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What's the best way to stop negative thoughts?

Profile: TEMI4LIVE2
TEMI4LIVE2 on May 20, 2015
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1. Meditate: One of the first things I did was head to a yoga class. It took my focus away from my thoughts and brought my attention to my breath. 2. Smile: stand in front of a mirror force yourself to smile. It really does help change your mood and relieve stress. I also felt lighter because it takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown. 3. Surround yourself with positive people: When you’re stuck in a negative spiral, talk to people who can put things into perspective and won’t feed your negative thinking. 4. Change the tone of your thoughts from negative to positive: For example, instead of thinking, “We are going to have a hard time adjusting to our living situation,” think, “We will face some challenges in our living situation, but we will come up with solutions that we will both be happy with.” 5. Don’t play the victim. You create your life—take responsibility: Even if our living situation becomes unbearable, there is always a way out. I will always have the choice to make change happen, if need be. 6. Help someone: Take the focus away from you and do something nice for another person. It will take your mind off of things and you will feel better for helping someone else. 7. Remember that no one is perfect and let yourself move forward: It’s easy to dwell on your mistakes. I felt terrible that I acted this way and that I wasted our weekend. The only thing I can do now is learn from my mistakes and move forward. I definitely don’t want to have a weekend like that again. 8. Sing: When we sing, we show our feelings and this provides an amazing stress relief. 9. List five things that you are grateful for right now: Being grateful helps appreciate what you already have. 10. Read positive quotes: Use Post-It notes with positive quotes on my computer, fridge door, and mirror as reminders to stay positive. Also, I’d like to share with you a quote by an unknown author; Watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habits. Watch your habits, they become your character. Watch your character, it becomes your destiny. Happy positive thinking!
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Profile: ahasbeamer
ahasbeamer on Apr 2, 2015
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Surround yourself with optimistic and grateful people. Read inspirational books and see movies with a moral. However, thoughts can't completely be controlled. So best if a negative thought does occur, just identify then and their if you are being too harsh on yourself or others. Keep a journal to identify thought patterns, this will help change the way you think ^.^
Profile: AprilBabblesOn27
AprilBabblesOn27 on May 20, 2015
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Push them aside with a full force of positive thoughts until the evil negative thoughts can no longer creep up onto you and effect your everyday thinking. Stop them before they can attack full on.
Profile: Glitterybaby
Glitterybaby on Oct 19, 2015
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One of the simplest ways to increase the amount of positivity in your life is to surround yourself with things that inspire positivity. This applies to all areas of your life. Seek out art that makes you feel good, tack up inspiring quotes that inspire positivity, and surround yourself with people who have a positive outlook. We have all heard the phrase “Birds of a feather flock together”, this applies to those that you allow into your life. The more positive the people around you the easier it will be for you to be positive yourself. Fill your home and life with things that make you ‘feel’ good and remind you of all that life has to offer. Another great way to inspire happiness is by sharing it with others. A friendly smile or a simple hello is contagious, share your positive outlook on life and watch it come back to you with even greater power.
Profile: allnaturalUnicorns70
allnaturalUnicorns70 on Apr 11, 2022
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I think the answer would depend on the kind of negative thoughts, and how they come up. Here are some examples: 1. A person who intentionally caused serious hurt or damage to another person wants to stop feeling bad about themselves for what they did. We might suggest they apologize, make amends, and think about how they'd refrain from doing that again. 2. Someone did nothing wrong, and constantly berates themselves for not being "good enough" or for unaccomplished goals. We might want to encourage them to focus on the things they did/do accomplish, and use positive reinforcement to become more successful. 3. Someone suffered a terrible trauma, and has thoughts of self-injury. They know these thoughts aren't helpful, but they can't stop themselves. We might suggest they seek qualified and appropriate professional help if possible. Maybe reminding themselves that they didn't deserve that hurt, and are not a bad person just because a bad thing happened to them might help. I'm sure there are many other examples, my point is that all negatives thoughts aren't equal, and how one handles them ideally would be based on what kind of thoughts they are, and what is in the person's long term best interests. Hope this helps!
Profile: Anonymous
Anonymous on Mar 22, 2015
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For me music is the best way for stopping these thoughts. While playing the guitar or singing, there is no space for negative thoughts, because my focus is on the music. If they are too loud I'm writing. I'm writing all the negative thoughts and after a while they get less intensive. Then I see that I'm again far away from reality and deeply inside my negative thoughts. Awareness can help.
Profile: Anonymous
Anonymous on Apr 28, 2015
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Fill your mind with as many positive things as possible and do healthy activities that you enjoy to distract yourself when it gets bad.
