How to break the cycle of repetitive negative thinking
Learning how to break the cycle of repetitive negative thinking was life-changing for me. So here’s my attempt at the explaining the process in simple terms.
Firstly, it’s important to recognise just how strong the pull of repetitive negative thinking can be. It can feel like you’re being sucked into a vortex.
Whether it starts with a negative thought or a negative emotion, they feed each other and the spiral begins.
And it can spiral rapidly unless you’re alert and catch it early on.
So the first step is to recognise you’re either already in or entering this cycle.
The second step is to focus all of your attention on any emotion you feel and allow it to either come up (aka have a good ol’ cry) or just let it be without trying to change it in any way.
Don’t try and get rid of it or wish it gone - this only creates more resistance, stress and negativity. Instead, see if you can just allow it to be and accept that it may even be there forever.
This can seem kind of paradoxical as obviously you want that unpleasant feeling to go but this is where an element of faith and trust must come in.
There is a phrase I love which helped me with this and it points to “accepting the SEEMINGLY unacceptable”. Tricky right? How do I accept something that is unacceptable? This is where surrender comes in.
Amazingly, whenever I surrender to an emotion I feel and let it be without trying to change it in anyway it eventually dissolves. Sometimes immediately and other times it takes a while, but eventually it always does.
Why? Because I’m not creating any more resistance to it and, by stepping out of thought and into a state of awareness, the emotion can no longer feed on the negative thought cycle.
As the saying goes “what you resist persists”.
So next time you find yourself in that cycle, see if you can bring your alert awareness to both your thoughts and emotions and completely accept them without judging or trying to change them in any way. You might just surprise yourself with what happens.
