Youth Focus with Dr Manners Msongelwa
NEGATIVE thinking is a pattern of thinking negatively about oneself, others, or the world, which can lead to unpleasant emotions and adverse outcomes.
This is not good as it can affect your performance at school.
What you let into your mind in your everyday life can have an impact on your thoughts. Identify the top sources of negativity in your life. These sources can be people, websites, music and so on. Once identified, find a way to replace them with sources of positivity.
Dealing with negativity
Surround yourself with positivity
The people we surround ourselves with can greatly influence our mindset.
Surrounding ourselves with positive and supportive individuals can help you overcome negative thinking and foster a more optimistic outlook.
Seek out relationships with people who uplift and inspire you. Engage with friends who promote positivity.
By surrounding ourselves with positivity, we create an environment that supports our efforts to overcome negative thinking
Use affirmations
When you wake up, open your eyes and feel gratitude for the new day. Write down daily affirmations: “I love myself, my parents, friends and classmates,” I’m blessed, I’m not a failure,” or “I’m a champion.”
If a negative thought creeps in, think of a success you’ve had and the feeling that went with it. Positive thinking is a daily task, but worth it.
Develop your success routine
Every morning as you wake up, meditate and focus on the person you want to be and the quality of life you want to live. You also set a few important goals to keep your momentum building toward your dreams. When you know what you want and are driving at it daily, negativity will fade.
Talk it over
If you find yourself struggling with negative thoughts and feelings, one way to overcome this is to find someone who is close to you and talk.
This can be your parents, teachers, siblings or pastors. Not only can this help you vent, but this also can be a great opportunity to reframe negative thoughts in a more positive light.
Find a way to serve
One way to deal with negative thoughts is to focus on helping someone else. By helping someone else, you allow yourself to bring positivity into your life.
Whether it be helping someone move or merely listening to a friend, helping someone else is a great way to help yourself. You can assist your schoolmate with homework, or a presentation.
Find a way to be grateful
When you are struggling with negativity, it can be easy to forget all the positive things in your life. Try looking through your life and surroundings and find things that you are grateful for.
Write down what you are feeling
To rid yourself of negative thoughts, try spending 15min a day, writing down your thought process. Doing this can help you identify how your thoughts are becoming distorted.
For example, each day, write down three things you are grateful for. It could be as having lovely parents or a kind gesture from a friend.
This practice helps to train our minds to focus on the positive aspects of life, even when faced with challenges.
Remember, once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.
Dr Manners Msongelwa is an author, teacher and youth coach. He can be contacted on +263771019392