How To Change Negative Thought Patterns
Editors Note: This is a guest post by Jane Smith from background check.
How To Change Negative Thought Patterns
The way in which we think is what makes up the core of our being. It is the dialogue that
goes on inside our own heads that creates the people that we display to the world and the
atmosphere around us. That being said, it can be very easy to allow our thoughts to derail
our being. Our inner thoughts determine how we feel about ourselves and the world
around us. Sometimes people find themselves locked into certain thought patterns that
generate negative feelings and attitudes. These thought patterns can be extremely difficult
to break. There are few things more harmful to a person’s self-confidence and general
happiness that negative self-talk and a negative inner voice. Follow these four steps to
break negative thought patterns and rediscover a positive outlook on life.
Understand the Power of Thought
As with many personal pursuits, the first step to overcoming negative thought patterns is
recognizing the power that these thoughts possess over you. Acknowledging that these
inner thoughts have considerable control over your life and being is essential before
you can make change truly happen. After recognizing that these thoughts are happening
and are harmful, you must train yourself to be more self aware of them. Listen to your
thoughts more attentively throughout your days. You will not be able to simply recognize
that you are having a negative thought and force yourself to change that thought. You
must begin to notice these negative thoughts and then identify when they occur and
how they make you feel and react. When you begin to recognize your negative thought
patterns, strive to understand the power and presence these thoughts have over your life.
Pinpoint Specific Patterns of Negative Thought
Next, you must seek to actually pinpoint these negative thought patterns, identify them,
and then strive to change them. Listen to your thoughts to understand what thoughts
make you feel a negative emotion. Once you are able to identify when thoughts are
making you feel something negative, work to identify specific attributes of those
thoughts. Are there key words or phrases that you use regularly? Maybe there are
recurring images or ideas that pop up with these thoughts? Jot down any patterns in
thoughts, words, images, or emotions that you notice in a thought notebook. By keeping
careful track of the specifics of your inner thoughts and how they make you feel, you will
be better able to alter them. Record how often you have a negative thought that makes
you feel a certain negative way. This will illustrate how often you have these harmful
negative thoughts and the severity of this unwanted dialogue.
Devise Daily Goals
The key to any program for change is creating careful and educated goals. After you
have identified the thought patterns that you would like to alter, set a day to begin your
new thinking practices. Starting from that day forward, challenge yourself to reverse
the thoughts that you are having. It is not enough to just force yourself to think different
things; try to alter the very foundation of these thoughts. Find things to be positive and
happy about when you feel sad. Try to create solutions to your negative thoughts that
can change those thoughts into something more productive. Setting very specific and
reasonable goals is key. Reversing the way you think and feel is no simple task, but by
finding ways to completely flip your normal negative thought patterns, you can help to
change those patters and correct them.
Keep Detailed Notes
Finally, you should continue to keep careful notes about your thoughts and feelings. This
will help you stay on top of whether your efforts are successful or not. Changing your
thought patterns will likely have to be a very conscious and calculated process to begin
with. Record your thoughts when they are negative and record the way in which you
strive to reverse those thoughts. You can use these notes to notice more patterns in your
thoughts that might need improvement or that have been successful. It is important to
remember that this is going to be a long process. Thought patterns that have been in place
for years and years are going to be difficult to change. You must work daily to change
these thoughts and alter your outlook on life.
Editors Note: This is a guest post by Jane Smith from background check. She is a Houston based freelance
writer and blogger. Questions and comments can be sent to: janesmth161 [a] gmail.com
Hi Jane & Baker,
I read a quote that said something along the lines of:”of you knew how destructive negative thoughts were you would never have another one again.”
It made me start to monitor my thoughts my closely.
Hey Justin,
That’s definitely a great quote. I have found that monitoring my thoughts closely, that it allows me to always default to seeing the “bigger picture” Sometimes, people can get too trapped in the small details, that the bigger picture positive clarity gets out of focus. Thanks for sharing the quote!
You tried using background checks to avoid if you might be getting ripped off? Might be worth a try.