The average person has roughly 50,000 thoughts per day. If I only had a dollar for every thought 🙂
Of those 50,000 thoughts, 80% are negative.
Over 75% of those thoughts are not new. Which means we have been repeating them to ourselves for years.
Since you are what you think about… well… you do the math.
It’s no secret that once a negative thought pops into our head we tend to spiral out of control following it wherever it may lead us. You know I’m right.
So how do you clear the noise and make room for the positive in your mind and your life?
1. Awareness. We get so caught up in our own minds that sometimes we don’t realize we ran a red light, ignored our children, or burned the tofu. Be present and aware of your thoughts. Only then will you be able to change them. It’s like having a lucid dream. You know you’re dreaming and you have the power to change things. Well you know you’re deep in thought and now you have the opportunity to make some real changes.
2. Stop feeding into your negativity. Don’t follow your negative thoughts down the tunnel until you have reached an unrecognizable place of despair and worry. YOU have control of what goes on in your mind.Try this on for size: the next time you have a negative, self-defeating thought “I well never get that job”, turn it on it’s head and see how it feels. “I will totally get that job.” Follow that thought and feel it in your bones. Remember, you are what you think about.
3. Stop feeding into other people’s negativity. Misery fucking LOOOOOVES company. Your friend calls you bitching about her husband and you feed into it to make her feel better (or so you think). Both of you end up hanging up and feeling like shit. It wasn’t even your problem to begin with but you feel the negativity in your bones too. WTF?!
Exercise: let her do the bitching. Let her clear the noise from her head to you (bonus tip ;)) but don’t feed it. Listen, hold space, and then give her a positive thought to run with. “But he’s an excellent father.”
3. What makes you happy? For me, working out totally changes my attitude. When I am in a serious negative funk, I hit the weights, treadmill, or my mat. It works for me. Maybe for you it’s music, journaling, mind numbing TV, or a good book. Whatever it is, take your mind off those thoughts that just won’t go away. Just try to stay away from food, alcohol, or drugs to clear the noise. No good will come out of any of those.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT! DON’T GIVE UP. You may only change 5 thoughts per day but those 5 thoughts will multiply exponentially over time changing our life forever.