How to Think Positive Thoughts When Everything Feels Negative
With all the horrible things going on in the world nowadays, learning how to think positive thoughts and maintain an optimistic attitude can seem almost impossible. What with the pandemic still ravaging the globe, ongoing racism, wars, wildfires, and who knows what other things you could be going through in your personal life. All the negativity can result in a pessimistic attitude toward life.
However, it is possible to stay positive in the face of adversity and negative situations. You can use the following tips to help you learn how to think positive thoughts when everything feels negative and overwhelming.
They are easy to do, and with consistent practice, you can maintain a positive attitude in the face of adversity.
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How to Think Positive Thoughts When Everything Feels Negative
- Practice positive self-talk
When feeling pessimistic, you expect the worst in every situation, engage in negative self-talk, and entertain self-defeating beliefs.
The best way to stop this is by replacing them with positive self-talk in the form of positive self-affirmations and rephrasing negative statements. It is a way to trick your brain into thinking positively every day.
There are different types of affirmations for everything, including confidence, self-worth, self-love, inspiration, abundance, to achieve particular goals, gratitude, among many others.
Depending on what is causing your negativity, practicing self-affirmations that complement your situation will help you remember how to think positive thoughts when everything feels negative.
To think positive thoughts, start saying nice things to yourself
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You are what you think and say you are. Saying positive words can help you believe the things you say to yourself and manifest them. For example, instead of saying ‘I failed in doing X,’ say, ‘ I gave my best today,‘ or view it as a lesson and say ‘I will do X differently next time.’
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- Keep a gratitude journal
When going through a negative situation, your motivation and mood are low, and everything begins to seem pointless. It is easy to overlook the good things going on and forget how to think positive thoughts about life when you focus on how bad a situation is.
Keeping a gratitude journal reminds you that despite everything seeming negative right now, there is some good to be found and a lot of things to be thankful for still.
READ ALSO: 6 Ways Journaling Improves Your Mental Health
- Take care of your mental health
One of the main reasons for negative self-talk and a pessimistic attitude toward life is poor mental health.
For instance, if you are stressed or suffering from depression, you might get trapped in negative thinking patterns. But there are ways to think positively when feeling depressed too.
To learn how to think positive thoughts when everything feels negative, start by protecting your mental health and identifying what causes the negative thinking patterns.
Once you know what triggers the mental health issues, you can then work on ways to manage them, and, finally, develop an optimistic attitude towards life.
This could include doing activities such as; mindfulness meditation, journaling, eating healthy diets, exercising, reducing screen time, sleeping, taking breaks, building better relationships, changing your mindset, and asking for help when you need it.
READ ALSO: Is It Depression or Just Laziness? How to Know the Difference
- Do something you enjoy
If you feel overwhelmed with negative thoughts, doing something you love can help you think positively, improve your mood, and make you happier.
To learn how to think positive thoughts when everything feels negative, set aside time to do something you enjoy, and create your own happiness.
For example, you could engage in your hobbies, explore your creative side, watch comedies, listen to music, dance, read, or do anything else that brings you joy.
As you distract yourself from your problems and become immersed in the activity of your choice, negative thoughts might no longer overwhelm you and instead, could be replaced by positive thoughts because you enjoy what you’re doing.
- Surround yourself with positive people
Positivity and negativity are contagious, thus your mood is usually affected by the people you surround yourself with. If everything feels negative right now, it is probably because of the people you are hanging out with.
Spending time with people that have an optimistic attitude can rub the positivity off on you, and you will find yourself thinking positive thoughts more often. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true.
If you often hang out with a pessimistic crowd, a change in the company you keep could make you learn how to think positive thoughts when everything feels negative. Your attitude will change and you will start thinking positively about yourself and life situations.
However, be careful when spending time with people who are too positive as it might turn into toxic positivity which is counterproductive.
If all they do is want you to be positive and happy all the time while denying other types of emotion and viewing them as bad, it would be best to stay away from them too when feeling low.
They might make you feel guilt and shame for feeling the way you do. But, it’s okay to not be okay sometimes.
