Detox Your Mind: The Importance Of Letting Go Of Negative Thoughts

You might believe that negative thoughts only impact your mental space. However, the truth is that negative thoughts have the capability to invade every area of life. Here, we look at three major areas affected by negative thoughts, including mental health, physical health, and social health.

 

Mental Health

 

Negative thoughts don’t feel good. We all know that. Beyond just making us feel miserable in the moment, though, there are long-term mental health consequences of allowing negative thoughts into our mind. Some of the potential diagnoses that could arise from repeated negativity include:

 

• Major Depressive Disorder

 

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder

 

• Social Anxiety Disorder

 

• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

 

• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

 

• Psychosis

 

Even if the mental health concerns don’t advance to an official diagnosis, you could still experience a number of mental health symptoms due to frequent negative thoughts. Some of these include:

 

• Depression

 

• Anxiety

 

• Panic attacks

 

• Low self-esteem

 

• Perfectionism

 

Physical Health

 

The mind has a lot more power over the body than most people realize. The way you think impacts how healthy your physical body is. Some examples are:

 

• Increased risk of diagnoses such as asthma, cardiovascular disease, and high blood pressure

 

• Decreased immune system strength

 

• Healthier weight

 

• Healthier blood sugar levels

 

You’ve certainly heard the phrase “mind over matter” at some point in your life. This refers to using the mind to control the body’s physical reactions to external stimuli. You can apply this principal to positive versus negative thinking. When you allow negative thoughts, your physical condition worsens in general.

 

Social Health

 

Negative thoughts can destroy any type of relationship. When you have excessive negative thoughts, you tend to ignore positive experiences and characteristics of others. This can also lead to you believing things about the other person that simply aren’t true or making up devastating scenarios in your head. You’ll also find that you’re more sensitive to jokes and other comments in conversation with others. This negativity not only damages your trust and connection with the other person but it also causes you to treat others negatively as well. Some examples of social relationships that could be affected include:

 

• Romantic partners

 

• Friends

 

• Family members

 

• Coworkers and/or supervisors

 

• Neighbors

 

• Teammates and hobby club members

 

• Classmates

 

How to Let Go of Negative Thinking

 

The first step in overcoming negative thoughts is a desire to change your thought patterns. You have to be committed. It will be tough at times but, with the right motivation, you can make it through. Try these tips for overcoming negative thoughts:

 

• Journal daily and write out your negative thoughts and emotions. Turning them into a physical form prevents them from lingering in your mind.

 

• Designate a time of day to review negative thoughts. Write down your thoughts when they occur outside this 10-15 minute time frame. This lets you move on quickly throughout your day and process later.

 

• Replace negative thoughts with positive ones when they occur. For example, instead of beating yourself up for being late, be thankful that your friend is willing to be flexible.

 

• Consciously dedicate energy toward receiving and giving love and positivity.

 

• Take care of your physical health. Again, the mind-body connection is a powerful force. Take care of one and the other will improve.

 

• Use positive affirmations for yourself and others. For example, give yourself praise for even the smallest victories.

 

• Practice gratitude for the relationships, possessions, and achievements that you have.

 

• Avoid upsetting media consumption. Incorporate humor and heartwarming media into your daily life.

 

• Dedicate your negative energy toward something productive when the thoughts occur.

 

• Practice daily meditation, such as mindfulness and loving-kindness meditation.

 

Source Links

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2016/05/09/13-coaches-explain-how-to-overcome-negative-thought-patterns/?sh=147fd31b35cb

 

https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2015/08/positive-emotions-your-health

 

https://www.news-medical.net/health/How-Do-Your-Emotions-Affect-Your-Physical-Health.aspx

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/01/negativity-can-ruin-relationships/604597/

 

https://www.verywellmind.com/negative-self-talk-and-how-it-affects-us-4161304

 

7 Action Steps To Maximize Your Potential

Maximizing your potential means being more productive and having the ability to flourish in most situations. The basis is to understand your goals and be persistent in achieving them. It requires time, effort, dealing with obstacles, and taking risks to achieve the result. However, the benefits are powerful. Following are seven steps that you can take to maximize your full potential.

 

Step 1: Define Your Goals

When people have defined goals to achieve, they have a roadmap for pursuing their objectives and dreams. The first step is to think about what you want to accomplish in your life, whether it be short or long-term. Goals should be realistic. For example, if your goal is to become a professional actor, but you have no experience, your chances of success are low and can lead to disappointment. On the other hand, realistic goals would be to take classes and perform in local community theater to gain experience.

