“Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will”

Zig Ziglar

Do you ever notice your thinking slipping too far into the negative? It’s easy during these troubling times. We have a global pandemic, an economic crisis, and divisions among society.

Simply reading the news can spike up your cortisol levels and send you into stress mode. We are overburdened at work and can feel our resources are spread too thin.

This pressure leads to emotional hijacks and short term thinking. This takes a toll on our relationships and can be destructive to our long term plans.

Does it have to be this way?

No, it doesn’t. But it takes practice. It takes some mindfulness to recognise the negative thinking and some self-regulation to stop negative emotions spiralling out of control.

Humans have evolved to focus on the negative. It’s hard-wired into our system. Be on alert. Run from the sabre-tooth tiger. It has served us well by keeping us alive.

The problem in the modern age is that many of the “threats” we face are not life/death situations, but we respond as though they are. We are not being chased down by a sabre-tooth tiger, but we still experience an extreme emotional response.

Think back over the last six months. No doubt you have encountered many fears which came to pass. You felt anxiety and lost sleep worrying over events which “could” happened. How many of them actually became a reality?

Catch yourself

The practice is to try and catch yourself when these negative spirals come on and break the pattern. Easier said than done. But just by being aware of these negative thought patterns can help.

Focus on the positive

Positive psychology research has suggested that a positive to negative affect ratio was above 2.9 for individuals classified as flourishing. 

This suggests that there is an opportunity to be happier and more fulfilled by simply making a conscious effort to focus on generating more positive emotions vs negative emotions in your day.

Reflection

• When are you slipping into thinking that doesn’t serve you? 
  • What strategies could you implement to combat this?
    
• What are some things that trigger positive or negative emotions for you? 
  • How can you incorporate more or less of these into your day?