Do you ever notice how negative some people are? Lately I’ve heard professionals make snide remarks about another or the industry they’re in and I feel as if I’m on a mission to get rid of negative thoughts. They don’t serve or help us in anyway and they interfere with achieving success and seeing and appreciating all the positive things in our lives.
It’s not so easy being positive, especially when times are difficult, but a few simple strategies can help you be shamelessly positive. Start to create a positive attitude by creating an environment that reflects that. Put a pretty plant on your desk and maybe a new photo of your loved one, clean up the clutter, add something colorful, change your screen image on your desktop and put something in front of you that reminds you continuously that life is in essence good and you are happy to be here.
Watch Your Time
Next you may want to examine what you allow to occupy your time. If it doesn’t uplift you or make you feel good, stop doing it or cut down your exposure to it. For example, your aunt, brother, associate or friend only calls you to discuss a problem, their health, financial woes or a fight with their spouse. Set yourself a time you are willing to listen to this and after five or ten minutes, end the conversation. Or, if you feel compelled, you may want to give them a subtle hint that you don’t want to continue to be their emotional trashcan.
The Company You Keep
Another step to liberate you from negativity is to think about the people you hang out with. Unless they are adding to your emotional and overall wellbeing, maybe they are not really your friends. Surround yourself as much as you can with people who have a healthy mindset, do healthy things and who make you feel good about yourself.
Some friends and associates are not meant to go with you the entire length of the path.
Sometimes people are only walking with us a portion of the way, and that’s okay. The trick is to figure out who goes how far.
Thought Replacement
Letting go of negative thinking is a hard one because these thoughts slip in without us being aware of them sometimes. Look what the Mayo Clinic has to say about “negative self-talk.” http://goo.gl/q3vY. When I catch myself with a negative thought, I use something I call the thought replacement method. First, I recognize that it’s only a negative thought and not actually my reality. I visualize the thought being dumped into a trashcan (like the one on my computer) that I immediately empty. Then, I have a pre-determined positive thought that I replace it with. I repeat the new, better thought three times. Here are some examples:
* I am finding the perfect opportunity that is creating my prosperity now.
* I am manifesting a complete and total healing.
* I release my fear and anger and I am allowing the life I want to live to begin today.
Another way to increase opportunity and move things forward is through gratitude. This is one of my favorite methods and easy to do. When I do something I like or enjoy I consciously remind myself of how blessed and lucky I am to be able to be doing this.
Success requires discipline, as does a positive attitude. It takes some practice and those nagging negative thoughts will try to creep in. Don’t expect an overnight miracle but start with simple awareness. Remind yourself that your life is pretty good (versus not so bad) and there is no such thing as too much of a good thing. Acknowledge your thoughts, disarm them, let them go and replace them with a good thought.
Beate Chelette is a respected career coach, consummate entrepreneur and founder of The Women’s Code, a unique guide to personal and career success that offers a new code of conduct for today’s business, private and digital world. Determined to build a community of women helping each other, after selling one of her companies, BeateWorks, to Bill Gates in 2006 for millions of dollars, Beate created The Women’s Code. In February 2012, to reach women everywhere, Beate launched The Women’s Code Online course. http://beatechelette.com/the-womens-code