< Go Back Overcoming negative thoughts Posted: Jun 2, 2014 The first step towards overcoming your negative thoughts is
to realise that you're not the only one - everybody, even the most positive person,
gets negative thoughts!
Olympian John Konrads
won one gold and one bronze medal in the 1960 Rome Olympics. During an interview following the 400-meter
freestyle, for which he won the bronze medal, John said that he lost focus by
nurturing negative thoughts on how his arch rival Murray was going to perform. H e admitted that although he had convinced
himself he could win, these negative thoughts got in the way and blew his
chances.
Negative thoughts are commonplace and anyone can fall victim
to them. However, it's not the presence
of negative thoughts but the way we handle them and react to them that either
breaks or makes our confidence and self-esteem. This is because nothing in life has any meaning other than the meaning
you give to it. If you allow negative
thoughts to harm you they will and, conversely, if you allow them to help you they
will do that too.
When developing and maintaining a positive outlook on life it's
important to bear a few points in mind:
You're not the only one that gets negative
thoughts; everyone in the world gets them.
Negative thoughts, per se, don't harm you - it's
what you say to yourself after the thought has entered your head that does the
damage.
You can change the impact of any thought simply by
changing what it means to you.
Staying positive in life is not achieved by
ignoring or denying negative thoughts but by handling them more smartly.
The main thing to remember is that it isn't the actual event
that causes the negative thoughts and emotions; it's the internal conversations
you have with yourself in response to the trigger or event that cause you to feel
despondent, negative or pessimistic. Once
you can identify the triggers and events and analyse your responses to them you
can deliberately change your responses from unhelpful to helpful, un-resourceful
to resourceful, negative to positive.