 

• Make a list of goals that motivate you.
• Evaluate each goal and define the steps needed to achieve the goal.
• Set a completion due date for each step within a goal.
• Monitor your progress.

 

Step 2: Develop a Growth Mindset

People with a growth mindset are optimistic and embrace challenges. Other characteristics include:

 

• Acknowledging areas of self-weakness
• Learning to listen to constructive criticism
• Focusing on the process, not the result 
• Being motivated by the success of others
• Knowing that failure is an opportunity to grow
• Never giving up when things are difficult
• Thinking of learning as an opportunity to exercise the brain

 

Step 3: Journal Your Thoughts and Ideas

Keeping a journal enhances self-growth and can lead you to maximize your potential. Journaling has numerous benefits, such as boosting creativity, improving mental health, and motivating you to achieve goals.

 

• Think about your feelings and write them in your journal.
• Evaluate the triggers for each feeling – what happened that caused the feeling?
• Assess your emotions – for example, were you angry, sad, or embarrassed?
• Examine each scenario for lessons learned – what can you do better in the future?

 

Step 4: Embrace Mistakes

 

Everyone makes mistakes occasionally. When you make an error, you have an opportunity for personal growth by exploring what went wrong and how it happened. The lessons learned will help you to prevent the same mistake in the future. 

 

Step 5: Opportunities and Risk

 

As you work toward maximizing your potential, you may encounter risks. Assume that you have a limited budget to achieve your goal. There is a risk that you could run out of money to bring your objective to a successful conclusion. This may cause you to worry excessively about the risk, distracting you and decreasing productivity. You might feel like giving up.

 

Avoid worrying about risks by identifying the types of risks that could occur. Evaluate each risk and how to mitigate it: accept, avoid, reduce, or transfer it. Learn more about Risk Management at Coursera.

 

Step 6: Practice Self-Care

 

When you feel good mentally and physically, you may reap the benefits of increased motivation, adaptability to changes and coping with difficult situations, reduced stress, a sense of well-being and happiness, and more. 

 

Start your self-care journey by eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep. 

 

Step 7: Manage Your Time

In today’s hectic world, it feels as though there is never enough time to do everything. Don’t let that be a blocker to reaching your full potential. Following are several time management tips to help you make the most of your time.

 

• Plan Ahead: The evening before, plan for the next day. Make your to-do list and prioritize each task. Remove tasks that are not essential or delay low-priority tasks to another day.
• Minimize Interruptions: Set a “do not disturb” time each day. During that time, find a quiet place and temporarily ignore social media, phone calls, texts, and emails. Share your boundaries with those you know so they are aware. You’ll accomplish more in less time without unnecessary interruptions.

 

Conclusion

 

Being your best self requires knowing your goals and making a lifelong commitment to learning. It takes time and practice to improve yourself; the benefits are vast. When you maximize your potential, you have a vision for your life and are on the road to success! 

 

8 Techniques That Stop Anger in its Tracks

You can’t believe they did it. Of all people, turning on you this way. You want to react in kind, drawing on the anger flowing through you to lash out. Make the other person hurt every bit as much as you do right now.

 

Wait a minute. You can’t. You’re not that person. You don’t want to BE that person. You’re better than this.

 

But how do you stop anger in its tracks before it gets the best of you?

 

Take a Walk

 

The physical act of walking will burn off some of the adrenaline while getting outside, giving you a distracting change in scenery. And it works even better if you’re walking away from the object of your anger. Sometimes all you need is some space.

 

Pay Attention to your Muscles

 

Like walking, exercise is good. Also, anger tends to tighten you up, so a good stretch, or even better practicing progressive muscle relaxation, will knock the tension out.

 

Say Something

 

Choose a pet phrase or mantra which calms you. Say it several times, slowly, and deliberately to put your focus elsewhere.

 

Visualization

 

Escape somewhere else. Remove yourself from the situation that has made you mad and find a quiet place where you can visualize something peaceful. Build in as much detail as you can to make it as real as possible. Stay in this vision until you feel yourself start to calm down. 

 

Do Something Grand

 

Take your anger and turn it into activism. How can you use this to change the world? Sign (or start!) a petition. Volunteer. Get involved in the community and make the world a better place. 

 

Write About It

 

Journaling can help you to work through your emotions in a way that might even help prevent you from getting mad the next time around. Understanding what it was about the event which triggered you will help reshape the trigger entirely.

