How to Stop Negative Thoughts and Anxiety

"I do not fix problems. I fix my thinking. Then problems fix themselves"- Louise Hay


According to Scientists, about 60,000 thoughts come into our mind throughout a day and 80% of them are negative. These thoughts are called automatic negative thoughts or ANTs.
If someone asks what negative thoughts mean for me, my answer will be like this: Any thought which when appears in your mind, robs smile from your face, makes you stop doing what you were doing, makes you lazy, makes tears roll on your cheek and most importantly, make you anxious. So in short term, negative thought is a blockage to happiness and productivity.
Some of the thoughts are generated from the inside and some come from people and the negative environment around us. Even a single negative thought can ruin your whole day. Moreover, it stimulates the areas of the brain involved in depression and anxiety.
 If you have a serious anxiety disorder or depression, you better go for medical advice and therapies. But, if you do not need diagnosis or treatment and you simply want to get rid of negative thought patterns practicing positivism, here are three effective ways to stop negative thoughts and anxiety.

How to Stop Negative Thoughts and Anxiety

1) Question your thoughts

Because
YOUR THOUGHTS ARE NOT ALWAYS TRUE

Most people never question their thoughts whether they are true or false. We believe every thought that comes to our mind to be true, especially the negative ones, which results in anxiety and sadness. However, our thoughts don’t necessarily reflect the truth and there is a high chance that what we think is not true at all. 
Isn’t it a relief to know that the negative thoughts and feelings that rub our mental health making us anxious are not true at all?
I was one of the most people, who believe every thought that comes to mind. Due to false thoughts and beliefs in my life, I have cried a lot, have ruined my exams, and have become sick mentally and physically. Remembering those moments, I regret why I didn’t question those thoughts whether they were true or not.  Because the thoughts that took my peace of mind were not true and those pity moments would not have existed if I had questioned them then. So, whenever negative thought come to your mind, pay attention to that then ask yourself these two questions:

 Is it true?
Are you sure it is true?

I am sure that your answer will be NO to these questions. If you get YES, you should look for solutions to get relief from that thought rather than feeling anxious.
 
Some days ago, I got to know about a job vacancy, which was suiting my academic qualification and the salary was beyond my expectation. But the problem was that I didn’t want to do that job. My head was full of negative thoughts which said that I would never be able to find such a high-paying job and I was being foolish by not grabbing the opportunity. My mind was roaming around those thoughts for a long time making me anxious. Finally, I kept calm and questioned my thoughts: Is it true that I will not be able to find such a high-paying job? After some seconds, a word came out of my thoughts –NO. I was experiencing great relief after that and slept nicely.
 
So, please question your thoughts before feeling sorrowful or anxious and suffering from any kind of mental illness.


2) Divert your mind into positive thoughts


Whenever negative thoughts and feelings hijack your mind, try to divert your mind toward something positive. In other words, feed it some positive thoughts. Of course, you will not feel good immediately as there will be a war between negative and positive in your mind and the negative thoughts will be dominating the positive ones. However, when you keep focusing on the positives, slowly the negatives will be defeated. As a result, you will feel good and see the power of positive thoughts. What positive thoughts you feed and how you feed is totally up to you. You can say whatever gives you positive vibes and you can say them aloud or in your head; what is important is that you should be focused.

 

You can follow the following steps to overcome negative thoughts and anxiety:

Step 1: Relax your body and take some deep breaths
Step 2: Say positive statements that help you overcome negativity and anxiety. Imbibe positive thoughts as you inhale and throw out negativity as you exhale.
Step 3: Remember all the things that happened earlier in your life that prove your negative thoughts and anxiety to be useless.   


So, what you have to do is to focus on the positives. Repeat steps 1 and 2 again and again remembering the 3rd step, you will feel good and start smiling after few minutes.

 

I used to be worried about my career most of the time. I still feel anxious but not as much as before. Whenever I feel worried and anxious due to negative thoughts in my head, I follow the above-mentioned steps. I go outside my house, get some fresh air and breathe deeply. Then I say in mind that- THE UNIVERSE IS ALWAYS IN MY SUPPORT. WHATEVER HAPPENED, HAPPENED FOR GOOD AND WHATEVER WILL HAPPEN, WILL HAPPEN FOR BETTER.

 

This sentence brings a wave of relief to my mind. Then I remember all the good things that happened to me. Once, when I was preparing for my entrance exam, I got a Facebook message from one of my seniors from school requesting me to help to prepare for the same exam. Although I too was struggling, I decided to meet her thinking that we will share our knowledge. But what happened is, I couldn’t help her a single time, she was the one who helped me. She helped me throughout the exam process, from filing the form to many other things, which would have been tough for me to do by myself. I believed that she was sent to me by the universe to help me even if I didn’t ask for that.

 

So, THE UNIVERSE IS ALWAYS IN MY SUPPORT. WHATEVER HAPPENED, HAPPENED FOR GOOD AND WHATEVER WILL HAPPEN, WILL HAPPEN FOR BETTER.

3) Have faith in yourself

Nothing in the world can destroy you when you have faith in yourself and the same goes for negative thinking. If you believe in yourself, you will have confidence that you can achieve what you want no matter how difficult it is and you will not be scared by the negative opinions and situations that come on your way.
So, you must have faith in yourself. I believe that the first step of believing in yourself is to love yourself. Loving yourself means doing things that you love. when you do things that you love, you put your all into that work resulting in success. It boosts your confidence and you start having faith in yourself.


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