7 Simple Ways To Overcome Negative Thinking & Set Yourself Up To Win This Year

By Rosemary Nonny Knight on January 12, 2017 - Fact checked by Dumb Little Man

by Rosemary Nonny Knight January 12, 2017

Negative thinking is such a downer and it gets in the way of most things. You start to lack creativity, you feel down in the dumps, and you actually start to get exactly what you expect – NEGATIVITY!

Most of us know that it would help to be a lot more optimistic about life but how do you do that when you are so used to thinking and feeling the way you do? I personally attack negative thinking in a range of ways.

Here are a few ideas that will work for you too.

Wake up earlier than your household

One thing that I know makes my negative thinking worse is being forced awake by my partner, the alarm clock, or my kids. If I am woken up, then I feel behind already and forced into everyone else’s agenda. Before I know it, the resentment and negativity starts to spike right at at the start of the day.

This no longer happens!

Now, I creep out of bed and creep past the princesses’ rooms and get downstairs, get myself a coffee and do the next point. This makes me feel a lot more in control of my mind. Yes, I love my family but I need time alone first!

And the alarm clock is just plain horrid so I never allow that to wake me up. I tap into the energy of Spirit and ask to be woken up at the time I choose and it works. Don’t ask me how. Just give it a go.

Make a commitment to wake up at least two to four hours earlier than everyone else to ensure you have enough time to feel in control of your day before everyone else wakes up. Imagine all that you can do during this time.

Journal

This is a key idea to defeat negative thinking. The time that I spend alone, I spend connecting with the energy of the Universe, reminding myself of my goals, and writing down who I choose to be.

This makes me feel in control and that makes me feel more positive. I write down my goals for my life and for that day and I decide who I need to be in order to make them come about.

If I want to make so much money that day, then I know I have to be willing to sell. I write “I am confident and bold enough to ask for the sale today” and I spend some time feeling the emotions of being that bold, confident selling machine. Of course, there is no room for negative thinking if that is who I choose to be.

This works for whatever you want. Decide what you want to have and then decide who you need to be and then deliberately choose to take on the persona of the person that you choose. Write down what you would feel, how you would dress, and act if you are going to make that goal happen.

Set an hourly reminder

This is more of an emergency measure but I use it regularly because although I appear to be positive, I usually have to defeat a lot of negativity to appear that way. I no longer to leave this to chance so as soon as I finish my initial journal session, I set the timer on my phone to prompt me every hour.

The prompt reminds me to catch myself and check what I am thinking. If I have degenerated into crazy thinking, then I open a file on Evernote or whip out my journal again and write very quickly a series of I am, I have, and I do statements that remind me who I choose to be in that moment.

This usually works to get me ramped up again. The creativity returns and I can get back to whatever I was doing. This only need take 60 seconds or so but it works to bring me back to centre.

Have more orgasms

There is something pretty powerful about that moment of heightened emotion. When I am trying to get a new thought pattern secured in my brain, I make the decision to masturbate or make-love it in!

At that moment of orgasm, my brain feels more open, more willing to accept new thoughts, and I usually have something planned. I visualise my goals and what I want to achieve and it just feels more real in that moment as though I am changing the course of my brain cells. And I personally, think I am.

Stop second guessing

When I spend time overthinking and second guessing the ideas that bubble up within me, I always end up internally beating myself up and feeling negative. So, I am choosing to act considerably faster on ideas.

I think it is better to have acted fast and failed than to keep waiting for certainty. Regret is also a downer and a negative form of thinking and so, I am going to act even quicker than I used to.

Notice & grow in self-awareness

Having been an avid journal-er for as long as I can remember, I am pretty self-aware. Still, I went through a phase of trying to pretend my negative thoughts were not there. This form of denial can work for some thoughts but others are more persistent. They want you to notice them, honour them and then release them.

This year, I am going to do just that – Become even more meditative and untethered from these negative thoughts so I can see where they come from, honour the story that led me to feel that way, and then choose what I want to believe instead and release the old thought.

It may sound a little woo-woo but again, try it before you second-guess it (pun intended!).

Refuse to Take On Drama & Giving Up People-Pleasing

Some of my negative thinking comes from believing that someone, somewhere is talking/thinking about me in a negative way and so, when someone would look at me a little funny, I would immediately jump to the conclusion that they disliked me. That, of course, led me to think negative thoughts about myself.

This year, I am going to choose to think the best of every sideways look. I am creating a new habit of choosing to think they are thinking about how awesome I am and then I will choose to forget them.

No more dwelling on what could really be nothing. And definitely no more caring what people think of me except to tell myself that everyone thinks I am great!

Those are seven simple ways to combat negative thinking. Use them!