It’s very easy for us to fall prey to negative thinking and living through a pandemic for the past 12 months has only heightened those negative thoughts.

Having negative thoughts can only bring you pain; they drain you of energy and keep you from being in the present moment. The more you give in to your negative thoughts, the stronger they become.

Negative thoughts grow but so do positive thoughts, except the positive thoughts have a brighter outcome.

Here are a few examples that spring to mind;

Sunday evening hits and someone you know starts with the back to work blues, moaning that they hate their job and they don’t want the weekend to end. I am very fortunate as have never been in that position, I love my job but when someone has these negative thoughts, especially now when so many people are losing their jobs, I put a positive spin on things and remind them that they are lucky they have a job.

You’re suffering from a bad cold and are miserable with it, but somewhere in the world somebody has just had a cancer diagnosis, this puts how you are feeling into perspective.

You have been invited to your partners corporate dinner, but you are dreading it because you know you are going to have the worst night, well of course you’ll have the worst night because you are already in that mindset, the evening is doomed to fail before you even get there.

Here are some things that I recommend to help with those negative thoughts.

Smile – It helps change your mood and relieve stress. You also feel lighter because it takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown.

Surround yourself with positive people, there is nothing worse than a negative Nancy to bring your mood down and when you need advice from a friend, you want it to be constructive yet full of love. You need to surround yourself with people who can put things in perspective and who won’t feed your negative thoughts.

Change your mind set from negative to positive, instead of thinking, ‘I’m going to have the worst birthday because we are in lockdown’, think, ‘It might not be what I’m used to but different is good and at least I’ll be relaxed at home, I don’t have to pick an outfit to wear out to dinner, I don’t have to worry about the cost of a taxi to my favourite restaurant so that I can drink, instead I can eat a takeaway in my loungewear surrounded by the people I love and I don’t need to travel anywhere’.

I’ve taken up yoga since the beginning of the year, and I love it, it’s not only making me feel better physically, but it also takes my focus away from my thoughts and brings my attention to my breath. Yoga is also very relaxing, which has helped ease my mind. Yoga helps me stay present to my experience so instead of jumping to what could happen, it brings me back to the now—the only moment, the most important moment.

Don’t play the victim, there is always a way out. We will always have the choice to make change happen if need be.

Help someone – Take the focus away from you and do something nice for another person, helping others makes you feel great!

It is easy to dwell on your mistakes. Remember that everyone makes mistakes, and you need to learn from them and move forward.

Sing – there is nothing better than a good sing, you should hear me in the car on my way to and from work. When we sing, we show our feelings, and this provides an amazing stress relief.

If I’m feeling negative, I’ll look for positive quotes on my social media or online as reminders to stay positive.

Being grateful helps you to appreciate what you already have. List 5 things that you are grateful for right now.

Mine are:

My health

My children

My home

My husband

A job that I love

Happy positive thinking!