How To Stop Negative Thoughts From Manifesting


how to stop negative thoughts from manifesting

Learning how to stop negative thoughts from manifesting is not about trying to eliminate negative thoughts but rather learning how to shift your focus on the positive instead.

In 1952, Norman Vincent Peale wrote a book called The Power of Positive Thinking and it became a ‘handbook’ in the self help movement at the time.

The basic premise of the book followed up on many preceding works about the power of thought. The idea that having a more positive attitude will manifest more positivity in your life was a groundbreaking idea at the time.

For many people, positive and negative thoughts are a constant battle. We are constantly bombarded with negativity no matter where we turn.

It’s not just news and social media but family, friends, our memories and even our collective unconscious contribute to a great many sources of negativity in our lives.

Rising above this negativity is part of the challenge but even more than that is recognizing that you get to choose what you accept and what you reject into your thoughts.

No matter what goes on around you, you are ultimately the master of your thoughts and this is your great power as it makes you the master of your world and ultimately your destiny.

Your negative thoughts can manifest, but so can your positive thoughts. As you will soon see, your positive thoughts have infinitely more power to manifest.

What I found particularly enlightening about this idea of positive and negative thoughts and emotions is when you look at Dr. David Hawkins’ scale of human consciousness.

The highest emotions of peace, love and joy outweigh the lower ones of guilt, shame and fear by as much as a factor of 100.

Do Negative Thoughts Manifest?

Negative thoughts manifest just as any other positive or neutral thought does. The law of attraction does not make any distinction between what you consider ‘positive’ or ‘negative’.

Positive and negative thoughts are human constructs. They are value judgements that you consider positive or negative.

To the law of attraction it is simply energy. It is energy with a low vibration or energy with a high vibration.

LOA simply responds to these thoughts and energies whether they be positive or negative – whether they are thoughts of what you want or thoughts of what you don’t want.

Our negative thoughts DO manifest.

If your life currently reflects what you do not want or even if there is anything in your life that you really don’t want then it is most likely the result of your negative thoughts manifesting.

Why is it then that we manifest things we do not want?

Since the law of attraction does not cherry pick thoughts and it does not distinguish between positive or negative, everything that you think about consistently will manifest.

The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.

– Winston Churchill

Negative thoughts tend to become habitual. We tend to develop the (unconscious) habit of thinking negatively about certain things.

Because it is a habit, we tend to do it a lot – and we tend to do it without our conscious awareness.

Your thoughts always lead to your actions and your emotions and when you put these 3 elements together you create a toxic soup that can poison everything that manifests in your life.

Negative thoughts can become addictive.

It can provide a strange sense of comfort.

Suppose you hate your boss. Thinking negative thoughts about him or her gives you some sort of relief in dealing with them and how much you dislike them.

Since you can not act out in any other way (because you might lose your job), thinking and talking negatively about him or her becomes a release and it offers you some relief.

This is also very true in relationships but when it comes to things like money our negative thoughts and reactions tend to be part of our beliefs.

The way you think and feel about money usually gets installed in you by the time you are 10 years old.

Your negative thoughts about money is a habit. It is a program that runs inside your mind and the negative thoughts and feelings run on autopilot for the most part.

The problem is that these negative thoughts will manifest.

The proof is in the pudding.

Look at your life and you will soon see that everything that you dislike about your life is the result of persistent negative thoughts around it.

Being negative and pessimistic in general can manifest in many different areas of your life. We all know people who are always miserable, pessimistic and who will always see the negative side of things.

These people’s lives are never filled with joy and they will always just attract people, events and circumstances that are consistent with their negativity.

If you want to learn how to stop negative thoughts from manifesting you have to start with becoming aware of your negative thoughts.

Without the awareness you will be baffled why you are always manifesting things that seem to be the opposite of what you want.

Can You Stop Having Negative Thoughts?

The most obvious way to stop negative thoughts from manifesting is to not have them in the first place. Is this possible though?

Can you live in this day and age without having any negative thoughts? I would venture to say that it truly is impossible.

