12 Facts You Need to Know About a Negative Mindset Before Having a Positive Mindset

The biggest challenge we face in life has always been to control our negative thoughts, as all our problems start with the way we think, especially if we know that we expect a lot of things that are not actually happening, yet we resist any attempt to adopt a positive thinking pattern and remain stuck in a cycle of negative thinking.

Note: This article is by Marc Chernoff, and discusses 12 reasons behind negative thinking patterns.

When you allow negative thoughts to control you, you lose inner peace and joy in life and you start thinking you're having a nervous breakdown and getting depressed over and over again. I say this because I have experienced the impact of these thoughts like all other people but I have learned a lot from this experience.

The most important thing I've learned is that there are a lot of aspects of our lives that we can't control so it doesn't make sense to waste all our energy trying to control these aspects while ignoring the others that we can control.

Therefore, you must decide how to invest your time, with whom to spend it, and what to focus on. You can also decide how you think, how you see yourself, and how you treat others; you can choose the activities you do and the aspects you are interested in and read about and deepen your understanding; you can decide how you will react to life's difficulties and whether you will treat them as disasters or as opportunities for self-development.

Most important of all is that you can determine your attitude toward life, which in turn determines almost everything else. No one is immune to sudden mood swings but that doesn't mean we should give in to them. Whether your negative mindset is permanent or just an emergency situation, you must realize when you have false negative thoughts about reality for the sake of your long-term happiness and success.

12 Facts You Need to Know About a Negative Mindset

Here are 12 facts about the causes of a negative mindset and its impact on your life, along with tips to correct this situation and adopt a healthy thinking pattern:

1. Your Negative Mindset Reflects a Certain Degree of Focusing on Yourself and That You Are a Victim

We all tend to make ourselves the center of events around us as we evaluate all events, people, circumstances, and discussions in terms of our relationship to them. This outlook can have multiple negative effects, from feeling insulted when others behave rudely to feeling pity for ourselves when things don't go the way we would like to doubting ourselves when we're not perfect.

We are not meant for everything that is going on around us and it is wrong for anyone to think that they are the center of the universe, but this is how we feel sometimes, so try to change this belief when it is harmful to you.

When you feel that you are being targeted by everything that is going on around you as a victim, think of the people you can help. It can help you get rid of this closed-minded thinking so you do not feel pity for yourself because you think of others and that is for your own good.

2. Your Negative Mindset Is Greatly Affected by Painful Memories

It is normal for anyone to feel pain, sadness, anger, frustration, regret, disappointment, and so on from time to time. If you observe this pain closely, you will see that it is related to events that happened to you in the recent or distant past, and while you may firmly believe that the cause of the pain you feel now is what happened to you in the past, not because of your view of what happened, the fault of this belief becomes clear if we know that what happened in the past has ended and is no longer happening now.

So why do you feel pain now? The answer is because of your view of what happened. It is simply a process of continuous thinking and what you should do is try to objectively see what happened in the past in order to get rid of its influence on you in the present.

3. Your Negative Mindset Reflects Your Rejection of Reality

Many people make themselves miserable by not accepting life as it is in the present, so you must do your best to prevent yourself from thinking this way, as you must know that when you accept the current reality, regardless of its negativity, you make it an opportunity for self-development and recovery. Happiness does not mean that there are no problems in life, but rather the ability to solve them.

It is enough to imagine what abilities you would have if you accepted reality without making judgments about your suffering, so you should focus on what you have instead of what you have lost. Happiness is not achieved by remembering what life has taken from you, but by preserving what you have left.

4. Your Negative Mindset Reflects Your Fear of Change

Sometimes we have to admit that there are things in our lives that change no matter how hard we try to prevent them, and sometimes it's hard to accept that something we're used to is gone. But accepting this fact makes you feel more happiness and satisfaction than you can imagine.

Change can seem too difficult to bear, but in the long run, it is change that allows you to learn, self-development and achieve success and that solves your problems. So always remember that life is constantly changing and you must also change for the better.

5. Your Negative Mindset Is Affected by Your Negativity and Procrastination

Most of us waste our time and energy waiting for situations to turn perfect, but this is impossible because we forget that we are the ones who create these conditions through work, and we forget that trust is gained through experience. But we waste our time hesitating and procrastinating and end up giving in to the same old routine that has been failing us in the first place. There are many people who go through life without realizing that they can do anything with a lot of passion.

Don't live your life this way; do your best to discover your talents, passions, and the things you love, and take the time to practice them. Don't wait for others to agree to live your life the way you like; decide for yourself how you want your life to be. What gives meaning to life is your effort to create the life you desire, not just the hope that you will have it.

