Negative Thought Hunting
Get out of your way! (in just a few minutes each day)
[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC4BYZlHSmg” width=”500″ height=”300″]
So there I was. Beating myself up for not making what I perceived was the right decision on a personal issue. In came the negative thoughts which led to some colorful self-talk.
Have you ever experienced this?
It arrived without my realizing and gripped my thoughts and emotions. In this case it was about five minutes of negative mind chatter before I caught it. “I messed that one up!” “I’m not good enough!” “Here we go again.” I was blown away by the negative self-talk I was using.
At times it felt like it was coming from somewhere else…and it was.
Typically, negative thoughts and negative self-talk are rooted in stress you carry from the past.
Maybe someone used to talk to you this way. Maybe you’ve had some intense past experiences and think that because it happened that way before it’s bound to happen again. Either way, experiences from your past create limiting beliefs and stress patterns. These beliefs and stresses hide in your subconscious mind and come out to play whenever triggered…and then the negative party begins.
The biggest problem here is that what you think matters. Your thoughts drive your speech and behavior and play a role in creating your future. What you focus on grows!
So what do you do about it?
Two steps to eliminating negative thinking.
1. Eliminate stress and limiting beliefs. This is number one as it eliminates negativity at its root forever.
a. Practice a daily retreat that includes meditation.
b. Check out ERT as a way to eliminate stress and clear your mind of negativity
2. Negative thought hunting. In the moments that you catch yourself thinking negatively try the following strategy. In the beginning, it helps to take a couple of minutes a day to practice. Once practiced, it can be done in seconds.
Daily Practice
These steps are a foundational flow to get you started. Feel free to tweak and “make yours” as needed.
Phase 1: Think and Ask
Review what’s going on in your life recently. Check in with what’s going on that day or what’s coming up in the future. Check to see what negative thoughts arrive. What negative thoughts are getting in the way?
Example 1:
1: Life Review: “I have that presentation coming up on Friday.”
2: Negative Thought Pattern: “I’m not good at public speaking and last time people kept talking during the presentation.” Or “There’s never enough time to get properly prepared.”
Example 2:
1. Life Review: “I’ve noticed I haven’t heard from Aunt Nancy lately.”
2. Negative Thought Pattern: “She’s probably still angry at me for talking about politics at Christmas” or “She doesn’t pay enough attention to me and she likes my brother more.”
Phase 2: The Flow
1. Allow the thought pattern to come forward until you see/feel it.
2. Say, “It’s not real.” “It’s completely made up.” (Take a moment to feel the meaning of these words. Visualize the negative thoughts losing power as you realize it’s made up mind chatter.)
3. Say, “I take my power back from this pattern now.” (Feel it surging/flowing back to you)
4. Say, “As I feel the surge, I feel myself expanding and expressing more of who I really am…the power and presence of Divine Energy!”
5. Give gratitude for this excercise.
The Daily Practice In Action!
The above steps are a way to practice. Once practiced you can use this technique on the fly. It’s simple! When you catch yourself thinking negatively, take a few seconds to catch the mental patterning and remember that it’s not real. Smile as you feel your energy coming back to you.
KEY POINTS:
1: This is not about repressing emotions. It’s the thoughts attached to the emotions that you’re catching. This will allow you to actually experience the sensation of emotions without attaching the thought file to it.
2: This is a foundation flow. Feel free to make adjustments to the flow.
3. Feel real, authentic happiness by enrolling in the Emotional Detox program. Another great way to eliminate negative beliefs at the core!
Children’s Corner: Positive Self-Analysis
Support children’s positive self-talk by teaching them to analyze the positive aspects of their own work/performance/etc.
When kids come to you for praise rather than saying the normal, “Great Job!” ask them to describe what they like about their work or performance.
For example, “Mom, is my drawing good?” Your response, “Hmmm, let me take a look. What part of the drawing do you like the best?”
Once a positive approach to critiquing oneself is developed you can ask them to look at aspects of their work they think should be improved.
Another great way to support kids in thinking positively is to guide them to look at the positive aspects of other’s work/performances.
