Chelese Perry, Founder and CEO of Chelese Perry LLC is an ICF Certified Executive Coach, Life Coach and Leadership Consultant.
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How do you feel after consuming heavy, unhealthy food in large quantities?
Do you feel bloated, sick or tired? Does it take you a few hours, even days, to feel light and energized again? Do you need to take action, for instance, take a nap, go on a walk or drink lots of water to feel better again?
Now imagine how your mind feels after ruminating on negative thoughts. Like with food, harmful material is more stressful for your body to process. So unless you feed your mind pleasant and loving thoughts and images, you can suffer the equivalent of a mental and emotional "stomachache." Over time that stomachache could turn into something much worse.
The key is to catch negative thoughts quickly before they gain momentum. If not, they can be harmful to your mental and emotional health. Feelings of low self-worth, unhappiness, loneliness and depression can result from negative thinking. You may also get caught in a vicious loop of negative mental habits that are challenging to escape. On the other hand, you can experience increased self-confidence, vigor and motivation when you decide to concentrate on positive thoughts. You can reframe your thoughts with the aid of positive thinking to make them more useful and healthful. It can also be an excellent tool for developing resiliency and persistence in facing challenges.
By committing to small, consistent changes in how you think and respond to situations, you can develop opposing pleasant emotions that are more powerful than negative ones. With practice, these habits can become part of your everyday routine and eventually overpower the old, destructive habits.
Start by recognizing what triggers your unpleasant thoughts and emotions and work on replacing them with more effective coping mechanisms such as deep breathing or positive self-talk. Practicing appreciation of yourself and others and being mindful of your blessings is also essential. Actively seek out experiences that bring you joy, and spend time with people who make you feel good.
Finally, practice being kind and gentle toward yourself. Trust that you can create a healthier mind and heart by making conscious choices and taking control of your emotions. With these simple steps, you can cultivate lasting emotional contentment.
Here are 10 powerful questions to challenge negative thinking, inspired by this article on mental gymnastics:
- Is this true?
- What is the effect of thinking the way I do?
- Am I confusing a thought with a fact?
- Am I jumping to conclusions?
- Am I assuming my view of things is the only one possible?
- Am I judging my entire personality based on a single incident?
- Am I expecting too much of myself?
- Am I taking something personally that has little or nothing to do with me?
- Am I ruminating about the way things ought to be, instead of accepting and dealing with them as they are?
- Am I presuming there is nothing I can do to alter my circumstances?
In conclusion, if we realized how powerful our thoughts are, we'd make more effort to stop thinking negatively because thoughts become things. I am reminded of the following quote often attributed to the Dalai Lama, "The way to overcome negative thoughts and destructive emotions is to develop opposing positive emotions that are stronger and more powerful."
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