The power of positive psychology

Each time something goes wrong in your life, something else is going right. Good and bad have always complemented one another. Yet, in our society, we tend to only focus on the bad. Negative self-talk is one of the biggest barriers to positive thinking. People become so accustomed to negative thinking that their conscious mind will pull them down, even when they have done nothing wrong. These people become insecure, overly apologetic, and indecisive. The worst part? Negative thinking is a constant source of stress-related problems. 

Next, we’ll show you three common mindsets of negative thinkers, and how to overcome them.

Filtering
Many negative thinkers will filter situations or experiences and only focus on what went wrong, especially when it’s a situation with negative connotations. The next time you have a negative experience, see if you can draw 1-3 positives from it. 

Personalizing
Some people will personalize every negative thing and assume that bad things happen because they’re unlucky or as a result of something they did or didn’t do. Instead of this, take a step back and look at the situation when you are ready to evaluate it objectively. Instead of automatically placing blame upon yourself, evaluate what happened and the different roles.

Catastrophizing
This involves anticipating the worst. Some people even precipitate it. They can turn a slightly awkward interaction into an overreaction, making the situation worse. To counter this mindset, and this is especially true when faced with a scenario with negative connotations, practice picturing the best-case scenario and other favourable outcomes.