Whatever works for you is perfect!
- Once you have cleaned out those negative thoughts, I want you to take three more big breaths with a smile on your face. Even if you don’t feel like smiling, force yourself to smile from ear to ear – the type of smile that crinkles your eyes. Studies have shown that the physical act of smiling releases serotonin, the “happy” brain chemical.
- After you have finished your breaths, say this to yourself (I want you to say it, I don’t care if you think it is silly!):
“I am smart. I am powerful. I am loved. I am in control. I can do anything. I am grateful for my life!”
Here’s to you Uncommon Life,
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I really like this post because it’s something I battle with far too often. I have no idea if my depression makes it harder on me but it doesn’t matter. What matters is that I try these types of pointers and they normally do help me out.
I’ve been getting more into NLP and I believe it’s helping with tough thoughts. Thoughts that are both harmful to myself and thoughts that can be negative towards others. I think about how I can only control where I’m heading and when I think of that, I think of something to change from negative to positive. As long as I can get back on the positive path as soon as I realize I started to stray is all that’s important.
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