Negative thoughts often seep into our minds and take them over. It can be difficult to shoo them away, especially if we let them ruminate in our heads long enough. I often fixate over negative thoughts in my head for hours, thinking of how they make me feel. They are my own inner bully—each critical thought building on the other. Yes, genetic makeup and chemical imbalances can be to blame for this uncontrollable thought process of negativity, yet there are steps that can be taken to redirect such thoughts and rewire the network of your brain.
Many of these mechanisms have helped me swat away negativity. I first have to force myself to confront these thoughts head-on, so to speak. I’m often so fixed on my inner voice that it feels like another person inside my head. When I confront this “other” voice and write down the negative comments it’s spewing, it’s shocking to see how critical and harsh these thoughts are. Once I record them, I am allowed endless room to analyze and delve into their causes and reliability. Do they reflect reality? How can I redirect this thought to make it more purposeful and accurate? Each of these questions is important to ask in order to really string out these negative ideas and get to the core of the issue. This has really worked for me as I often get so deep into my head and negativity that I forget whether or not the thoughts are truly accurate or relevant to myself in the present.
Confronting negative thoughts as they arise is very important. If they are left to settle and sink into our minds, we might forget to question whether or not they are legitimate, and if they are really worth our attention. Everyone has an inner critic, but we often forget how powerful it can be until it gets out of hand. Take time to control this critic and swat away its negative opinions that are pulling you down. I am definitely still attempting to practice and master this skill. There is no reason to allow an inner critic, whose name itself entails a negative entity, to pull you down and blind you from the good in life. Take time to control it, question it and swat it away.