How to Let Go of Negative Thoughts and Feelings

Negative thoughts and feelings are normal, but they can affect your life in a negative way if they're not dealt with. Although negative thoughts and emotions may seem like something that's out of your control or even "just part of being human, " they're sometimes controllable. By learning how to recognize them, accept them, challenge their validity, and reframe them as positive thoughts instead of negative ones (or just plain let go), you can learn how to live with less stress and anxiety in your life.

Notice your negativity.

The first step to letting go is noticing the negativity the negative thought, the negative feeling, and so on. When you notice your negativity, it's easier to recognize what need to let go of.

If you need help figuring out where to start with this part of the process, an excellent place to look is your behavior. Look at how you act when you feel angry or depressed: do things like snapping at people? Do you procrastinate on important tasks? Do you find yourself avoiding activities that used to be enjoyable for fear of being rejected or embarrassed by others? Are there patterns in your behavior that could be influencing other areas of life such as eating habits or how often (or how little) exercise occurs in your routine?

A person who feels anxious might find themselves overthinking certain situations so much that they become paralyzed by fear and unable to act appropriately when presented with challenges or uncertainty. They might also tend toward perfectionism; trying too hard without giving themselves enough credit for their efforts if they don't achieve perfect results every time (which can lead to feelings of self-loathing).

Understand how it affects you and others around you.

It’s important to understand how negative thoughts and feelings affect you because it will help you feel less alone. Negative thoughts and feelings can be harmful to your health, relationships with others, work performance, self-esteem, and mood.

Accept your negative thoughts and feelings.

Accepting your negative thoughts and feelings is a key step in changing them. You cannot change your thoughts until you accept them, because it’s only when we notice our negative thoughts that we can begin to question them and look at why they might be happening or whether they are even accurate.

Acceptance doesn’t mean that you condone or tolerate the thought it just means that you are willing to let go of it for now, without judgment.

Challenge your negative thoughts.

Negative thoughts are a normal part of being human. However, they can be changed to positive ones. In order to do this, you must first realize that negative thoughts are not the truth. You can re-frame these negative thoughts in a positive way by replacing them with more realistic and helpful ones. For example, instead of thinking “I am horrible at math” (a belief), it might help if you try thinking “I just need to study more” (fact). Another way to turn around your negative thought is by visualizing yourself succeeding at whatever it is you're trying to accomplish whether that's giving a speech or asking someone out on a date and practice the new thought until it becomes habituated in your brain so that eventually your old habit of ruminating on what could go wrong goes away completely.

Visualize a positive outcome.

If you're feeling down about something, try to visualize the situation ending in a positive way. This technique is called "positive visualization" or "creating your own reality." You can do this by imagining yourself happy and fulfilled in the future, then visualizing it actually happening. For example, if you're worried about your job security, imagine yourself being promoted and enjoying life without that fear holding back your career growth, or if you're anxious about going on vacation with some friends who are known to be messy travelers and might leave the place looking like an episode of Hoarders when they leave (they will), imagine them cleaning up after themselves before leaving or better yet, imagine yourself helping them clean up.

People have negative thoughts and feelings, but they can be overcome by awareness, acceptance, reframing, and visualization

Negative thoughts and feelings are common, but they can be overcome by awareness, acceptance, reframing, and visualization.

1st, it's helpful to understand why we often have negative thoughts and feelings. In our culture today there's an emphasis on positive thinking the idea that if you just tell yourself everything's going to be okay or convince yourself that something good will happen then it will actually happen. But this strategy can backfire when it comes to dealing with your own inner critic: the voice inside your head that tells you things aren't working out how they should or could.

2nd, learn how to recognize your negative thoughts and feelings. You might notice them as self-critical thoughts ("I'm not good enough"), low moods (feeling down), or pessimistic predictions about the future ("It'll never work out"). When our minds turn toward these types of thoughts consistently enough over time we start believing them as truth even though they're not real facts. We've all experienced this kind of thing at one time or another; some more than others depending on what kind of environment they grew up in early on in life - like being told over again "You're just lazy" instead of "I need help."

Conclusion

The good news is that negative thoughts and feelings don’t have to control you. There are many techniques that can help you become more aware of them, accept them, reframe them, and visualize a positive outcome. Just remember that these techniques do take practice.

Here are some Affirmations to Release Negative Thoughts - LISTEN