 

Switch Perspective

 

It can be hard to use empathy when you’re upset. But if you can see things from their perspective, it might help you to calm your response. Many times, anger comes from misunderstanding the situation.

 

Forgive

 

This technique falls under expert level of anger management. By being the bigger person and forgiving the other, you’ll find you no longer have reason to be mad at all.

 

The key to all of these is simple: don’t let anger take control. The last thing you need is for you to fall under the power of negative emotion. Use the anger to make a better place or let it go entirely. In the end, you’ll be happier you did.

 

5 Ideas of What to Include in a Gratitude Journal

There are many reasons to keep a Gratitude Journal. Whether you're on a healing journey or want to add thankfulness to your day to live a freer, more contented life, writing down your thoughts is a powerful tool. This is why Gratitude Journals are so popular.

 

If you've ever wanted to get started writing a Gratitude Journal but are stuck for ideas of what to write about, try these ideas out. You'll have plenty to write about in no time!

 

Enjoy the Details

 

It's easy to write about how much you're thankful for your home or best friend. The problem? You'll quickly run out of material or be stuck repeating yourself if you list the same people daily. Instead of talking about the people or things in your life you're grateful for, dig down into the details about what exactly you love about them. For example, maybe you love how your best friend sat up with you all night when you needed someone to talk to. 

 

Get Into the Moment

 

Take a minute to center yourself. By using mindfulness or meditation to pause and empty your mind of thoughts, you start paying attention to where you are right now emotionally, physically, or even spiritually. Once you're relaxed, let your mind drift where it will. Look for things to be thankful for. For example, you might hear the sound of wind chimes outside or smell dinner in the over, which are both things to be grateful for. Write about these things.

 

Ask Why

 

If you already have a grateful thought, try digging down a little to find out what about this makes you feel so much gratitude. Ask why you feel this way, and keep asking why until you find the root. For example, you might be writing about how you're grateful for chocolate chip cookies and discover you love them because your grandmother always made them for you. Express your gratitude for these ‘buried treasures.’

 

Change Directions

 

If you've been writing about the same things every day, look for ways to discover gratitude in other areas of your life. Maybe you've been focusing on family for a while. If so, try turning toward work, past experiences, or nature for new inspiration.

 

Do Something Else

 

If the thoughts aren’t coming, give yourself a break. This isn’t a race. Walk away and do something else for a bit, such as emptying the dishwasher. Let your mind drift through this activity. What about this job can you be grateful for (clean dishes? The time you shared with your family cleaning up the kitchen together after dinner last night? The meal you’re going to eat next on these dishes?) Come back and write about these things.

 

It's sometimes surprising to see just how much there is to be grateful for, isn't it? The best part? The more you journal your gratitude, the more your own attitude will shift to one of compassion and kindness. Truly, a grateful heart is a happy one! 

 

Reasons Why You Should Keep a Gratitude Journal

Spending just fifteen minutes a day writing in your gratitude journal can do amazing things in your life! Scientific studies have proven that showing gratitude on a consistent basis makes people happier and healthier. One of the best ways to get into the habit of cultivating gratitude is by keeping a journal. Here’s a short list of how a gratitude journal can change your life for the better:

 

Achievement 

 

A gratitude journal will help you note those simple things you achieve. You'll also be aware of both big and little things in life that you have to be thankful for by recording in your journal.

 

Happiness 

 

A gratitude journal keeps you happy because it keeps you focused on the good things that exist in your daily life.  Once you start a gratitude journal, you are “on the lookout” for good things—both big and small. Imagine what your life would be like if you focused on the positive instead of negative! 

 

Good health 

 

Dis-ease is negative energy that has been stored up from your negative beliefs and memories. You can quickly counteract dis-ease by concentrating on the good in your life over the bad.

 

Earn more respect 

 

Keeping a gratitude journal gives you the chance to understand the values of life. It makes you approach things in a more organized way thereby improving your level of respect and confidence among friends and colleagues. 

 

Relationships 

 

Keeping a gratitude journal improves your relationships with people around you because you look for things about others to appreciate. It’s easy to find fault, but once you start showing appreciation for the people in your life, your relationships will grow.

 

Enhance sleeping 

 

People who keep gratitude journals tend to sleep better because they often reflect on their day before bed, which gives them a sense of calmness.

