4 Ways to Change Your Thoughts and Relieve Depression

Did you know that on most days, the average person has between 25,000 and 50,000 thoughts? That’s an impressive amount of thoughts.

But when happens when the majority of these thoughts are negative? Imagine the impact on your psyche and your life if you had thousands and thousands of negative thoughts each day?

This amount of negative thinking is a hallmark of depression. Negative or pessimistic thinking is depression speaking for you. It is the voice of depression. What many people don’t realize is that depression is manifested in negative thinking before it ever creates a negative thought itself.

This is why it is imperative for those suffering from depression to become acutely aware of their thought patterns. If not checked, negative thinking becomes a habit, one that has the potential to completely shape your life.

Change How You Think

One of the most powerful ways people can lift themselves out of the darkness of depression is to change their thinking patterns. This is why cognitive therapy is such a profound change agent. The approach is based on the fact that thought-processing errors contribute to a depressed mood.

By changing how you think, you automatically change how you feel. Once you become aware that changing your thinking is important, you are presented with an active choice you can take to benefit your mental health.

I know. This sounds about as easy as changing a tire in the rain with nothing more than a hardboiled egg and a paper clip. But it can be done.

Here are some tips on how you can begin to change your negative thoughts:

Keep Track of Your Thoughts

Many people are in denial about their thought patterns. They don’t want to believe they are overly negative or pessimistic. Catching yourself and recording as many negative thoughts as you can will help you to see your own mental patterns.

What will these thoughts look like? You could write things like, “I hate my feet.” “My boss is an idiot.” “I hate spring.” “I hate getting up this early.” “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Be particularly mindful of making sweeping generalizations from one specific event. It’s a type of black and white thinking that can be particularly harmful.

Identify Triggers

Once you get an idea for the frequency of your negative thoughts, try and pinpoint the triggers for them. Your journal will also come in handy here, because it will point out certain types of events that set off a chain of negative thoughts. Triggers can include being rejected or ignored, or having an unkind remark said about or to you.

Positive Conversion

You have so far learned that the human thinking process is habitual. But the good news is, you can create good thinking habits.

To do this you’ve got to start converting all of those negative thoughts into positive ones. It will be hard at first, and you will most likely feel as if you’re lying to yourself and pretending to be a glass-half-full Pollyanna.

But, as they say, “You’ve got to fake it until you make it.” Though thinking positively may feel foreign to you and like a waste of your time, you are re-training your brain to think (and feel) good.

Every time you have a negative thought, stop, recognize it as negative, and immediately flip the switch and create the positive opposite thought in its place. This could look like:

Negative thought: “I’ll never get this report done on time.”

Positive Switch: “I’m making great progress and being careful to always check my work.”

To get the hang of how to do this, go through your negativity journal and create a separate column in which you will write the positive opposites of your many negative thoughts.

If you feel too dark and down to complete these exercises, please consider reaching out to a trained therapist who can prescribe medication, should you require it, and help you work through these struggles.

If you or a loved one are suffering from depression and are interested in exploring treatment options, please contact me. I would be happy to discuss how I may be able to help.

Five Steps to Move Out of Fear and Into Your Life

What is stopping you from achieving your goals in life? There are lots of things that may hinder you from taking the action required to make changes in your life. Fear can be one of those hurdles that continues to limit us from scaling greater heights. Fortunately, fear is a normal occurrence and it depends on your ability to move out of it in order to become what you have always wanted to be.

Fear is the sign of a window of opportunity. When you move closer to your dreams, you can rest assured that you will encounter fear. It is because of fear that you stop telling your truth and expressing who you really are. It then becomes challenging to move forward. However, did you know that you can move out of fear and into your life?

The journey towards overcoming fear and living authentically will certainly start with a single step and as you move forward, you will be able to reap the benefits of leading an empowered life. Although overcoming your fear might seem impossible, it can be done if you are willing to do what it takes. Be sure to identify your unique fears before embarking on this journey. When you have a better sense and appreciation for what you are afraid of your journey will be easier to navigate. Here is an overview on how to go about the process of overcoming your fear.

Start with small steps

Before you can be able to handle tasks that instill great fear in you, you might consider starting with smaller tasks that are not very demanding. The intensity of fear that overcomes you is determined by the magnitude of responsibility you are expected to handle. By gradually facing your fears and the anxiety that comes with them, you will create a growing sense of resiliency and self-confidence.

Be real and authentic

We live in a world where we compare our lives to that of others. As a result, people become more uncertain of themselves and in their direction in life. Fear can paralyze us and while life is moving and constantly changing we can get left behind.

Know who you are…your passions, purpose, dreams, goals and special gifts. Your authenticity will enable you to make the bold decisions that will define you and ultimately nurture your well-being.

Build positive thoughts

Bearing negative thoughts is one major cause of fear. You are afraid that your plans may not go as expected. Instead, channel your energy towards thinking about how you will achieve your goals and what steps to take in order to achieve them. Fear can lead you to throw in the towel even before you have started your journey.

Live in the present

Your thoughts should only be concentrated on what you are doing now. Thinking about the past will only discourage you whereas thinking about the future will make you more anxious. Avoid dwelling on your past mistakes or even thinking about the mistakes you might make in the future. Making mistakes is inevitable on your journey to success. Focusing on the mistakes of the past, however, will only serve to draw energy away from the action required to succeed in the moment.

Practice self-compassion

Moving through fear will allow a clearing to appear in your life. A place to safely and comfortably explore your authenticity, passions and relationships. A new self-confidence will emerge as you smile at fear and allow yourself the loving kindness you deserve. It is with the practice of self-compassion that fear will retreat.

Fear is an inevitable and integral part of life. Fear will uncover your vulnerabilities and often make one feel small and “play it safe”. Instead, rebalance your perspective by allowing the compassion of others and your own words of self-encouragement be heard. Moving away from fear takes practice. There is great joy and confidence to be uncovered within us all.