Get bUoyed Up! [Negative Thinking]

 One of the most crucial aspects of your mental health is your thought process.  The ability to reason, imagine, problem solve and make sound judgements without disruptions in your mental thought process are necessary parts of your psyche and its impact on your day to day cognitive functions.  Sometimes this thought process can be disrupted by negative thoughts or simply "negative thinking." Negative thinking or negative thoughts can occur at any moment during any time of our lives. The question is...….how do you respond to negative thinking?  Do you surrender your inner power and allow the thought to take control?   Do you simply try to ignore it with the hopes of, in time, the bad thought will go away?   In either of these choices, the outcome whether it be long term or short term is not good for your overall mental health.  You should never give in, cater to, or ignore negative thoughts.  It is always a good idea to address any negative thoughts or negative emotional patterns at their infancy stage.  Never let any type of despair or negative rationale fester in your mind. This can ultimately lead to things like anxiety, depression, mood swings and host of other mental disorders. There are also many scientific studies that show the impact mental health has on your physical health as well. The negative thought could be small and seems at the moment to be no big deal, and for the most part, a lot times it probably isn't, but why take the chance of hoping the negative thought will pass. In order to keep your thought process in control as much as possible and maintain a healthy mindset you need to take action on or against the thought immediately. The best way to address any negative thought is to replace it with a positive thought. For example, if you wake up one morning and you are not feeling your best and the first thought that pops into your mind is "I feel terrible," you need to immediately replace that negative thought with a positive thought.  This can be done by purposely thinking in your mind and saying out loud, "I feel awesome or great."  The intentional correction of your mental thought behavior pattern doesn't occur overnight so you have to practice. Every time a negative thought flares up, you have to on purpose, cancel it out with a positive thought. Before you know it you will have built a formula to control your thought pattern and you will be speaking and thinking positively on a regular basis. You have just been bUoyed Up!