 

Less stress

 

Whether you’re living in a stressful situation or just thinking back to one, your body doesn’t know the difference. It will still fire off all of those stress hormones and create the same physical, mental and emotional tension, whether or not the event is currently happening. By focusing on the positive, you avoid the stress reaction.

 

Resiliency

 

You can think of gratitude as being a mental and emotional muscle that you can build with daily exercise. If stuff goes wrong in life and your gratitude muscle is weak, you’ll struggle to find a silver lining in those storm clouds. But if you already have an excellent daily gratitude habit, then your gratitude muscle will be resilient and well-trained, meaning life’s challenges don’t knock you off course as much.

 

How To Get The Most out of Gratitude Journaling

If you have recently started gratitude journaling, you may be wondering if you are getting the full benefits from your daily ritual. And this is something which you must decide for yourself, but there are several things you can do to get the most out of your journaling. Below are some simple ways to receive the maximum benefits from your journaling practice. 

 

Try Different Formats

 

When most people think of journaling, they think of writing letters to themselves or simply writing sentences about their feelings. But this isn’t the only format you can journal in, and the truth is, it may not be the most effective for you. Consider changing up your journaling format, or better yet, employing more than one format in your journaling. This will make sure you are getting the most out of your journaling time. Other formats when it comes to gratitude journaling can be lists, diagrams, or tables. 

 

Write Yourself Compliments

 

In gratitude journaling, people tend to write about all the things or people they are grateful for in their lives. And there is nothing wrong with this, just make sure you don’t forget to be thankful for the most important person, yourself! It’s best practice to write a few things you like about yourself each day as you journal. This way, you can reflect on how your day went and watch your transformation as you become a better version of yourself.  

 

Don’t Forget The Lessons

 

No one’s life is perfect, and when gratitude journaling, you may find that sometimes you have days where you make significant mistakes that you are embarrassed by. And this is okay, and even something you should be thankful for! Instead of approaching your mistakes as setbacks instead, include them in your gratitude journaling as lessons and approach them with an open mind and be grateful for the lesson you have had the opportunity to learn. This will help keep you from making the same mistakes again. 

 

Wherever you may be in your gratitude journaling journey, you are most certainly benefiting from the practice. But if you want to make sure you are getting the most from it, try playing around with the format a bit, don’t forget to compliment yourself, and don’t be afraid to approach your mistakes. After all, your gratitude journal is a safe space for you to express everything you are grateful for without any outside judgment.  

8 Techniques That Stop Anger in its Tracks

You can’t believe they did it. Of all people, turning on you this way. You want to react in kind, drawing on the anger flowing through you to lash out. Make the other person hurt every bit as much as you do right now.

 

Wait a minute. You can’t. You’re not that person. You don’t want to BE that person. You’re better than this.

 

But how do you stop anger in its tracks before it gets the best of you?

 

Take a Walk

 

The physical act of walking will burn off some of the adrenaline while getting outside, giving you a distracting change in scenery. And it works even better if you’re walking away from the object of your anger. Sometimes all you need is some space.

 

Pay Attention to your Muscles

 

Like walking, exercise is good. Also, anger tends to tighten you up, so a good stretch, or even better practicing progressive muscle relaxation, will knock the tension out.

 

Say Something

 

Choose a pet phrase or mantra which calms you. Say it several times, slowly, and deliberately to put your focus elsewhere.

 

Visualization

 

Escape somewhere else. Remove yourself from the situation that has made you mad and find a quiet place where you can visualize something peaceful. Build in as much detail as you can to make it as real as possible. Stay in this vision until you feel yourself start to calm down. 

 

Do Something Grand

 

Take your anger and turn it into activism. How can you use this to change the world? Sign (or start!) a petition. Volunteer.  Get involved in the community and make the world a better place. 

 

Write About It

 

Journaling can help you to work through your emotions in a way that might even help prevent you from getting mad the next time around. Understanding what it was about the event which triggered you will help reshape the trigger entirely.

 

Switch Perspective

 

It can be hard to use empathy when you’re upset. But if you can see things from their perspective, it might help you to calm your response. Many times anger comes from misunderstanding the situation.

 

Forgive

 

This technique falls under expert level of anger management. By being the bigger person and forgiving the other, you’ll find you no longer have reason to be mad at all.

 

The key to all of these is simple: don’t let anger take control. The last thing you need is for you to fall under the power of negative emotion. Use the anger to make a better place or let it go entirely. In the end, you’ll be happier you did.