2989: [Part 1] How to Stop Being Negative: 8 Tips to Help by Julianna Poplin of The Simplicity Habit on Mental Health & Positivity

[00:00:00] This is Optimal Living Daily Episode 2989 How to Stop Being Negative 8 Tips to Help Part 1 by Julianna Poplin of TheSimplicityHabit.com And I'm Justin Malik. Now today I have a bit of a longer post, I'll read the first half today and then finish the rest for you tomorrow.

[00:00:18] So with that let's get right to Part 1 and start optimizing your life. How to Stop Being Negative 8 Tips to Help Part 1 by Julianna Poplin of TheSimplicityHabit.com How often do you find yourself facing negative thoughts?

[00:00:38] Not everything can be sunshine and rainbows all the time, but more often than not your outlook on the world and the way you engage with it should be on the positive side of things. Life is good after all.

[00:00:51] And if you don't quite feel that way, if you feel like you're dealing with negative thoughts all the time or at least more often than not, it can be absolutely exhausting. Unfortunately isn't productive or pleasant and doesn't do any good.

[00:01:07] But what are you going to do about it? When you're in the moment it can feel like there's nothing you can do to stop being negative. Unfortunately that isn't true. There's a lot that you can do to shift your negative thoughts to more positive ones.

[00:01:22] You've just got to equip yourself with the right tools and put forth a bit of effort. Why do we struggle with negative thoughts? Even when we can identify our negative thoughts, figuring out how to stop them can be a real challenge.

[00:01:37] But before we focus on how to stop them, it's good to start by exploring the why. Why do we struggle with negative thoughts in the first place? For some of us, our negative thoughts are caused by a chemical imbalance in our brain.

[00:01:51] We think that bad situations are way worse than they actually are and our brains are trained to dwell on the unpleasant things that happen to us instead of the good ones. For others, negative thinking is caused by circumstance.

[00:02:06] A stressful job, an exhausting relationship, a poor financial situation or a bad experience can all lead to negative thoughts. An a sequence of not so great events can put us into an even worse mental state. Regardless of the cause, negative thinking can have a detrimental impact on your

[00:02:25] whole body. Negative thoughts lead to stress, which can impact your heart rate, blood pressure and more. It can disrupt your sleep and leave you more vulnerable to illness. That's why it's so important to stop being negative and focus on the positive.

[00:02:42] Not only will your mental state benefit from the shift, but your physical health will too. How to Stop Being Negative Ready to take some actionable steps towards stopping those negative thoughts and emotions?

[00:02:55] While there is no instant fix to negative thinking, there are some steps you can take to essentially retrain your brain, focus on the positive and ultimately improve your outlook. You can change your mindset and improve how you're feeling by doing these eight things. 1. Practice Mindfulness Throughout Your Day

[00:03:17] As you navigate your day, it's easy to feel like you're moving on autopilot. Staring at your cell phone, shuffling from one obligation to the next, we get so stuck in our routines that it can feel seemingly impossible to break free.

[00:03:30] By embracing mindfulness and bringing more awareness to the present moment and your existence within it, you can take a step back from your environment and your emotions and examine them more closely. As you check in with yourself, you can acknowledge your negative thoughts and ask yourself why

[00:03:48] you're feeling that way. Mindfulness is like a muscle. It's something you really have to work at, but over time it becomes more of a reflex. Start by incorporating a few mindful moments into your day and expand as you become more comfortable with the practice. 2.

[00:04:06] Try Writing in a Journal If you find yourself harboring a lot of negative thoughts, it might be helpful to try a little journaling. By putting pen to paper and letting your thoughts and emotions flow, you can work through problems and stressors that have been bottled up inside.

[00:04:22] Your only can improve your well-being and help increase your focus. You may be surprised to see just how much clarity you can find through journaling, clarity that can help you see the why behind your negative thoughts and make a shift in a more positive direction. 3.

[00:04:39] Focus on Gratitude A little gratitude goes a long way, but many of us don't slow down enough to truly appreciate all of the blessings in our lives. Instead, we grumble and complain focused on everything that's going wrong.

[00:04:55] But try taking a minute to focus on all of the things that are going right for you right now. While you're brushing your teeth in the morning, think of three different things that you're grateful for in that moment.

[00:05:06] Challenge yourself to come up with three different things every day without repeating or falling back to easy ones like your family, your home, and your health. By forcing yourself to seek out the positivity in your life, identify it, and focus on it,

[00:05:22] you're essentially training your brain to be more positive. Over time, you'll find yourself constantly scanning for positivity in the background throughout your day, searching for the positive, not the negative, to celebrate later on. 4. Hear That On Tomorrow's Episode You just listened to part one of the post

[00:05:46] titled, How To Stop Being Negative, Eight Tips To Help by Juliana Poplin of TheSimplicityHabit.com Thank you to Juliana. If you've been listening to this show for a while, most of these so far should sound familiar.

[00:06:00] And that's not a bad thing, again, like we've talked about, that repetition can serve as a reminder, which leads to better awareness, which can then lead to more mindfulness. It all ties together. Tomorrow we'll get into some more that maybe you haven't thought about.

[00:06:18] Something I found interesting, I love when this happens, is that one of these can overlap with the others, at least of the ones we heard today. So it's kind of a two birds one stone situation. And that is journaling. Journaling can definitely help with mindfulness.

[00:06:35] You can try a brain dump style journaling exercise, or just write at a normal pace about whatever is on your mind. That is mindfulness. So taking the time to do that can help there. But while you're at it, throw in three things you're grateful for.

[00:06:51] That's the perfect opportunity to do it. It's a great way to end a journaling session, I think. But if journaling isn't your thing, that's okay too. You can do the gratitude practice separately, or we have some more ideas coming up tomorrow. But that'll do it for today.

[00:07:05] Thank you for being here listening every day speaking of gratitude. I wouldn't be able to do this without you. Have a great rest of your day and I'll see you tomorrow where we'll finish up this post and where your optimal life awaits.