How to Break the Negative Thought Cycles

The Daily Mastermind

Why do we get stuck inside our heads at times? …especially when its negative thoughts. Why does out mind generally steer toward unproductive things that don’t really serve our overall vision, productivity and life we “want to create”. More importantly, why do we continue to have the same thoughts over and over again that just cause us stress, anxiety, depression, and other negative stuff? …especially today with Covid and all the restrictions and quarantines going on… It’s more important than ever that you start to take control of your life and your thoughts especially. And…just as important, how can we break the cycle and get unstuck and back to positive thoughts and productivity? Today on the daily mastermind podcast, I’m going to talk about that as well as some ideas and strategies I’ve used to get back on track when things go “off the rails so to speak”. We have lots to talk about so let’s get right into it. But first, let’s start with the Daily Mastermind Mobile App Quote of the Day… Les Brown…Decide that you are going to Push Yourself!! Ok, so let’s talk about your mindset shall we… Why are we stuck inside our head? Well...Your thoughts create your life right? And, We have 50,000 thoughts per day…probably more like 100k Problem...Most people have the same 50,000 thoughts Why is this the case? How do we change this? And, more importantly...How do we change this long-term? I have found by talking to people in the mastermind community and individuals I know that this causes many challenges. Anxiety, depression, stress, and endless cycles of bad days…many of you know exactly what I mean. So today I wanted to talk about some ways that you can get unstuck and out of your own head. I want to talk about ways that you can become more productive and less distracted. I think a KEY to understand is not HOW to change our thoughts as much as how to DIRECT our thoughts. There are lots of ways that I’m sure you have found to deal with a bad day or a series of bad thoughts…breaking the thought cycle Or maybe you are like me and you continue to struggle with it and are still experimenting with techniques all the time… But Let me suggest one of the number one way I have learned to get out of this cycle is… The key for me has been To find a way to take the FOCUS OFF OF YOURSELF… LET ME REPEAT THAT AGAIN…YOU MUST REDIRECT YOUR THOUGHTS AWAY FROM YOU AND YOUR PROBLEMS... Usually when we were in a cycle of bad thoughts it is because we are upset about our past or anxious about our future. We are focused on our own problems, concerns, circumstances and bad experiences. This causes us to be taken out of the present moment and into a world that doesn’t exist….one more time…a WORLD THAT DOESN'T EXIST… ...and yet these thoughts impact our world that does exist…making it a bad day…a worse experience…and even worse… It causes us to create more of the bad things we are experiencing INSIDE OUR MINDS…can you relate? So here is the thing to remember…remind yourself of…and Believe... The past is over and although it can help us to learn some lessons, it is not productive or healthy for us to stay fixated on the thought of the past… more often than not, that will keep us trapped inside our minds and in a cycle of stuff that does not serve us... AND... the future does not exist yet either...and it is also not productive for us to stay stressed or fixated on things that have not happened…things that “MIGHT OR MIGHT NOT” happen in the future we haven’t created yet. Are you following me here? Do you believe and accept this to be true?? …because it is whether you believe it or not. There is only ONE REALITY and its the present moment. I always continue to remind myself… “NOT TO LET THE PAST EXPERIENCES OR THE FUTURE VISION ROB ME OF THE JOY IN THE PRESENT…" NOW THE KEY I WANT TO POINT OUT TO YOU AGAIN IS… that usually the NEGATIVE past or STRESSFUL future moments that we are thinking about revolve around OURSELVES...And THIS is why we need to take the focus off ourselves and onto something bigger, more positive and outside of ourselves I realize this also poses a challenge because when we are working on developing ourselves we are told to focus internally… We are told we want to learn to create self-esteem and self-confidence which comes from within and not outside ourselves…and this is true. But today we are talking about ways that you can specifically get unstuck when that internal progress is not happening…when you are feeling depressed, negative or anxious about things…when you are JUST STUCK. Now Believe me when I say...I realize this is easier said than done I get stuck often, but I have learned to break the cycle quicker over the last few years but doing things to break the cycle…I’ve learned to DIRECT MY THOUGHTS BETTER... So how do we go about taking the focus off of ourselves and redirecting our thoughts? Well my partner Robert Stuberg would say that you ask better questions… I could go into a whole series of reasons and explanations why the questions we ask ourselves determine our thoughts… But today for the sake of time, I wanna give you some practical ways to do it rather than explain why and how they work… another episode I’ll have Robert on and he can break it down for us. So here are some ways that I have found are helpful; 1- Find someone in your life that you want to inspire and support 2- Find a purpose cause were mission greater than yourself 3- Practice gratitude 4- Engage in service projects or causes, and I mean the act of doing them 5- Find a mentor, coach or counselor to give you objective feedback and direction 6- Get active physically in order to create the mind-body connection 7- Ultimately just distract yourself, but make sure that you have an objective once you’re distracted. Most people distract themselves in an unhealthy way with Netflix, mobile devices, or social media. Make sure it’s a healthy distraction and not one that expands the negative thoughts and patterns. 8- Overwhelm your mindset with outside positivity like podcasts 9- Ongoing strategies would be things like prosperity pillars, surround yourself with positive people, better environment I hope these ideas are things that can help you to Break the Cycle when you get in negative patterns of thought inside your head. Just remember this…you are not your mind…you mind is a tool that you MUST learn to direct, focus and train. If you do this, you will live a happier, healthier and more successful life…that’s my goal for you. Share this podcast and send me some feedback on your thoughts. Thanks for listening. George Wright III