Negative thinking, have you heard about that before? It is the kind of thinking that will do us in, as the band Chevelle would say. It is all about the internal dialogue we have with ourselves on a regular basis and it’s often what we use to interpret situations to either our advantage or disadvantage. For example, if two people walked past you laughing, you could interpret this in two ways; they are two bubbly characters that are having a great time or they are two vicious sons of a “female dog” laughing AT you. You see the facts didn’t change, but your internal state turned the facts into either a positive or a negative event.
Now, let’s turn our heads towards losing weight; how far do you think you’ll get if you have a negative conversation running 24/7 regurgitating past mistakes and sub-optimal results? Not far. In fact. You are probably going to go exactly where you’ve gone before, which only serves to further poison your mind. But, we can fix this.
Understand that your conscious and subconscious mind are two entirely separate parts, and while they cannot speak to one and other, the can indeed affect each other by influence. And since we can only choose to do things consciously (not subconsciously), this means that we can only ever INFLUENCE our subconscious mind. Often however, we try to do so incorrectly by using logic. You see, our subconscious does not understand logic, and instead relies heavily on impact and repetition; meaning that what it sees more often and more powerfully will be what it sees to be true. This is why you can’t reason with feelings and how a debilitating negative situation can impact similar situations in the future. Let’s say you went up to a guy or a girl and got rejected, but not just rejected, really burnt; how much is that sticking to the back of your mind the next time you even think about doing the same thing?
A simple solution to raise awareness of negative thoughts is to bring a tiny notepad with you at all times, and every time you think negatively about anything you write down the exact thought. Keep doing this for about a week or two and then go back to your notes and see where your issues really lie. It will give you an indication of where to start. Next you devise two positive thoughts or affirmations contraindicating each negative thought written down, and next time the negative thought pops up; think about and really feel (use your imagination to increase the impact) your two positive affirmations (bring your notepad if you can’t remember). What we are doing here is creating a 2:1 ratio in favour of positive thinking and with enough repetition and impact we will outweigh the negatives over time.
From your notes you can choose a few beliefs that are more important to you and repeat these affirmations for a few minutes every morning and evening in addition to when the negatives pop up – because the more you do it the faster you will improve. But, since we can’t do them all at once, it’s better to do the extra works with just a few at the time and once you’ve improved enough you can pick others. So to recap, track for two weeks, write two positive affirmations for each negative thought and feel them every time you find yourself thinking that way – and in addition to that pick a few affirmations to work on every morning and every night. Most importantly, DO NOT stop re-affirming once your thinking improves and if a new negative comes up, quickly devise positive affirmations to that one as well and you will be well on your way. You won’t change over-night, but in time you will. But if you choose to ignore it, you’ll be stuffing up your finish time.
Anders N W Lindgreen is a Certified Fitness Specialist. Visit his website for free articles and e-books featuring the unbiased truth on Personal Fitness Training and Corporate Health and Fitness.