How to Change Negative Thinking in 3 Steps

How to Change Negative Thinking in 3 Steps

Bad moods and negative thinking are all part of the human experience.

Unfortunately, when you’re just letting them happen to you without intentional thought-work, that bad mood or negative thought can turn into a spiral that lasts for weeks, months, maybe even years on end.

The good news is, while you can’t permanently ban bad moods and negative thinking from your existence, you can make them work for you and reduce the recurrence of them.

Let’s dig into how to change negative thinking in three steps.

How to Change Negative Thinking in 3 Steps

Accept Your Negative Thought

The first step is to accept the negative thought or bad moment you’re currently experiencing.

Negative thoughts and bad moments are all part of the human experience. Society tells us we should be happy all the time, but the truth is, without the bad, we wouldn’t be able to appreciate the good.

If you try to resist negative thinking, it will only persist further, and it can spiral into toxicity.

One way people commonly try to resist negative thinking is by suppressing it with something that helps them “numb out.”

Eating junk food, drinking alcohol, bingeing Netflix, using drugs, over-spending, and over-consuming social media are just a handful of ways people try to escape negative thoughts.

But instant gratification is a temporary “fix” to a long-term problem that only persists when you don’t get to the heart of the matter.

That’s why the first step is to accept your negative thought for what it is.

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Examine Your Negative Thinking

This step is where you get to the root of your negative thinking so you can change it in a productive and healthy manner.

Examine the bad thought you’re thinking. Being intentional about examining your bad thoughts can prevent you from taking a bad mood, to a bad day/week/month/year.

What you think about what happens to you can transition into an entire bad season of your life-but only if you let it.

Negative emotions can create evidence of what you don’t want to create more of if you don’t take them captive. The last thing you want to do is create more of the same, which will only prolong your negative thinking.

A good example of this is opening your bank account or a bill statement, and seeing a specific number. That number on your bill statement or bank account can make you feel any number of ways, but at the end of the day, it’s really just a number on a piece of paper.

The same can be said for seeing a specific number when you step onto the scale. How many times have you let that number dictate the course of your day, or, worse, your life?

Facts are neutral. It is the stories we tell about the facts that make us feel bad.

In examining your negative thinking, ask yourself this question:

“What is making me feel bad right now, and how can I shift my thinking to work for me, and not against me?”

Shift your thinking in the direction you want to go, one thought at a time.

The goal is for your thinking to serve you, not deteriorate you.

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Do the Opposite of What Your Brain Tells You to Do

Your thoughts create your feelings which create your actions.

Act from your future. Who is your future self? Show up as her in your thinking. How does future you think and feel?

Now, this is the most challenging part-begin to take the actions of your future self right now.

Do the opposite of what your brain is telling you to do.

If future you dresses a certain way, dress like her now-even if you don’t feel like it.

Align your thoughts, feelings, and actions as her. It’s going to be uncomfortable at first, but nothing extraordinary ever came from comfort zones.

It’s easy to succumb to emotional laziness, which is where you engage in habits that are comfortable in order to assuage your negative thinking and feelings, such as eating junk food and the other bad habits I mentioned above.

But emotional laziness only leaves you stuck. Growth only comes from outside of comfort zones.

So, whatever your brain is telling you to do in the moment-do the opposite!

I can attest this works.

At the time I’m writing this, I recently lost my beloved domesticated house rabbit, who passed away of old age. In the past if I went through a heartbreaking circumstance or even received a piece of bad news, I would resign myself to my bed all day.

This time around, I didn’t take the day off work. I didn’t stay in bed all day.

Yes, I grieved, and I allowed myself to-as you should when coping with loss (remember-the first step is to accept). But I didn’t give in to the old, comfortable ways I used to process hard situations.

And trust me, I wanted to-but I fought against it.

Instead, I worked a full day, went on walks with my husband, and kept on going-even when everything in me wanted to shut down for a day or two and just wallow in my misery (which wouldn’t have benefitted me at all).

Operating outside of my comfort zone not only helped me adjust to life a little bit quicker as I grieved the loss of my little guy, it actually helped me grieve in a healthy manner.

But this is just one example of many putting these three steps into practice in my own life in the throes of bad moods, negative thinking, and tough circumstances.

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Before You Go

You are so much bigger than a bad mood and negative thoughts!

Don’t let a bad mood persist into the coming days, weeks, and months ahead.

Remember: Nothing has gone wrong. You are simply a human going through the human experience.

When you follow these three steps, it won’t eliminate bad moods or negative thinking entirely, but it will enable you to be less dramatic about it and the negative thoughts won’t persist nearly as long.

Instead, you’ll make your negative thoughts work for you, not against you.

I read and reply to every comment I receive, so don’t be afraid to drop me a line! As always, thanks for reading.

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Lisa

Hi! I'm Lisa. I help women live purposeful, fulfilling and joyful lives. I'm happily married and a fur mom to two boxers and two rabbits. I love Jesus, freelance writing, fitness, personal development, reading books, football, cross-stitching, and video games.