READ ALSO: 11 Types of Toxic Friends: Signs and How to Deal with Them
- Laugh more
Your mood and thoughts are very closely related. The old saying that ‘Laughter is the best medicine’ is true.
Having a good laugh can reduce stress, elevate your mood, and help you think positive thoughts when everything feels negative.
So, laugh at yourself, at simple things, watch comedies, share humorous stories with friends, crack jokes, watch funny videos; and do anything else that brings out positive emotions and eliminates negative thoughts from your mind.
To laugh at a situation, you have to see its good side, and hence, have to think positive thoughts about it. Laughing puts your mind on the right path toward developing an optimistic attitude.
- Read quotes/inspirational materials
If there is one thing almost all of us fall back on when we need encouragement or a boost of motivation, confidence, or happiness, it is reading positive quotes and other inspirational materials. These are quite effective at making you a more positive person.
Inspirational materials can motivate you and change your perspective and outlook toward life.
Reading materials and quotes on the power of positive thinking, or others that relate to your current situation can also give you tips on how to think positive thoughts when everything feels negative, thus helping you overcome negative feelings.
READ ALSO: 10 Things That Can Change Your Way of Thinking about Life
- Live in the moment
No, this does not mean you let your negative thoughts consume you and wallow in self-pity.
Living in the moment means focusing on the present without the interference of feelings of guilt over past mistakes or worries about the future. By living in the moment, you put your negative thoughts aside by losing yourself in whatever you are doing right now.
A lot of the things that trigger negative feelings are related to your past or future, and by eliminating this negativity from your mind for this moment, you can learn how to think positive thoughts and be happy.
So, go out, feel your feet touch the grass, practice mindfulness meditation, learn new things, get into the ‘zone’ when doing your activities, celebrate your wins, and just have fun!
READ ALSO: 5 Best Ways to Invest in Yourself for a Better Future
When to Ask for Help
Constant negative thinking patterns could be an indicator of mental health issues such as depression.
If you realize that despite knowing how to think positive thoughts when everything feels negative and making all the above efforts, you are still struggling to get out of negative thinking patterns and self-defeating beliefs, it is probably time to seek help.
Talk to a trusted person, such as a friend, family member, or therapist, about your feelings to help you come to terms with them. A therapist can help you get to the root cause of your negative thinking patterns and recommend treatment options to help you overcome them.
Final Words
It is not easy to learn how to think positive thoughts when everything feels negative, but it is doable. Positive thinking has many benefits, and you shouldn’t miss out on them while being pessimistic.
You develop an optimistic attitude toward life and appreciate the simple things in life. You also start to see the good side of situations even when feeling overwhelmed by negativity.
To be a positive thinker, think of negative thoughts as just a temporary phase you can overcome and believe in the phenomenon of regression to the mean.
How many times have you thought things couldn’t possibly ever be good again, but you pulled through eventually? Develop a positive outlook toward life and learn how to think positive thoughts when everything feels negative using the above tips!
What do you do to think positive thoughts when everything feels negative or overwhelming?
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Very well said…not easy to overcome or avoid negativity…but with practice and perseverance one can ..
Stay blessed Sheri..
🙏🌹🙏
Agree! Thank you so much for always being so supportive, Jas. Stay blessed too🙏
Reblogged this on .
Thank you for sharing the post!
great post! Thank you
I remember a time when I flopped during a big presentation in grad school in front of peers, professors and industry leaders. When telling a friend my shame, he surprised me by saying, “What a great experience. If you can survive this then you can survive any speaking engagement in the future.” It changed my perspective on failure and overcoming. Thank you for sharing this important message.
I like the way your friend chose to view the situation in a positive light and thereby helped you think of what you’d thought was shameful as a lesson. It’s good to have positive friends like him. Thank you for sharing your story, Michael!
These are really great tips. I can feel so powerless at times but you are restoring faith that we can get help and have tools at our disposal and that is really important. You can never have too much inspiration! Thanks Sheri
Right, you can’t have too much inspiration. Reading inspirational materials usually helps change my perspective and think positively whenever I feel like I can’t get through tough situations. Thank you so much for reading, Olivia!