Have you ever thought that the person you have the most conversations with is YOU? And if that is the case for you and me, then the next natural question is, “what story are you telling yourself?”
Various studies suggest we have anywhere from 6,200 up to 60,000 thoughts a day! Not sure who counted them all, but that is a lot of conversations going on in our heads.
From this, we can conclude that one of the tendencies of the mind is to focus on the negative and ‘play the same songs’ repeatedly. One study suggested that 80% of our thoughts are negative and 95% of them were the same repetitive thoughts as the day before. So why is this, and what can we do about it?
Why is it easier to think negatively?
The fact is negative events have a more significant impact on our brains than positive ones. Psychologists refer to this as the negative bias or also called the negativity bias. Combine this with what psychologists call a confirmation bias, and you have a one-two punch.
Confirmation bias is the tendency to listen more often to information that conforms with our pre-existing beliefs. Through this bias, people tend to favor information that reinforces the things they already believe. These biases combined have a powerful effect on our behavior, our decisions, and even our relationships.
In the Leahy Study, 2005, from Cornell University, scientists found that 85% of what we worry about never happens, and 15% of the worries did happen. 79% of the subjects discovered that either they could handle the difficulty better than expected or that the problem taught them a lesson worth learning. So, the conclusion?
97% of our worries are baseless and result from an unfounded pessimistic perception.
Some ideas to redirect negative thoughts:
- Start with a mindset of “No Judgments.”
- Reframe the story.
- Reframe your expectations.
- Find a healthy distraction.
- Commit to keeping optimistic company.
- Question and rotate the media you choose to consume.
- Start a beginning of the day and end of day gratitude journal
- Connect with a mentor, coach, or trusted advisor
If we took the time to document all the thoughts that pass through our minds, we could write a book every day. Yet would that book be one that anyone else wants to read? Create a better story, wrote a better book. The question is:
Who’s in charge you or your thoughts?
#WinTheDay