Apart from being bombarded with bad news every day, we have our memories and even our collective consciousness to deal with.

Negativity is part of life.

It is impossible to stop having negative thoughts altogether.

This does not mean we are doomed to keep manifesting negativity. Trying to stop having negative thoughts simply can not work because we now know that what you resist persists.

Trying to ‘unthink’ a thought or to deliberately remove a certain negative thought or emotion from your mind is impossible.

You can not stop having negative thoughts but you can stop indulging in them. You can stop yourself from using negative thoughts to feel better.

Everybody has negative thoughts.

The difference is not in having negative thoughts or not but rather how long to you hold on to a negative thought?

Remember that the law of attraction does not instantly manifest every thought you think. It is more about your energy and your attention.

If you keep thinking the same negative thought over and over again then you ‘become’ that energetically. Your vibration matches with those negative emotions and the law of attraction responds.

It seems like a daunting task to have to monitor your thoughts all the time to prevent the negative from taking root.

It is and it isn’t.

Positivity is a habit just like negativity is a habit. While you can not stop having negative thoughts completely, you can make it a habit to become positive and optimistic.

People who are consumed by negative thoughts do it out of habit – they may not be fully aware of it but they do.

It may seem daunting to get rid of so much negativity but the good news is that you don’t really have to.

It takes but one positive thought when given a chance to survive and thrive to overpower an entire army of negative thoughts.

– Robert H. Schuller

Firstly, we now know that a positive thought is 10 times more powerful than a negative thought.

We know this from brain scans and how quickly and powerfully your mind and emotions respond to a positive and empowering thought.

Secondly, there is something called the positive feedback loop. When you think just one positive thought it gives birth to another and soon your emotions react to the positive thoughts.

Your thoughts lead to your emotions which lead to your actions. Soon the positivity starts to permeate your thoughts, emotions and actions.

You get feedback and you see and feel the difference and this inspires you to more positive thoughts and ideas.

The law of attraction also responds to your positive vibration and you start attracting more of what is in harmony with your positive vibration.

All this can be initiated by just one positive thought – and you did not even try to stop negative thoughts at all.

8 Ways To Stop Negative Thoughts From Manifesting

The way to stop having negative thoughts is not to try and stop it. That will be a case of resistance and what you resist persists.

The way to stop negative thoughts is to replace them with positive thoughts. Your mind can only hold one thought at a time. If you occupy your mind with the positive then there is no room for the negative.

In terms of manifesting you need to always think in terms of what do you want to manifest in your life?

A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results.

– Wade Boggs

At any moment in time you can stop and take stock. Do you want this thought to manifest?

If it’s a no, shift your focus.

Having clarity on what you want in your life and what you DO want to manifest become even more important.

It acts as a wayfinder.

Whenever you feel yourself sinking under the weight of negativity, simply shift your focus on what you want in your life and what you do want to manifest.

This simple act of redirecting your focus towards something else – away from the negative not only makes you feel better, it instantly stops the negative thoughts from manifesting.

Here are 8 Ways To Stop Negative Thoughts From Manifesting In Your Life

  1. Awareness
  2. Identify The Source
  3. Don’t Indulge
  4. Cancel Negative Thoughts
  5. Overwhelm Your Life With Positivity
  6. Forgiveness
  7. Gratitude
  8. RAK

1. Awareness

Becoming aware is the key to stop negative thoughts from manifesting. When you are not aware of your negative thoughts and you allow yourself to run on auto-pilot then you simply can not create change.

This does not mean you have to constantly monitor every thought but you need to become aware and ‘catch yourself’ whenever you do think thoughts of what you do not want to manifest.

Awareness can lead to great insight. When you realize that you’ve been responsible all along and that it really is your negative thoughts that’s been manifesting all along, then you truly become empowered.

And you get excited because now you can start to see how you truly can change what you manifest by changing your thoughts.

2. Identify The Source

Our negative thoughts tend to have a source and it often get triggered by certain events. Identifying these source can help you eliminate them.

