How to destroy your negative thoughts

All too often, I see people sit back and say, “My life is the way that it is.” They blame everything on something externally. The biggest takeaway from my very first mentor is that if I want to change my life I need to take responsibility for where I am.?

Did that make you feel like everything is your fault or did that empower you to know that you’re fully in control of your life? Your thoughts will determine your reality. You literally create your reality.?

There's a part of your brain called the reticular activating system. There are approximately 2 trillion bits of information per second that enters your brain, and what the reticular activating system does is filters out everything except for about 200.?

If you’re setting your reticular activating system on all the negative things, you’re going to start to notice more negative things, which means, as I said, you literally create your own reality. If you’re thinking negative thoughts, how are you going to change that to positive ones??

Let me give you an example of the way negativity and positivity work in your brain.

Say you’ve got a big bucket of water with a bed of weeds to your left and a flower bed to your right. The weeds on your left represent negativity while the flower bed on your right represents positivity. You have the option of watering one of the two and whichever you water, will grow. The water is equivalent to your energy and your focus. If you’re putting your energy and focus into negative things, the weeds will grow and if you put your energy into positive things, the flowers will grow.?

Nothing will grow unless you water it.?

So which one are you watering??

Think about your activities, how you speak to yourself, the type of information you choose to take in, and the people you surround yourself with.?Are you actively working on your physical and mental wellbeing or are you numbing it away by scrolling through your phone??Have you got a beautiful, nurturing relationship with yourself, or are you constantly criticizing what you do and how you look??Are you choosing to watch all the bad things that happen in the world through news channels or are you educating yourself with uplifting content??Are you spending time with people who want to see you succeed or ones that are bringing you down??

Can you see how you get a choice in all of it??

Positive thinking won’t happen automatically. Our brain is designed to search for the negatives because that’s how we survived in the wild. But we no longer need that to be a constant so when your brain begins to go towards the negative, pull yourself out before you go into that storm. Become aware and then switch to thinking about something you’re grateful for.?

I want to give you a challenge, and I’d like you to try this for one week. If you’re serious about becoming better at self-love, appreciating yourself, and finding more positive, I want you to get yourself a little notebook, something that you can take with you everywhere.?

1. Write down every single negative thought that pops into your head.

What this does, is it starts to build awareness. You can’t change anything that you’re not aware of. Try not to attach emotion to what you’re writing down, you’re just writing it down. Don’t judge yourself or shame yourself. You’re just writing it down.?

2. Write three positives for every negative you have written down.

By doing this, you begin to rewire and reprogram your brain.?

3. Program yourself with gratitude and positivity from the beginning of your day.

For the first ten to fifteen minutes of the day, focus on something you’re grateful for.?

By doing this, you’ll become aware of just how many negative thoughts cross your mind throughout the day. It’ll become tangible and that’s when you decide to continue down the path of change or stay as you currently are.?

Check out new episodes of The Mindset Mentor podcast every week here .