We all have a friend or acquaintance that we try and avoid because they have a negative spin on every situation.

Excited about the new iPhone feature? They’ll tell you how dreadful it is.

Enjoying a new show on Netflix? They’ll tell you all the plot holes.

Trying to decide on a new car? They’ll tell you all the lacking safety features.

This friend’s mind is wrecked by negative thought patterns. I’ve caught myself almost being entertained by how they can spin a positive to a negative right in front of your eyes. Am I alone in this?

Our own negativity

Despite my dislike for this negativity, I find that my natural tendency is to gravitate towards it. I still catch myself daily, as I’m sure you do too.

Sometimes it’s self-loathing, woah is me.

Other times it’s assuming bad intent from others.

In researching, I found it interesting that we’re actually wired for negativity. Those negative patterns aren’t necessarily a bug, but a feature. They help you not make mistakes a second time. But, despite that, it doesn’t change how destructive they can be.

Negative thought patterns can actually harm your brain, making you more likely to get dementia, Alzheimer’s, and other similar diseases.

Knowing this increases my resolve to eliminate, as much as possible, these negative thought patterns from my life.

If we can control our thoughts, we can control our actions. If we can control our actions, we’ll be able to make daily progress towards our goals. If we make daily progress towards our goals, we’re creating a new “me” all along the way. This changes our future outcomes.

Thoughts lead to actions. Actions lead to growth. Growth leads to freedom.

What makes it so hard is that these thoughts appear from nowhere. They enter you’re head and then it’s our job to try and control or extinguish them. This is hard. I mean really hard.

What ends up happening is we focus intently on making that “bad” thought leave, which actually reinforces that it’s there.

There is plenty of research that shows that when we focus on negative thoughts, those thoughts seem to reinforce and repeat more often. This is known as rumination.

Between the looping nature of negative thoughts and the actual physical harm it’s causing you, I’ve been personally motivated to limit the negativity from my life.

So how can we do that?

Thankfully, there are ways to control our thought patterns.

6 ways to control your negative thought patterns

Acknowledge your negative patterns (mindfulness)

This is always the first step.

Acknowledge they’re real.
Admit you’d like to change them.
Redirect them to a more positive outlet.

Change your surroundings

Sometimes the people you surround yourself with are your worst enemy.

Other times it might be the places. Whether it’s a past bad experience or negative overall vibe, places can have real power over us.

Change the people and places when possible.

Meditate

When I think of meditation I now always think about Ron Swanson in Parks & Rec. Anyone else?

Clearing your mind is an essential part of replacing those negative thoughts. Meditation allows you to take a step back and address your thoughts.

Let go of unhealthy expectations

Perfection is not attainable, so quit trying to attain it.

When we place unattainable or unhealthy expectations on ourselves, it’s no wonder our thought patterns go towards negativity.

Ask yourself: what known false beliefs are you holding onto?

Keep moving

When we have downtime we reinforce the negative pattern. If you’re feeling down, stay active. Do something physical, listen to upbeat music, or join friends on an outing.

Phsyical activity releases dopamine which helps reframe your thoughts positively and getting busy distracts you from the repeated negative thoughts.

Practice Gratitude

Gratitude is just reflecting on the positive things in your life.

It’s not reframing, it’s just acknowledging.

Gratitude has been an essential habit for me and is something I think everyone can benefit from.

With each of the practices above, you need to be consistent.

Each time you allow yourself to slip back into a negative thought pattern, you’re allowing the patterns to re-establish themselves.

To truly eliminate these patterns, you need to take many of the practices above and make them daily habits in your life.

The individual practice of one of the above will right your brain in the moment. Establishing them as habits will rewire your brain day after day after day.

But lastly, remember it’s a journey. Embrace the journey and give yourself grace. The more we embrace the journey, the lessons, and the people around us, the more negative thoughts will fade away.

What practices have you implemented that have helped you get past negative thoughts?

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