The Gift of Negative Thinking

Have you had enough of your negative thinking? Trying too hard to be positive all the time? Well, this should give your mind a bit of relief. Relax…negative thinking is not all bad. With so much hoopla out there about thinking positive and how destructive negative thoughts can be, I wanted to shed some light on the subject. Here are some things I have learned about negative thinking that may surprise you:

It is natural for us to be negative. The constant thoughts that flow through your mind come from the subconscious. The subconscious mind’s primary goal is to move you from pain and towards pleasure. So, it focuses on the pain to fix it. When you wake up with a cold, your mind will pay attention to what’s wrong. You notice your stuffy breathing and your body’s aches because your subconscious naturally wants to move you back to pleasure again. When you wake up any other morning without a cold, you don’t even notice how good your body feels and how you can breathe easy. When things are going well, your mind sets it aside and focuses on what to adjust.

This is actually a good thing. You don’t want to ignore the signals that your body is telling you that it is out of alignment. The same with negative thinking, it is simply a signal that your life isn’t where you want it to be. It takes conscious effort and presence to appreciate the moment and the good in life. No quick trick is going to erase the negative and make you automatically positive all the time. Your mind just doesn’t work that way.

You can’t get rid of all your negative thinking. Yes, that’s right. No matter how many people claim their magic technique clears your negative thinking, it is simply impossible.  Trying to remove all pessimistic thinking is a losing battle. This approach only labels the thoughts as harmful which creates MORE negativity and repulsion. You live in a world of duality and you cannot have positive thoughts without the other. Do you only love yourself when you are upbeat and positive or when you are manifesting things you want? It is great to attract your desires but when you get down on yourself when you think negative, it is a trap that is hard to escape. You become attached to external results and are not spiritually-free.

You can use the negative thinking to your advantage. Instead of trying to push it away which only makes it stronger, you can use the destructive emotions just as the martial artists use the “opponent force” in battle. Have compassion for the thought and see it as something that has no power.  The resistance makes it stronger, but going toward it with love makes it dissolve away.

You are not your thoughts. Whether you think positive or negative, your thoughts in your daily life come from your human experience. There is another, more powerful part of you without thought that is divine and perfect. By simply recognizing that thoughts are just thoughts, you can step back into the vantage point of your higher self and watch your mind do its thing without getting sucked into the drama.  The real goal is seeing yourself larger than your thoughts instead of the opposite.

Your thoughts have power. With all that said, your thoughts still have power. You are always thinking and it is a good idea to make sure your habitual thinking is in alignment with what you want. Self-hypnosis is a great resource that I call “training wheels for the mind” to support you in getting into the habit of thoughts that support you and your dreams. The caveat here is to not feel as though you have to think positive 100% of the time and get down on yourself when you have a pity party.

The most effective path is to generate unconditional love toward yourself and life’s circumstances. Don’t condition your life experience based on whether you are upbeat or down in the dumps.  You are a human being and a spiritual being. Love both parts of you and know both parts of you.  Your true self is greater than any negative thought so there is no need to fear the ideas manufactured by the human in you. In each moment you have the opportunity to step back and see the truth of who you really are and you are always amazing.