You know that negative thoughts are unhealthy. Dangerous too. They keep you spinning in a false world so that you miss your real life. They re-wire your brain and personality. Steal your hope. And, energetically set you up for making them come true.
After awhile, negative thinking becomes a habit, maybe even an addiction.
When you decide you want to change, you label these thoughts as bad. You judge them. Resist them. Fight with them. And, this battle only feeds them more.
And then, you judge yourself. Or, just give up.
There is another way. A more loving way.
Simply return to the present moment and align your head with your heart.
This is how you do it:
- Take a deep breath.
- Bring to mind something that warms your heart, like a loved one, cute puppy, baby, or something you are grateful for. Focus on it. Feel it. Savor it.
- Repeat as necessary.
At first you may need to repeat this often, but eventually it becomes your new habit.
A few tips:
- Using the same image for something that warms your heart each time creates an anchor to the present moment and an eventual short cut to get there.
- If negative thoughts try to interrupt the process, don’t resist them. Just let them gently float away.
- Be gentle and loving with yourself as you create this new way of being
Aligning your head and heart in the present moment opens the door to true internal peace and personal power.
What could be better than that?
Perfect post for me as I was memorizing an affirmation by Louise Hay yesterday. “I say out to every negative thought that comes to mind….”
I love Louise Hay! There are many wonderful tools for working with our silly minds. The important thing is to choose what feels light and easy and works for you.
Yes, Flora, we are all oh so human. At least I am. This technique seems to be the one that works best for my clients and myself and it can be done very quickly as well.
Linda,
It’s amazing how good we are at scaring ourselves and bringing ourselves down with negative thoughts. Using this technique works beautifully. When we make it part of our toolkit, we’re armed every time those negative thoughts return.
This is a great way to think about it. I love the focus on the positive. 🙂
A lot of exercises for shifting negative thoughts, don’t include filling the space with something positive. It really makes sense when you do.
This is super well-timed for me! I think it will take a lot of repitition, but hopefully those negative thoughts will bring up those happy pictures! Thanks for the tips!
Yes. It can take a bit of practice, but each time it gets easier and eventually you have a new habit.
Linda, this is seriously the best advice i have heard on dispelling negative thoughts! I love it so much because it’s so simple and easy to remember. I will use my son as my heart warmer because I just can’t help but smile and be filled with love when I think about him 🙂
Thank you!
You are blessed to have someone who symbolizes love in such a powerful way. I recently led a group in this exercise and it took less than a minute their first time. I love simple and easy.