Profile: Alwaysdreamin
Alwaysdreamin on May 7, 2015
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There are a some strategies that you can use to stop negative thoughts. Thought stopping and reframing are two of these strategies. Look up these strategies and practice them. Hopefully, they can help you stop your negative thinking. I have tried the strategies before and hope they will help you.
Profile: Anonymous
Anonymous on May 30, 2015
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This sounds quite silly but the way I stop the negative & intrusive thoughts is to talk to those thoughts, out loud! You can even write down those thoughts and throw them away, physically throw them away into a waste basket. Those negative thoughts do not control you, you are in charge. If that doesn't work try to distract yourself from those thoughts; wether it's going for a walk or spending time with friends. The best thing to prevent having negative thoughts is to train your brain to have a positive outlook, to find the good in every situation.
Profile: hopefulPower94
hopefulPower94 on May 30, 2015
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I find that talking back to those negative thoughts whenever they arise can really help. For example, I tell myself: "I am a horrible person"(unhealthy voice). To talk back I tell myself " I am a good person. I have friends and if I was horrible, I wouldn't have friends." (healthy voice)
Profile: Anonymous
Anonymous on Jun 22, 2015
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Negative thoughts will always be there. If you try to stop them they will come back with a heavier force. But if you want to reduce the power of negative thoughts I would suggest mindfullness. Just download an app on your cellphone and try to practice at least five days in the week. (your brain is going to change itself because of this practice. But it will take time of course.) Further you might Google for cognitive behavior worksheets. They might help you to change your way of thinking. Good luck!
Profile: GermanZebraCupcake
GermanZebraCupcake on Jul 27, 2015
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The best way to stop negative thoughts is to stop them in their tracks and ask yourself, "Can I think about this differently?" Try to put a positive spin on your thoughts for just 24 hours and see what happens. It is very, very tough, but highly rewarding in the long run to diminish the amount of negativity in our lives.
Profile: KDillinea
KDillinea on Aug 24, 2015
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Listening to music is a good way to. I also like watching anime and randomly complimenting people. It's good to make others feel good about themselves. It gives you a sense of purpose and happiness too.
Profile: Anonymous
Anonymous on Aug 25, 2015
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My go-to thing is to think why I'm thinking these negative thoughts and to weigh the evidence for the truth to these thoughts. But I find that doing this when you have these thoughts is tricky, so I first just take a deep breath, accept that I'm having these thoughts and let them pass, and then work on these thoughts more logically.
Profile: Lauryn22
Lauryn22 on Aug 31, 2015
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The best way to stop negative thoughts is to first try and recognise them. A good way to do this is to realise the kind of things you're thinking when you're feeling down or negative and maybe write them down if that helps you to identify them. From then on, you should be able to recognise these negatives thoughts and stop thinking them, and try to replace them with positive thoughts instead.
Profile: blissfulTurtle
blissfulTurtle on Sep 1, 2015
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Things you think often are easier to think. So imagine your negative thoughts are a highway that goes in circles and the positive ones are not yet existing trails, that will lead to the most beautiful places. Force yourself to think positive a few times a day. turn the bad thoughts into something wonderful (especially whenever you are thinking of negative things). At first it might feel rather strange to you, not natural. But after a while you will start to believe them, you will feel stronger and more self confident. Also smile brightly as much as possible, as the brain cannot really tell a difference and it will cheer you up! I wish you the best! Stay strong!
Profile: Hereforyou01
Hereforyou01 on Dec 15, 2015
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Negative thoughts can be tough to deal with. For me, If i'm having a bad day with them, I like to go for a run. Running can be a great way to deal with the raw emotion of negative thoughts and just clear your head. And afterwords, you feel great because the natural endorphin's and running and exercising give you!
Profile: ButterflyOverTime
ButterflyOverTime on Jan 12, 2016
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1) Workout hard til you feel very tired 2) Take a hot shower with calm music 3) Write down all negative thoughts 4) Cross out what are less negative 5) Brainstorm to fix the problem 6) Don't ignore friends and ask them for advice 7) Try not to be stubborn and accept the reality
Profile: FlorenceLovesYou
FlorenceLovesYou on Feb 15, 2016
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When negative thoughts start to flood my mind I catch myself and think "stop. These are negative thoughts, and you don't need this negativity in your life. You're ok, everything will be ok." I put on some music that makes me happy, or if I have time my favorite is to watch something funny. Laughter is powerful.
Profile: CallMeRay
CallMeRay on Feb 23, 2016
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Personally I surrounded myself by my favorite positive quotes and fun designs by hanging them on the wall next to my bed. I think that really helped me and could possibly help others. I just remind myself that there is most than just the negative.
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