We All Think Negatively
Episode #1 of the course Overcoming mindless negativity by Sonia Chauhan
The mind is at rest only when it reflects an internal state of neutrality, which tends to be moments spent going over everyday stuff, like when to feed the cat. Everyday work gives us a sense of peace in a natural way. But how often is the mind at rest?
Harvard professors Daniel Gilbert and Matthew Killingsworth recently conducted an experiment to chart how often the human mind wanders, and found that we spend almost half of our waking time in aimless wandering over random thoughts.
We know that our minds have a tendency to lean toward the negative or bad things happening around us, also known as the “negativity bias” (we’ll talk about this in more detail later in this course). So, in the aimless wandering of our minds, we find ourselves constantly muddling over negative outcomes or pondering too long over a negative remark. This negative thinking primarily makes us unhappy.
Negativity is the manifestation of thoughts that upset your brain’s state of neutrality. It is the mental unrest that leads you to draw adverse conclusions, like that nothing ever works out for you or that you’re just not good enough. In this course, you will learn how and why you should deal with mindless negativity festering inside you.
Types of Negativity
I categorize negativity into two types:
1. Internal negativity: This deep-rooted pessimism develops gradually over decades of being subjected to negativity in one’s personal space: flawed upbringing, bullying at school, or living with extremely critical partners. Internal negativity is passed on to us at a time when we are emotionally vulnerable and from people we are closest to. It has a strong impact on us. For example, a person who had extremely critical parents is likely to bend over backward to seek validation and please others.
2. External negativity: This regular influx of unrest is created by social media, sensationalized news, gory videos, mindless television, bad work atmosphere, or just being in the company of lamenters. For example, we all know that comparing lifestyles over Facebook creates depressing thoughts and a negative outlook in many of its users.
Why Overcoming Negativity Is Important
Before you learn how to deal with negativity, you must answer WHY it’s crucial that you do so.
Constant negative thinking:
• mutes your productivity
• kills your creativity
• erodes your confidence
• diverts you away from your spiritual goals
According to The Intention Experiment by Lynne McTaggart, researchers over decades have conducted experiments about how the human body reacts and changes itself depending on the thoughts going inside the brain. Your thoughts have a profound and lasting effect on your health, happiness, and stability. Basically, what you think, IS.
As an experiment, I want you to write down three big obstacles in your road to success. Most likely, you will find that all three translate into your beliefs about your circumstances or abilities.
Think of your mind as a bucket of pulsating energy. Every thought going through your mind either takes away bundles of energy from your bucket or contributes more energy toward it. The more you think negatively, the less energy you end up having. This is what literally happens inside your body. This is why you must actively avert your mind from negative thoughts that only sap bundles of energy from your bucket and leave you restless and disjointed.
Key Takeaways That You Can Pin Up
As you go through your day, take stock of your thoughts.
• Highlight the top three things going inside your head about YOU.
• Write down how they made you feel about yourself.
I want you to evaluate whether these thoughts enable you to reach a good place in your mind or take you away from this goal. This exercise largely reveals our daily thought pattern and how much our thoughts regulate our daily moods.
Tomorrow, we will understand how to identify negativity, along with an insightful technique on how to neutralize it.
Recommended reading
How Your Thoughts Change Your Brain, Cells, and Genes
Recommended book
The Intention Experiment by Lynne McTaggart
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