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Aug 9, 2024 · Don’t Think About Your Thoughts. It can be valuable for clients to learn the challenges surrounding suppressing negative thoughts and the potential for rebound effects. Step one – Choose a negative thought that often bothers you. Step two – Spend a few minutes (three to five minutes) trying not to think about it.
- Overview
- Dealing with Bad Thoughts in the Moment
- Reducing Bad Thoughts Over Time
- Types of Negative Thoughts
Negative thoughts can be a persistent, invisible weight that you carry from day to day. We get how overwhelming and even isolating these thoughts can be—but you don’t have to struggle on your own. We’ll walk you through plenty of strategies to help you eliminate negative thinking and get bad thoughts out of your head, like practicing mindfulness, practicing gratitude, and restructuring your unwanted thoughts. We’ll even take a look at the most common types of negative thoughts so you’ll have an easier time acknowledging and getting rid of them.
Analyze a specific negative thought: how is it helping you? Try reworking it into a more positive thought instead.
Distract yourself from negative thoughts by doing a fun activity.
Vent to a trusted friend or loved one about your negative thoughts, or write about them in a journal.
Reframe the bad thought as something positive.
You can actually make yourself feel better and rewire your brain to think more positively by reframing negative thoughts whenever they come up. For example:
Bad thought: Everyone at work must hate me. I’m such an awkward person.
Better way to reframe it: People at work probably don't feel that strongly about me. I’m my own person with unique quirks. Genuine, worthwhile people will accept me for who I am.
This takes practice and can feel a bit unnatural at first, but if you practice, eventually it will be second nature!
Vent about your feelings to a friend or loved one.
Give yourself a specific amount of time each day to think negatively.
Instead of trying to suppress your negative thoughts and worries throughout the day, create a set period (like 15 or 20 minutes) where no thoughts are “off-limits.” Let yourself think as many negative thoughts as you want during this period—but once it’s over, stop actively indulging any negative thoughts.
Schedule these sessions at the same time each day, whether that’s first thing in the morning or right before you head to bed.
Infuse humor into the more negative aspects of your daily life.
Instead of defaulting to self-defeating thoughts,
give yourself permission to laugh
All-or-nothing thoughts leave you trapped in a web of perfectionism. You either do something perfectly, or you completely miss the mark: there is no middle ground.
“I missed two problems on my quiz. I totally screwed up!”
“I didn’t finish clearing out my inbox today. What a total waste of an afternoon!”
Filtered thoughts remove all the positive elements of a situation so you can only see things in a negative light.
Your teacher compliments you on making so much progress on a project, but you only focus on what you haven’t completed yet.
Your piano teacher mentions all the improvements you’ve made on a piece, but you can only think about the mistakes you made during your performance.
Oct 31, 2023 · Use relaxation techniques: If you find yourself having a negative thought, use a relaxation technique such as progressive muscle relaxation or deep breathing to refocus your attention elsewhere. Meditate: Halt the negative thought by trying a quick meditation to shift your focus to more positive thoughts.
Apr 6, 2024 · The first step in breaking the сyсle of rumination is to pay attention to your thought patterns. It is important to know your hot spots, whether it’s a particular situation, emotion, or ...
Jun 6, 2024 · Try meditation or deep breathing. Meditating aims to clear your mind, which means it may help you stop ruminating. When you find yourself with a repeating loop of thoughts, seek out a quiet space ...
Jun 26, 2024 · 4. Distract Yourself. Distracting yourself from what is making you anxious can be one of the easiest ways way to stop rumination. The goal is to find activities that will keep your mind so busy that it prevents you from thinking about the problem or worry.
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Jul 20, 2021 · Make a model (e.g., little animals) out of clay and bake it. Draw characters out of a children's picture book e.g., Peppa Pig. Play frisbee. Do a word finder puzzle. (Dollar stores sell books of ...