I'm pretty much an optimistic person. But
there are still times when no matter how I try to motivate myself, I'm still overwhelmed
with negative emotions such as worries, doubts and feeling of failure. Finally,
I understand where all these negative emotions are coming from, what’s its
purpose and how to handle it.
First, understand that thinking negatively
is actually a human nature. That's how our brain is wired. Our mind’s game plan
is survival. Its main purpose is to protect us by eliminating change and keeping
us in comfort zone. It’s called Cognitive Bias. In the past, it helped our ancestor
to survive. Whenever they hear an unfamiliar sound, the mind thinks of threat
so the body can prepare to defend. See? our negative thoughts are not a bad
thing at all. It protects us, keep us safe and helps us survive. But sometimes
it goes overboard, that these negative thoughts cause stress, hinder us from
going big and scare us from change.
The truth is negative thoughts are
inevitable. It’s always there, popping in your mind whenever it wants. But the
good news is you can handle it. And no, it’s not by thinking positive thoughts.
In fact, if you try to think contrary to the thought, you might amplify it even
more. It’s like your brain will tell you, “See, you are trying to push the
negative thought away because you know it’s true”.
All it takes is acceptance. Acknowledge
the thought. This way, you are removing the tension and this will allow you to
get your brain on board in overcoming the negative thoughts. Simply put, it’s
like telling your brain “hey, I get this. You are right to say that this thing
is worth worrying, the doubt is valid that it might be a wrong decision, I
might fail and its scary to try new things. However, we will never really know
until we get there. Besides, I can learn from this experience and it will make
me a better person no matter what the result is. With this, you acknowledge the
negative thought that its true but tolerable and you are willing to deal with
whatever result it might have.
It also helps to keep an archived of
exemplary examples. Sometimes, our mind tends to give us negative thoughts
because it’s tapping in to the things we have in mind. We could be keeping an
archived of negative experience we experience ourselves or we see from other
people. We might have accepted negative thoughts relayed by our parents,
teachers, friends and other people we spoke with. So, it’s best to reprogram
our memory bank. Recall your own success stories. Find exemplary people who
overcome their own negative thoughts. Feed your mind with empowering thoughts. As
they said, garbage in garbage out; positive thoughts in, positive thoughts out.
Don’t wait until you’re feeling down before you look for positive thoughts or
exemplary examples. Keep a habit of keeping your thoughts in good or positive
shape.
Personally, I feed myself with positive
thoughts daily by journaling. I usually read a passage or two from the Bible,
meditate on it and see how I can apply it in my personal life. On days I feel
uninspired, I read back my old journals and it usually put me back on track.
Finally, take action. Get up on our feet
and do something. Instead of wasting
your time and energy dwelling on your thoughts, start focusing on the solution.
Even if you are loaded with positive thoughts or exemplary examples, it’s no
use until you put it in to actions. Let’s not confuse inspiration to getting
things done. So yeah, just do it.
That’s about it. I hope this short post
will send a ray of sunshine to someone who needs it.
- 6:30:00 AM
- 0 Comments