6. Your Negative Mindset Reflects Your Refusal to Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

This means that you do not want to be in an uncomfortable position and, therefore, choose to avoid any situation that makes you uncomfortable. The problem is that if you avoid uncomfortable situations, you will only do activities and take opportunities that are within your comfort zone. Because anyone's comfort zone is relatively narrow, we miss out on most of the life experiences that drive us to self-development. We remain stuck in a cycle of repeated activities and opportunities. Let us take an example of this, which is the commitment to a healthy lifestyle:

• At first, we live an unhealthy lifestyle because eating healthy and exercising is uncomfortable, so we resort to the comfortable option of eating unhealthy food and sitting all day in front of the TV.
• Later, we feel upset because our health is deteriorating, and in order to forget this fact, we resort to more unhealthy food and waste time with more useless activities and buying unnecessary things. The result is more annoyance, and then you have this negative attitude.

7. Your Negative Attitude Lies in Mostly Unrealistic Thoughts

Nobody is perfect and that's okay. You are just one of those imperfect people and no matter what you tell yourself or how many times you disappoint others, you are just as good as you are. Even when you fail, it does not mean that you are not smart or that you do not have the talent or the competencies, and even when you disappoint others, you are still a person worthy of love and appreciation.

The idea of the above is that everyone makes mistakes and disappoints their friends, and it is not because everyone is incompetent; in fact, we are all imperfect human beings, and your pursuit of perfection will only lead to stress and misery.

8. Your Negative Attitude Reflects a Certain Degree of Self-Contempt

When you feel in a state of self- contempt, remember that these feelings are learned, not innate. Which means that you went through an experience in which someone directly or indirectly underestimated you, and you believed this lie and adopted it as the truth. This negative evaluation that you received does not reflect your reality because, just as you have learned to look at yourself with contempt, you can look at yourself positively and have a lot of feelings of love and appreciation towards yourself.

You can challenge these false beliefs and prove them wrong, thus regaining your self-respect. It's not easy and it won't happen overnight, but it is possible, and change begins the moment you are sure there is a better way to live your life and that you deserve to live it. So make that decision and discover it this way.

9. Your Negative Attitude Reflects a Set of Beliefs That Indicate That You Feel Powerless

Think of one of your limiting beliefs about yourself. Remember a field in your life where you think you can't make any change. It can be any field of your life that you wish to make some changes in, such as your physical fitness, your profession, perhaps your relationships, or others.

What is the field in which you firmly believed that you would not be able to make any change? After you identify this field, remember a period, or even a moment, when you were clearly wrong, no matter how much you accomplished in this field, even if it was just a small achievement.

What matters is that you remember the moment you were amazed at what you achieved, because when you do, it will be very easy to get rid of your misconception about yourself. You can start taking steps daily to prove that this belief is wrong, and these steps will be positive daily habits that lead to more small gains, which in turn will lead to more self-confidence, more enthusiasm, and, in the end, great successes and a lot of self-confidence and so forth.

10. Your Negative Attitude Reflects Your Inability to Focus and Live in the Present

One of the most difficult challenges in life is accepting your current reality and living with your true personality. We often become addicted to work, exercise, and relationships to forget our reality. Most of us even do everything we can to avoid feeling lonely in a distraction-free environment, so you find some people spend time with anyone to avoid feeling isolated. Although solitude allows us to recognize our true feelings, which is the first step to recovering from negative feelings.

Live your reality and observe with curiosity and without judgment what prevents you from being yourself. Focus only on your reality and the present moment if you want to know the true meaning of life.

11. Your Negative Attitude Is Affected by a Past of Bad Treatment

Anyone at some point is exploited and mistreated because we allow people to settle for less than we deserve. But in order to overcome your pain, you must not regret anything about what happened, but rather make it a lesson that you learn from it how to choose the people who deserve your trust later, how to choose your friends, and how to distinguish between true and false people.

Most importantly, see yourself for who you are and appreciate the wonderful people and things that you get in life. Although some of what we have lost is irreplaceable, and although we know that some of those who have wronged us will never regret it, we gained more experience for later experiments.

But remember this: You did not receive this bad treatment because of a flaw in your personality, and none of these experiences mean that you are a worthless person. There are just some selfish people who know nothing but their own interests. Yet isn't it wonderful that you are still able to love others who deserve your love, even though some opportunistic people have inflicted such pain on you?

12. Your Negative Attitude Is Influenced by Your Need to Gain Others Appreciation

You won't always be a priority to others, but you should be a priority to yourself. Learn to respect yourself, take care of yourself, and strive to meet your needs.

Make your happiness a priority and don't wait for others to achieve it for you; choose to make it your own priority from now on. You are good enough; just relax, forget the painful memories, live your present self-esteem, and give yourself all the love.