How to Stop Negative Thinking – 10 Tips

Negative thoughts are like heavy dark clouds hiding the sun and the sky, making the day look gloomy and threatening.

You have the power to scatter the clouds in your mind and bring back the sun and the blue sky into your life.

It is in your power to chase away the clouds and make your day beautiful, shiny, and full of light.

How much do you allow negative thinking to take over your life?

The more you allow negative thoughts to occupy your mind, the more negative your life becomes, and in time, negativity becomes a habit.

This means that the sooner you drive away negative thoughts, the sooner you will restore happiness and harmony in your life.

In certain cases, if negative thinking is too deeply set in, one might need some professional help. However, in most cases, some inner work on your part is what you need, and this can make great positive changes in your life.

How to Stop Negative Thinking – 10 Tips

How to stop negative thinking? This can be done, and in this article, I would like to suggest a few simple tips.

1. Smile more often

Smiling might be difficult if you are angry, unhappy, or depressed. However, even if you force a smile, it does have an effect. The act of smiling sends blood and oxygen to the face, and this improves how you feel.

Try to smile more often. If you try to find the funny side in every situation, you will have more reasons to smile.

If you find it awkward to smile when you are not in the mood to smile, then force yourself to smile in front of the mirror when you are alone. This will help you change your mood and relieve stress.

2. Seek the company of positive people

When stuck in a negative mood, call up or meet a positive friend, who is usually full of energy, happy and positive. Talk about anything you want, except your problems. You don’t have to transfer your problems and moods to him or her.

Be receptive to positively oriented people, letting their mood and energy affect you.

Try to act and behave, in the way your positive friends do, so as to become more positive.

3. Listen to music

Listen to music to when you feel down and when your mind starts on spree of negative thinking.

Romantic music, relaxing music, dance music or meditation music would help change how you feel, think and behave.

4. Abstain from speaking about your problems

Nobody likes to listen to problems. If you keep doing so, people will avoid your company, and this might lead to more unhappiness.

Speaking about your problems over and again, eventually, develops the habit of staying negative most of the time. The more you speak about your negative experiences the more negative your mindset becomes.

Of course, sometimes you might need to let the steam go out, but when you do so, it has to be a controlled manner and for the purpose of finding solutions, not just venting.

5. Avoid repeating negative thoughts

Avoid, as much as you can, repeating in your mind negative thoughts and narrations. When this happens, engage yourself in some activity you like, which requires physical activity. This would help you divert your attention to other matters. Go for a walk, swim, or go to the gym, cook, bake, or go to dance or fix something at home.

6. Don’t act and behave like a victim

Don’t act like a victim, instead, take charge of the situation.

You don’t have to choose to be hurt, feel lack of self-esteem or weak. Nobody can belittle you, unless you allow them. Nobody makes you feel like a victim, unless you allow that.

Stand up and assert yourself. You have the right to happiness, self-esteem, happiness and success, just like everyone else.

7. Be nice to people

Be nice and kind to people. Greet the people you meet, and chat with them for a few moments. This would drive away your negative thoughts, for a little while, and sometimes, for much longer.

Acting kindly and being considerate will lead people treat you in the same manner, and this would lead to good feelings and happiness, and therefore, to becoming more positive.

8. Use less often words like ‘cannot’, ‘impossible’, ‘difficult’ and similar words

Be a little more aware of the words you use in your inner conversations and when speaking with people. Avoid as much as you can the use of words that express weakness, lack, and absence of self-esteem.

9. Watch funny movies

Watching a funny movie diverts your mind from your problems and negative thoughts to something funny and entertaining.

If you make it a habit to prefer funny movies to other kinds of movies, your negative thinking will gradually make place to more positive thinking.

While watching the movie, focus on it and enjoy it, letting go of anything that is bothering you.

10. Read inspiring quotes

Reading inspiring quotes always change one’s mood. Quotes inspire, motivate and broaden the mind.

It would be a good idea to read a few quotes in the morning and in the evening, and even carry a few with you on a piece of paper or on your cellular phone.

I hope these few tips would help you, even if only to some extent, to stop negative thinking.

When you know how stop negative thinking, and start working on it, you gain the power to scatter the clouds in your mind and bring back the sun and the blue sky into your life.

More Information
For more information on how to stop negative thinking, read the article The Power of Negative Thinking and How to Overcome It.

Learning how to stop negative thinking can be one of the best investments one can do. With it, you open the gate to positive thinking and optimism. It helps you become more active and more alive.

If you wish to bring more positivity into your life, read and practice the guidance in the book Positive Thinking – the Power to Succeed, which you can download from this website. It is a small book that will change your thinking and attitude from negative to positive.