September 2, 2014
Should we fight negative thoughts? Can anyone go through an entire day without having a negative thought? In reality negative thoughts are a part of who we are as humans. If you never had negative thoughts in your life how would you know what positive thoughts are? The fact is that in order for us to enjoy the positive forces in our lives we must experience and live the negative ones. For example, how would you understand what life is if death did not exist? If you never experience sadness, how would you know what happiness is? Try to explain happiness without alluding to sadness.
As such, negative thoughts are an essential part of our lives. However, how we deal with such thoughts is what can make a difference on how we live. If you choose to entertain your negative thoughts and to justify them as real, then you may not have a very productive day and you may actually feel unhappy about your life. If you instead choose to put your negative thoughts in perspective and you put a positive spin on them, then you may find yourself in control of the kind of day that you will have and you may feel happier about your life.
Negative thoughts are good to have as a point of reference. That is that the moment you experience them you convince yourself that you are not going to go there. For example, if you are getting ready to interview for a job that you really want, and you begin to have thoughts that you are not going to get the job, you will take that thought and acknowledge it and you will keep it in the back of your head as far away as you can keep it. You will then convince yourself that no matter what your negative thoughts are about, you are going to get that job because nothing is going to stop you from getting it. Then if that thought crosses your mind again, during the interview, you will double down on your confidence and you will convince your mind, right there and then, that you are going to get that job regardless of what your negative thoughts say. If you end up not getting the job, you will at least have the satisfaction that you gave it your all and feel proud that your negative thoughts did not influence the outcome of that interview.
You can use this approach with any negative thoughts that cross your mind about anything that is going on in your life. Just be aware that how you deal with it will determine whether you will have a bad day or a good one and whether you will feel happy or unhappy about your life.