Filter Your Negative Thoughts
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While it’s not realistic to only think positive thoughts, negative thoughts can really weigh on you. We tend to spend more time and energy on negative thoughts, ruminating and often spiraling downward. One way to “declutter” for mental clarity is to better manage the thoughts and thought patterns that can bring you down.
Here are some examples of types of negative thought patterns:
Think about how a certain thought pattern makes you feel. Does it create worry, anxiety, fear, restlessness, or agitation within you? Does it put you in a bad mood? Once you learn to identify negative thought patterns as they happen in real time, you can work to stop them with one of these methods:
As we dive into the next 9 days of this challenge, start by filtering out the unhelpful thoughts in your mind. Use this as an opportunity to lighten your mental load by better managing those negative thoughts.
For further reading, explore our blog post on how nurses can use self-guided problem-solving therapy to build resilience.
Let us know how it goes in our update thread here or in our private Facebook group, or on Twitter, or Instagram. Tag us with #healthynurse.
Like this post? Use the social media links on the left side of your page to share this with a nurse and invite them to join Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation!
Join us on day 2.
Here are some examples of types of negative thought patterns:
- Overgeneralization: You see one bad thing as a pattern of defeat that never ends.
- All-or-nothing thinking: You only see things in terms of black and white. For example, you view yourself as a complete failure if your performance isn't flawless.
- Personalization: You mistakenly believe that you are to blame for an unfortunate event even if it wasn’t your fault.
- Mental filter: You tend to focus on one unfavorable aspect of something, which stains your entire perception of reality.
Think about how a certain thought pattern makes you feel. Does it create worry, anxiety, fear, restlessness, or agitation within you? Does it put you in a bad mood? Once you learn to identify negative thought patterns as they happen in real time, you can work to stop them with one of these methods:
- Positive reframing: Explore a positive aspect of a negative situation that you hadn’t considered. Think about a lesson you could take away from a challenging circumstance. Another method is to identify excessive language in your thoughts and replace it with less extreme language. For example, turn “I can’t do anything right” into “I’m not perfect, but I’m trying my best.”
- Examine the evidence: Consider how often a bad result has happened in a similar situation in the past. Or think about the worst possible scenario — how likely it is to occur?
As we dive into the next 9 days of this challenge, start by filtering out the unhelpful thoughts in your mind. Use this as an opportunity to lighten your mental load by better managing those negative thoughts.
For further reading, explore our blog post on how nurses can use self-guided problem-solving therapy to build resilience.
Let us know how it goes in our update thread here or in our private Facebook group, or on Twitter, or Instagram. Tag us with #healthynurse.
Like this post? Use the social media links on the left side of your page to share this with a nurse and invite them to join Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation!
Join us on day 2.
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Challenge Tips
01/23/2023 2:34pm CST
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