Certain events and circumstances tend to trigger gut-level responses. These are beliefs that run certain patterns of thinking, feeling and behaviour.

Very often we can deal with them at the source and when you know what sets them off you can deal with it more effectively.

There are also many more sources of negativity in our lives.

What do you feed your mind?
Who do you surround yourself with?
What are the first thoughts you think when you wake up in the morning?

If you watch 3 hours of violent TV, read all the negative news and indulge in negative conversations about everything that’s wrong in the world then don’t be surprised at what manifests in your life.

3. Don’t Indulge

Having negative thoughts is not the problem. It is indulging in negative thoughts that really gets you in trouble.

We’ve all been there. Your boss says something at you and it sticks. Three days later you are still thinking about how you are going to punch him in the face.

Do not allow yourself to get consumed by any negative thoughts. You may not be able to stop negative thoughts completely but you have the power to stop indulging and allowing it to linger for days, weeks or even months.

4. Cancel Negative Thoughts

One powerful and very useful strategy that really works is to ‘cancel’ negative thoughts. Whenever you catch yourself indulging in a negative thought, simply say to yourself:

Cancel, cancel, cancel. I now cancel that thought and choose to think … instead.

This simple exercise can help you release the negative thought and it is often enough to interrupt the pattern.

It can help you to stop negative thoughts from manifesting because it stops the indulgent and the process of thinking and feeling that negative thought over and over again.

5. Overwhelm Your Life With Positivity

A powerful way to really change your life that may be drawing in negative thoughts is simply to overwhelm yourself with positivity.

Cut off all the negativity in your life and flood yourself with the positive. Stop watching violent TV. Stop reading the news or getting sucked into online discussions.

Start reading positive and uplifting books every day. Read and write as many affirmations as you can.

Meditate.

Pray.

Praise other people. Tell friends and family how much you love them. Stick affirmations on post-it notes through our house. Listen to uplifting music. Watching inspiring TV shows.

When you flood your life with positivity, there is no room for negative thoughts to slip in.

Maintain this for 30 to 60 days and you quite literally become a different person because your habitual thoughts will have changed.

6. Forgiveness

Negative thoughts very often get triggered by other people. These are almost always people we have strong emotional connections to.

Friends, family and colleagues can trigger negative thoughts unlike anything else in your life.

If you have any long-held negativity in your life and it is linked to another person then you need to forgive them.

Forgiveness is an act of freeing yourself. It is an act of uncoupling from the source of the negativity in your life.

7. Gratitude

Gratitude is one of the most empowering thoughts and emotions there is. When you are grateful for anything or for anyone, all negativity gets chased away.

One of the fastest ways to snap out of any negative thought patterns is to simply think of something you are grateful for.

Try it right now. Think of something you are truly grateful for and notice the shift you feel inside yourself.

From an energetic point of view, we know that gratitude shifts your vibration and instantaneously signals the law of attraction and what you start to manifest.

With gratitude alone you can stop negative thoughts from manifesting by simply adopting a daily practise of thinking about or journaling about what you are grateful for.

8. RAK

Random acts of kindness (RAK) is a very practical way to stop negativity. It is something that everyone can do and it can be incredibly powerful.

It can transform your life in so many ways.

A random act of kindness is simply when you do something for someone else to help them in some way without expecting anything in return.

It is not so much the act as the attitude that causes the greatest benefit. When you are constantly looking for opportunities to help others, your focus is not so much on yourself.

This can be something as simple as opening the door for someone or volunteering somewhere.

You can not sincerely help someone else without helping yourself in the process. The act of helping someone else inspires you to feel good about being selfless.

This breeds positivity in your own life and most certainly can stop negative thoughts from manifesting because you are not so preoccupied with yourself.

Neod

With a passion for spirituality, self discovery, and understanding this life, Neod spends his time musing about what is, what could be and what might come about. After writing for 20 years he's still growing, learning, exploring and sharing with love, joy and compassion.

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