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Motivate Yourself and Reach Your Goals: Negative thinking

by Francis Coombes

Negative thinking is a form of self-talk we use to mentally beat ourselves up for our shortcomings. If our default setting is set to ‘negative’ then a small event that upsets us like missing a bus or forgetting to post a letter can be the trigger that sucks us into a spiral of negative thinking.

Every thought that follows discounts all the positive actions you have taken. If a solution is offered and you are in a negative frame of mind you will be incapable of recognising it. Negative thinking is pessimistic and often illogical because it focuses only on negative aspects.

We can all recall and associate into an experience that gives us bad feelings at will. All it takes to trigger peoples’ mental movie is to say ‘remember when that terrible thing happened…‘ And they take themselves back into a hypnotic negative state and do the rest.

If you can associate into negative thoughts at will – you can associate into positive thinking too. Why not choose a positive thinking ritual that is linked to success instead of failure? ‘Recall a time when you felt truly alive and powerful, when everything you did worked like magic…‘ Build beliefs that support your aims and install some positive thinking habits (Chapter 5 – Choose your patterns for success)


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