7 Strategies For Challenging Your Negative Thoughts

In this episode, I’ll dive into the importance of challenging negative thoughts and present 7 actionable strategies to help you foster a more positive mindset. From self-affirmation to practicing gratitude, these steps offer a comprehensive approach to transforming your mental landscape. These are the exact strategies I use daily to stay positive and focused, and I'm excited to share them with you!

5 Key Lessons:

1. Self-Affirmation: Telling yourself three things you love about yourself can boost your confidence and counteract negative thoughts.

2. Engage in Physical Activity: Moving your body can release endorphins, reduce stress, and improve your overall mood.

3. Journaling: Writing down your thoughts offers a safe space to process your emotions and clear your mind.

4. Surround Yourself with Positive People: Being around uplifting individuals can help you stay positive and motivated.

5. Practice Gratitude: Taking time to acknowledge and appreciate what you have can shift your focus from negative to positive.

Call To Action: 

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Next Week’s Episode:

👉 Next week, join us for an inspiring discussion with author, life, and career coach Janet Zavala, where we'll dive into recognizing self-sabotaging behaviors!

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https://createthebestme.com/ep083 

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https://www.buzzsprout.com/1949561/episodes/15549367

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1949561/episodes/15511920 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Positive Thinking
• 0:54 Understanding Negative Thoughts
• 2:07 Self-Affirmation Techniques
• 3:03 Physical Activity for Mental Health
• 3:32 The Power of Journaling
• 3:45 Surround Yourself with Positivity
• 4:06 Mindfulness Practices
• 4:35 Giving Yourself Grace
• 5:24 Practicing Gratitude
• 5:42 Personal Experience and Challenge
• 6:36 Conclusion and Next Steps

Transcript

0:00

Today I will share seven tips to help you challenge your negative thoughts and promote positive daily behaviors. This is the exact strategy I use to ensure I'm manifesting more positive thoughts. And the few times I have failed to use this strategy, I have found that my day almost feels like everything is falling apart. Today, I'm excited to share my positive strategy to confidently challenge your negative thoughts and attract more positive thoughts daily. These techniques have helped me immensely, and I believe they can do the same for you too. By consistently implementing this strategy, you'll start to feel amazing and draw more friends toward you as people are naturally attracted to those who uplift them. Did you know we have 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts daily, 95 percent which are repetitive and 75 to 80 percent negative. While we can't control our thoughts, we can choose which ones to focus on and how they affect our behavior. So what do I mean when I say negative thoughts? Maybe you didn't get a good night's sleep. Then you run a mental checklist of everything you need to complete today. You start thinking, can anything be rescheduled for tomorrow or later in the week? And those negative thoughts start creeping in. You couldn't do that task anyways, because you don't know how. Or there you go again, putting things off. No one cares if you do it or not. And then the good thoughts come in. You can do this with your eyes closed. Everyone cares what you do, that's why they asked you. Now let's explore the strategies that will undoubtedly improve your ability to focus on positive thoughts and empower your behavior. Self affirmation. Stop what you're doing right now. Find a mirror look deep into your eyes and tell yourself three things you love about yourself. I love that you're creative. I love that you're an amazing problem solver. I love that you're a good mom. Acknowledge that it's normal to have negative thoughts, but those negative thoughts do not define who you are. Last week was challenging for me. I had several things that did not go as planned. I noticed the more I dwelled on how I felt things should have gone, the more I began to develop self-doubt. And this challenging week suddenly became personal. So I stopped right there where I was at. I'll share more about that later. Engage in physical activity. Go out walking, running, or scan YouTube for any workout or yoga videos. The goal is to be active. Did you know movement makes us feel better, sleep better, reduces anxiety, releases endorphins, which helps relieve stress. A busy mind is a healthy mind. The key is to keep busy. Journaling. Write a letter to yourself or write what you are thinking or going through right now. Give your thoughts a safe place to live and get out of your head. Surround yourself with positive people. Find one or two people you trust and be present. We are social beings. We were designed to be among other people. The key is to be social. Go out, surround yourself with people. Practice mindfulness, go outside, take your shoes off, put your feet in the grass, feel the energy that comes from the grass. Breathe in the air, grounding or earthing, this is so important, if you have a pet, pet them, love on them, embrace the sweet energy and love that your pet has to offer. Give yourself grace. What is the root of your negative thoughts? Is it your weight? Is it your appearance? Is it menopause? It's okay, guess what? We're all going through this and it's perfectly normal. You're not alone. Could it be frustration because you couldn't do something correctly? Or the outcome didn't look or provide the results that you had anticipated? That's okay. It's all part of growing and learning. Give yourself grace to accept, that it's okay. Everyone's beginning looks different and you need to love your beginning so that you can embrace your middle and your end. Practice gratitude. Be grateful for everything you have. Your family, your health, your friends, your pets, your home, your job. Being grateful for everything you have accomplished so far and celebrate them. So, back to my challenging day, when I stopped and separated myself from the challenges that I was faced with and just took the time to engage in activity, tell myself three things I loved about myself. Journal, surround myself with positive people, my husband and my daughter. Practice mindfulness. Give myself grace and be grateful. I was able to come back into my office and solve a technical problem that several techs told me did not have a solution. So by choosing to listen to my positive thoughts, which changed my behavior, I was able to think more clearly and resolve a problem which I had been told had no possible solution. So, this week, I want to challenge you to try my 7 step strategy, then come back and tell me about your results. If you want additional information that was not discussed, head on over to createthebestme.com/ep083. And if you found value in today's episode, make sure to subscribe, give us a thumbs up, and share this episode with a friend who could use a little encouragement in shifting their negative thoughts. Join us next week for an inspiring discussion with author, life and career coach, Janet Zavala, she will be discussing recognizing self-sabotaging behaviors. Until then, keep dreaming big, take care of yourself, and remember you were beautiful, strong, and capable of creating the best version of yourself. Thank you for watching. Catch you next week. Bye for now.