Easy-to-Follow Steps To Stop Thinking Negatively

Courtesy of WomanPulse Blog

I used to think that if I imagined a negative outcome that a positive one will occur instead or when the positive one pops out, I would be pleasantly surprised.  I have no clue where I got this idea, but I rolled with it for years and years till I got tired of it.

News flash people, being a Negative Nancy is fucking tiresome, lame and at times depressing.  Just waiting for the next shoe to drop is so 90’s grunge, and you know we are knee-deep in the millennial era now.  I am a self-professed self-help book aficionado, and once I had enough of the dark cloud hovering over me, I went into a reading frenzy in the quest for the magic Happy Pill in books.

Eventually, I found it!  By no means am I an obnoxiously happy-go-lucky jerk, but I do have a semi-permanent smirk on my face.  Turn that frown upside down said the Joker, and I agree.  It is so much better to smile than to frown; it creates fewer wrinkles on the face.

From my self-help books research, I found that it is important to live in the moment and not to worry about the past or the future.  Worry about what’s happening now, if there is something to worry about.  Most of the time, after changing my focus to the present moment, I would realize that there is nothing to worry about.

If there is something to worry about, do so, but only on those things, YOU CAN CONTROL.  I would worry about things that I had no control over, and that shit was miserable times ten; horrible.  It was frustrating, to say the least.  Instead, I learned to change my perspective on those things I can’t control and to change those that I can (if I wanted to).

Hunt for the good.  Believe it or not, there is ALWAYS something good in every shitty situation.  The silver lining if you may.  Sometimes it’s not so easy to hunt for these things because the situation may be super shitty and overwhelming, but making a resolute choice to pursue the good stuff, makes one feel less crappy about what’s going on.  While hunting for the good, not only will I identify those good things but I will tell myself why it is so good to me, and guess what?! A smile will creep in on my face just thinking about it!  It was like daydreaming about heaven while being stuck in hell.  A perfect breath of fresh air!  

Compare your situation to others.  Yes, I said it! Compare yourself, but the trick is to compare yourself to someone worst off.  If you can’t find something good in your present situation, look around.  You are bound to see or know of someone who is worst off than you.  We are so focused on our struggles that we sometimes walk around blind to others pain.  If you observe and take a look, you will see that others have worst situations than you.  This could inspire you to do better and not feel so crappy about what you have going on or at the very least be grateful that you are not that person.

Be thankful for what you have.  I wake up grateful to breathe and live, and I go to sleep happily for the day I’ve experienced.  When you are grateful for the little things in life, the big things make you super happy, and you become a pro at focusing on the good in your life, and this ladies and gents will make you into an obnoxiously happy jerk a more balanced individual.