The Whole Cure Wellness Wednesday: Tricks for A More Positive Mind
Overcome Negative Thinking with Simple | Pure | WholeTM Tricks for A More Positive Mind
This week Positive Thinking Day reminded us of the power of our thoughts and minds to impact our reality. Each year, this designated day is meant to make us stop and reflect on how we perceive the world around us and our role in it. When we become more aware of the ways we habitually react to situations, we regain the power to step back, pause and choose how to purposefully act. 
In The Whole Cure Lifestyle Transformation virtual group coaching programs, participants delve deeper into living a life aligned with their core values and deepest passions. Participants explore concepts and powerful exercises like the ones in today’s post as they build the tools needed to start living in a way that awakens the spirit, feeds the heart and nourishes the whole body, soul, mind and spirit! Join us for the next small group online Mindset Module—It is your time to move forward, embrace your dreams, inspire and discover your true purpose and deep joy!
Negative thinking can be a powerful factor in the quality of our lives, relationships and self-inflicted suffering. While it is human nature to focus on the negative to some degree, excessive negativity can lead to insecurity, anxiety and depression. Unfortunately, negative thoughts can often be difficult to detect, allowing them to quickly spiral out of control and overcome our minds if we are not mindful.
Living an intentional life involves carrying out each day with consciousness. Conscious thoughts occur in reaction to a certain situation or action. For example, you misplace an important report and immediately start to berate yourself, thinking “I am such an idiot. I never do anything right.” As negativity creeps into your mind, you blame, belittle and berate yourself more and more in various situations.
Even though you may not be able to remain aware of every thought or control every aspect of your mind’s processes, you do have the ability to choose and adjust your conscious thoughts and actions. We can counteract the tendency to jump to the negative by taking time to explicitly remind ourselves of the positive aspects of our lives.
Purposeful Positive Thinking
In these types of situations, we can choose to replace negativity with a positive, purposeful thought instead. This can be done by pausing, identifying your thought patterns, challenging negative thought patterns and replacing them with purposeful positive thoughts instead. The key is realizing that reacting with negativity is not going to change what has already happened but that you have the power to choose how to act moving forward.
- Pause: While engaging in productive work and activities that you enjoy can be great for your mental and physical health, it is also important to remain aware of the warning signs that you need to slow down, pause and cut back. Slowing down gives you the space to think more clearly, recognize your thought and reaction patterns, make more meaningful decisions and develop greater emotional intelligence. It allows you to combine contemplation with decided action to produce solutions that integrate knowledge and emotion. Learn more about the Power of the Pause here
- Identify Your Thought Patterns:
When looking at your thought patterns, there are a few main areas where negativity tends to creep in.
- negative thoughts about yourself
- negative thoughts about other people
- negative thoughts about the world in general
These negative thought patterns are often deep seated. Fortunately, it is more important to be able to recognize the what than to figure out the reasons behind why you think negatively.
Watch out for thoughts like
“I can’t”
“I am not good enough”
“It’s not fair”
“Life is too hard”
“I just have bad luck”
3. Challenge Negative Thoughts: When a negative thought creeps into your mind, replace it with a positive one before it has a chance to latch on and create a cascade of negativity. By replacing negative thoughts with positive ones, you tell your mind that you choose to interpret your life in a positive light.
When a negative thought pops into your head, stop and write it down. Look at it on paper and examine if it is actually true. Write down an opposing truth. Reprogramming your internal dialogue is one of the most important positive thinking strategies.
It is generally our perception and interpretation of circumstances in life that produces the negative emotions and feelings.
4. Replace Negative Thoughts with Positive Thoughts: Use the strategies in Chapter 9 of The Whole Cure to practice nurturing, positive self-talk and craft a positive narrative. These wellness prescriptions and exercises are designed to reframe your thought patterns and retrain your brain to distinguish between the worry and fantasy of the mind and the reality of the present. In The Whole Cure Lifestyle Transformation Virtual Group Program, we will further develop this ability to reframe the mind and learn to use our thoughts as allies instead of enemies. As you make a conscious choice to focus on the positive, you retrain your brain and create energy that reflects these positive statements.
As you develop a greater awareness and insight, you are empowered to control your mind and life instead of allowing automatic, conditioned patterns to take over and run you.
From The Whole Cure…You can only be in touch with your inner wisdom when you are able to separate yourself from the chatter of your thoughts. How can you connect with your intuition today?
How do you attract positivity into your life?
What are some tricks you have to stop negative thoughts?
If you found this content and exercises valuable and are ready to start living more intentionally each day, pick up your copy of The Whole Cure in paperback or Kindle edition today. You can start with a free preview here. I would also love to have you join us in the upcoming The Whole Cure Lifestyle Transformation Program Mindset Module!
Every body is unique so be sure to check with your health care professional before making any dietary or lifestyle changes. These are methods and products that I use and should not be considered medical advice.
This post was shared with: Create and Share DIY & Recipe Party, Inspire Me Wednesday, Wow Us Wednesday, Whimsy Wednesday, Pin-Worthy Wednesday, Creative Spark Link Party, Family Fun Friday, Weekend Retreat, Friday’s Five Features. Motivation Monday, Tip Tuesday, Two Cup Tuesday, Healthy Happy Green and Natural Party Blog Hop, Waste Not Want Not Wednesday, Create It Thursday
Comments
Deborah Davis
I heartily agree that we can choose to replace negativity with a positive, purposeful thoughts. That’s the way I consciously try to live my life and approach situations each day. It certainly feels better to smile at life than to frown all of the time. Thank you so much for sharing these invaluable positive insights with us at the Healthy Happy Green and Natural Party Blog Hop. I’m pinning and sharing.
Dr. Jennifer L. Weinberg, MD, MPH, MBE
A smile really can have a lot of power to turn around our mood! Thanks for the positive work you do Deborah and for sharing and hosting!
Betty
I like number 3. I know so well also, that it is important to live in the now, not the past nor the future.
Dr. Jennifer L. Weinberg, MD, MPH, MBE
Thank you for stopping by Betty! It is not always easy to challenge our negative thinking but I find it can make such a big difference when become mindful of them and start to replace them with more positive ones!