How To Stop Negative Thoughts In 3 Steps

Want to stop your negative thinking? Here’s what you need to do to stop negative thoughts in 3 steps.

The best way to stop negative thoughts from manifesting is to use them as a guide back to positivity.

Our natural reaction to negative thoughts is fear. But you can’t fight negativity with more negativity.

The most effective way to eliminate negative thinking is to remember that you are the consciousness that witnesses these thoughts in your mind.

Just like how you have the ability to choose negative thoughts, you also have the same ability to choose positive ones.

Every moment is an opportunity to witness your negative thoughts, forgive yourself, and choose again.

This power to choose thoughts is your superpower.

Follow these 3 steps to stop negative thoughts for good.

1. Witness The Negative Thoughts

girl thinking

The first step to stopping negative thoughts is to witness the negative thoughts the moment they show up.

As I explain in my book Feeling Good, looking at your negative thoughts directly in the eye is the first step to releasing them.

Witnessing your negative thoughts helps you remember the fact that you are not your negative thoughts.

They are just thoughts you keep thinking.

The recognition that you are the consciousness that sits behind these thoughts gives you the power to choose again.

Most of us respond to negative thoughts with more fear and worry but that only reinforces the negative thought pattern.

The truth is you don’t need to fear your fear.

In fact, you can use your negative thoughts as a compass back to positivity. 

Negative thoughts show you what you don’t want so you can clarify what you do want.

The key here is to be conscious enough to take a step back and perceive your negative thoughts as the perfect opportunity to pivot back into positivity.

2. Forgive Yourself

woman praying

The second step to stopping negative thoughts is to forgive yourself for thinking these negative thoughts.

Don’t beat yourself up for thinking negatively. It happens to all of us.

And plus, you can’t fight negativity with more negativity.

Negativity does not exist. It’s simply a lack of love.

So the most loving thing you can do right now is to forgive yourself.

Love is the emotion with the highest vibrational frequency possible according to Abraham-Hicks’ Emotional Guidance Scale. And forgiveness is the quickest way back to love.

Celebrate your desire to shift and use this moment as an opportunity to raise your thinking to a higher place.

Use this prayer to forgive yourself and recalibrate your energy, “I recognize that I am out of alignment right now. I forgive myself and I choose again.”

Self-forgiveness helps you release the past so that you can wipe the slate clean and began again.

3. Replace With Positive Thoughts

man in brown jacket walking

The final step to stopping negative thoughts is to choose a more positive thought instead.

At any given moment, you are either thinking a positive thought or a negative thought.

It’s impossible to think no thoughts at all.

This is why you have to replace your negative thoughts by actively reaching for positive thoughts—thoughts that feel better to you.

Even simple statements of gratitude like, “I am grateful to have access to this self-help article” or “I am proud of myself for taking responsibility for how I feel” can shift your energy in an instant.

Some other ways to shift your thinking are to say I Am affirmations, answer journal prompts, and follow a guided meditation.

Simply do whatever you can to support your desire to feel good.

Remember that vibration can build momentum because of the “like attracts like” effect of the Law of Attraction.

This means the more you reach for better-feeling thoughts, the easier it will be to maintain your positivity.

If saying a positive affirmation makes you feel better—keep going! That’s your chance to ride that wave of positivity all the way back to the top of the Emotional Guidance Scale.

Every moment is a new opportunity to release thoughts that no longer serve you and choose better-feelings thoughts.