The Power of Negative Thinking

That’s right. Negativity is powerful and negative thinking is more powerful than positive thinking. Whoa! You heard me right; negativity is a force to be reckoned with.

The only problem with it is that it will attract to you all the things you most want to avoid. And, as an added bonus, you’ll feel awful each day along your journey. The reason I say it is more powerful than positive thinking is because of its damaging exponential ripple effect.

Have you ever been near someone who is just grouchy and miserable and negative?  One of those business owners that are all doom and gloom?  Has that person ever been you?

Whether the negative vibes and messages you are hearing come from those around you or from within your own self-talk, you are at risk.  Negativity tends to snowball into a big pity party combined with a sour mood, bad attitude, and correspondingly bad experiences.  Before you know it, opportunities dry up, cash flow looks like a clogged drain, and you’re wondering, how could this happen to me? If you’ve ever had “one of those days” and had it get progressively worse as the day went on, you know what I mean. It is like even though you know better, you just can’t seem to stop the snowball from gathering size and speed as it rolls downhill.

Why is that? Well, just as positive thinking and surrounding yourself with positive people can have far reaching positive effects, the same holds true with its negative sibling. Goodness knows there is no shortage of people that will join you in your bitch session, so I’d suggest that the negative spiral can get bigger even faster than positivity. To make matters worse, these bitch sessions of commiserating with one another about how money/the economy/finding clients/ is hard and blaming others is a far more popular and acceptable sport (at least by social standards) than actually taking a hard look at one’s life and making a change.

Let’s face it, life happens and it is not always positive. In fact I admit I can get in a funk with the best of them. An occasional Dilbert inspired moment can blindside me and I find myself cranky (at best) and temporarily hopeless (at worst). I know I have a bigger vision for my business and a plan to make it happen and that gets me through. The bumps along the way can be a pain though so I wanted to share some tips I use for snapping out of a negative spiral.

Inner awareness shifts:

• Get in touch with your life plan and bigger vision. If you have one already, read it out loud during the day. If you don’t have one, now is the time to start creating one.
• Realize that this too shall pass. Whatever you are experiencing right now is only temporary.
• Take a few moments to meditate or pray. It’ll immediately get you in touch with a deeper truth.
• Affirm the truth that all is well and the present is perfect (even if it is not what you would prefer).

Practical actions:

• Do something pleasurable so you can truly savor a few moments. Buy a quick beverage of your choice and sit and enjoy.
• Hug, phone, or spend some time with a loved one and just be present. Being with those we love and reaffirming that relationship can do wonders for putting perspective on a bad day or situation.
• Pamper yourself. Take a walk, buy yourself flowers, take a bubble bath or do anything that makes you feel cared for from the inside out.
• Escape for a bit (in a healthy way). Workout, read a book, take a hike, or watch a movie. Take a short bit of time and just get away from it all so you can regroup and shift your mood.
• Pet a furry loved one.  There’s nothing like the unconditional love of our furry friends to remember that now is the time to enjoy life and play (or at least nap).

The key to snapping out of the negative thinking death spiral is to shift how you’re feeling.  It doesn’t make any challenges you are experiencing magically vanish, but it will completely alter your path through the challenge and your experience in the moment.  Sometimes you need to do it every once in a while and other times you may need to do it daily (or even several times a day). However, if you can stay in touch with how you are feeling and spend little time in the negative zone and more time in the neutral and positive zone you are guaranteed to not only feel better but also attract more positive outcomes you really want and deserve into your business.