Negative thoughts – we all know them. Here are five tips to get rid of them faster.

Free yourself from the negative thought spiral

Who doesn’t know it, the negative thought spiral that includes one (or all!) of the following: ‘I’m not good enough’, ‘Others can do it much better’, ‘I’ll never get it right…’, or ‘Of course it always happens to me’.
We have an average of 60,000 thoughts per day

A study by the National Science Foundation in 2005 showed that we have between 12,000 and 60,000 thoughts per day. In addition, 80% of these thoughts are usually negative and 95% are constantly repeated. This doesn’t sound very rosy, but it also shows that it is absolutely natural to have negative thoughts.

We often expect ourselves to think positively all the time and not to have a single negative thought. Otherwise it could come true! Fortunately, we are not quite that influential. Not every negative thought immediately becomes reality, and we can save ourselves a lot of unnecessary stress if we acknowledge that it is OK to have negative thoughts sometimes.

Negative thoughts are not facts

The main thing is to recognize these negative thoughts and not identify with them. And this is really the crux of the matter. Because often when we think ‘I’m not good enough’, we identify with that thought and quickly find ourselves in a negative thought spiral.

To free ourselves from this negative spiral of thinking, it is important to acknowledge that our negative thoughts are not facts. Just because I think ‘I’m not good enough’ doesn’t mean I’m really not good enough. Rather, these are limiting beliefs that we often carry around with us since childhood.

We do not come into the world as babies with these limiting beliefs. Rather, we acquire them through interaction with our social environment and absorb them into our subconscious so that we no longer question them.

 5 tips to free yourself from the negative thinking spiral

Fortunately, there are some tips and mental tricks to let go of negative thoughts. I have collected the five most effective ones for you here:

1 Do a thought check

It is important to first become aware of your thoughts. It helps to do a regular thought check. For example, every time you go to the kitchen or brush your teeth, ask yourself: What is going on in my head right now?

2 Write down thoughts

It is also very helpful to write down all your fears and worries on paper without thinking too much. To do this, you can set a timer for five minutes, and during this time you can just write wildly. It is very likely that you will feel lighter after this short exercise.

3 Naming thoughts

In order not to constantly identify with your thoughts, but to look at them from a distance, it helps to name the thoughts. For example, a thought like ‘I am not smart / beautiful / good enough’ becomes ‘I have the thought that I am not smart / beautiful / good enough’. This small but subtle difference helps to take a new perspective on one’s thoughts.

4 Question thoughts

You don’t have to take everything you think at face value. Instead, you can ask yourself what the evidence is for this negative thought. Where does this thought come from? Is it true at all? What behavioral patterns are keeping this thought alive?

5 Build self-confidence

Being dominated by negative thoughts all the time can cause your self-esteem to plummet. It is therefore important to think of counter-arguments for your negative thoughts. For example, ‘I will surely fail’ becomes ‘What situations in my life have I already mastered successfully? What strengths have I gained through this?