Did you know that we have between 12,000 and 60,000 thoughts per day? Unfortunately, our minds often play on repeat, with up to 98% of thoughts being the exact same ones we had the day before. Here’s an even more disturbing figure: research suggests that 70-80% of our thoughts are negative… Woah! That’s up to around 40,000 negative thoughts a day disturbing your mind (and body) equilibrium!
Your mind may feel like a land mine of negative thoughts just waiting to explode, but here’s the good news - you have control of the detonator. And even when you step on those land mines, you can still control the force of the explosion.
Challenging and untwisting negative thinking comes down to: practicing mindful awareness, cultivating diligent focus, and ultimately retraining your brain.
How Negative Thinking Affects Our Physical and Mental Health
Negative thinking is often rooted in our tendency to blame, especially ourselves. So let’s first stop blaming ourselves for having negative thoughts, which really isn’t our fault at all. Rick Hanson Ph.D, neuropsychologist and New York Times best-selling author explains that humans have evolved with a proclivity for negativity as a way to avoid threats.
Today, we don’t have to worry about being eaten by tigers or mauled by bears, but negativity bias still exists - we worry about work, relationships, health, body image…you name it, we will find a threat to focus negatively on!
Our brains are quite literally shaped by our thoughts. Psychology Today reports that ruminating (obsessively focusing on negativity or worry) can actually harm the neural structures in the brain that control emotions, memories, and feelings. The amygdala (the part of the brain that controls emotions) and the thalamus (the part of the brain that transmits sensory and motor signals) can’t tell the difference between hypothetical stress—the negative stories your mind makes up—and real stress that warrants the fight-or-flight response. Whether it’s real or imaginary, stress stimulates the release of the stress hormone cortisol, which, especially if chronic, can damage the hippocampus (the part of the brain that collects memories).
Fact: You are in control of your mind, even if it doesn’t feel like it.
It’s helpful to remember that negative thinking is fear based. And when we fail to manage negative thinking, even the seemingly harmless kind, it can escalate to full-blown depression.
How Negative Thinking Shows Up
Negative thinking can manifest in different ways. Which of the following tendencies are you most prone to?
Expecting the worst
Focusing on what you wish you had versus what you have
Judging yourself critically
Making excuses for your negativity with statements such as: “I’m a realist.”
Being caught up in negative emotions, because sometimes you don’t catch the negative thought until you catch the feeling!
Thinking in extremes with an all or nothing attitude
How to Stand Up to Negative Thinking
The checklist above is important because the first step to challenging negative thinking is to identify it. For example, let’s say you’ve put tons of time and money into a Facebook advertising campaign for your new eyelash business. The outcome? You get some visitors to your website, but nobody bites. Your response? “That’s it! I’m never going to advertise again because it’s just a waste of money and doesn’t work!”
That’s all or nothing negative thinking at its worst. Instead of thinking in black and white, invite in some shades of gray. Perhaps you need to readjust your target demographic on your Facebook ads, or maybe it’s time to try Google ads instead. But throwing in the towel with extreme negativity thinking will keep your business stalled and your mind and body stressed!
So…at first thought you took it to the extreme. That’s okay. Identify the negative thought and then work to release it. Here are a few strategies for releasing your mind from the grip of negative thoughts.
Strategies to Untwist Negativity
1. Focus on Something Else
Sure, you could throw in a positive thought or affirmation to replace the negative…but you could also take the pressure off by putting all your focus elsewhere—like on a crossword or Sudoku puzzle. Focusing intensely and engaging in an activity keeps you from feeding the negative thought so that it doesn’t spiral out of control.
2. Reschedule the Thought
What if, when a negative thought is bubbling up to the surface, you said to yourself, “Nope. I’ll wait until next Monday to think of that.” It’s a handy way to trick your brain into thinking that it will still get to stew if it’s patient. And chances are, by the time next Monday rolls around, the negative thought or situation will have already resolved itself.
3. Allow It
Sometimes, shoving a negative or worrisome thought aside can lead to a bigger explosion down the line. According to the situation, it’s okay to allow yourself to think about the negative thought in an aware manner. Confront what’s troubling you, recognize the stories you are creating and how they exist nowhere but in your mind, and then release it. That negative thought will be less likely to pop back into your mind in the future.
4. Reframe It
You could potentially have a negative thought about the most positive experience. Let’s say you win the lottery. Chances are high that you’ll be ecstatic! But then…negativity could very easily creep in as you start to worry that you have no idea how to invest such large sums of money, that the government is going to take half of it in taxes anyway, that people are going to pop out of the woodwork and want a cut…woah! Slow down! Time to reframe the experience and focus on the freedom winning the lotto brings!
5. Manage Multitasking
Our society venerates multitasking, but research shows it is totally ineffective, for both productivity and for keeping your thoughts on a positive incline. Stanford University researchers showed that it’s much more productive to focus on a single task at a time. The increased mental load from multitasking leads to a scattered brain and more chances for negative thoughts to catch you unaware.
6. Keep Good Company
Negative people who complain a lot will rub off on you! And positive people will too, so chose your social circle wisely. Consider unfriending yourself from negative real world relationships.
7. Be Gracious
When you start to ruminate on what you don’t have, flip the script and start focusing on what you do have. Make a gratitude list of everything in your life you have to be thankful for. When we are stuck in our heads and the thoughts are running rampant, sometimes it’s helpful to turn the attention away from ourselves and onto others. Volunteer your time to a cause you care about and away from your source of worry.
8. Cultivate Mindfulness Practices
It’s extremely helpful to have a meditation practice that you can turn to when you notice your thoughts verging on the negative. There are tons of useful meditation apps for different circumstances. Check out the awesome Insight Timer for free. Exercises such as yoga and tai chi can also help.
So, to recap—because retraining the brain takes repetition—be aware of when you are making stuff up in your brain, train yourself to be mindful of your thinking, don’t minimize all the good things in your life, help someone else, release blame, and for goodness sake…go and have some fun!
Amy Lucas
LA based actress and writer, Amy Lucas, is our resident beauty blogger. With a penchant for living life to full, you'll find her here sharing her musings on health & wellness and of course beauty. We're sure you'll love her positive, open and honest approach to life. It's a much needed breath of fresh air and we are thrilled to have her as a contributing author on the Glad Lash Blog! You can read more from Amy at her personal blog www.musingsofaminx.com.
Did you know that we have between 12,000 and 60,000 thoughts per day? Unfortunately, our minds often play on repeat, with up to 98% of thoughts being the exact same ones we had the day before. Here’s an even more disturbing figure: research suggests that 70-80% of our thoughts are negative… Woah! That’s up to around 40,000 negative thoughts a day disturbing your mind (and body) equilibrium!
Your mind may feel like a land mine of negative thoughts just waiting to explode, but here’s the good news - you have control of the detonator. And even when you step on those land mines, you can still control the force of the explosion.
Challenging and untwisting negative thinking comes down to: practicing mindful awareness, cultivating diligent focus, and ultimately retraining your brain.
It’s helpful to remember that negative thinking is fear based. And when we fail to manage negative thinking, even the seemingly harmless kind, it can escalate to full-blown depression.
So, to recap—because retraining the brain takes repetition—be aware of when you are making stuff up in your brain, train yourself to be mindful of your thinking, don’t minimize all the good things in your life, help someone else, release blame, and for goodness sake…go and have some fun!
