Thoughts can be strong enough to pull you down into the depths of despair, but only if you let them.
It takes time but you can learn to catch thoughts and quash them before the negativity courses through your body.
One thing I do is write about it. For years when I have got a thought stuck in my head and it won't budge, if I sit and write a poem about it, that creativity removes it from my brain. There have been some pretty negative ones posted this past year on Steemit actually, but they have been cathartic releases and enabled to move on.
Streams of conscious, brain dumps also work and sometimes people even recognize a bit of themselves in what you write and it helps them. A bit like the post I wrote yesterday that is lost in the ether now, but if that didn't happen I wouldn't be here sharing these thoughts with you.
Fate has its own plans sometimes.
I am an empath, so do feel some things very personally. I did find it hard to bat of negativity and toxicity, but I'm getting there. I respect people's opinions and I will listen. I might not take the advice, or even agree with it sometimes, but at the same time its not necessary to get triggered by it either, as these words will be coming from the heart or the right place.
I have found this an invaluable way of escaping the chains of thoughts and I have been in pit of depression more times than I care to think about.
It is effective to...
In order to identify your repetitive thoughts, you will need to journal and write them down for a few days so you can see what your Achilles heel is if you like, if you are not aware of it.
I did this about this time last year.
My overriding thought was "I'm not good enough"
And when I took this thought to court and looked for the arguments for and against this thought, the answers were pretty illuminating.
Etc
Yes, it illuminated that something very toxic was going on in the house, that up to that moment I hoped it it would change, kept denying it and stuck it out, but at this point my energy levels were rock bottom, I was tired of hoping that something would change and I knew by experience bringing any such subject up, I wouldn't be listened to. One wrong word would send me toppling.
I struggled with the fact that it is my choice how to deal with what other people say and do, but I was not strong enough to wear this jacket, of this particular kind of 'love' anymore.
The blinkers finally fell off and a life-changing decision was made.
Now, every thought is not likely to end up in a life-changing decision, but it will help you clarify what is really going on in your brain and whether that thought actually has any real substance, other than what might have happened in past experiences, or something you might be afraid of.
Another good use I have seen this method being put to is doing things you are worried about and having some positive facts or affirmations on hand on a credit card sized paper to build yourself up, if you feel that thought knocking on the door.
And of course, there is always the option of however you feel, do it anyway, take action and those thoughts will dissipate like mist in the desert.
Whatever way works for you, don't let thoughts chain you from living the life you'd like.
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