How to distract yourself from bad thoughts? This question arises for many people. This is how a person is designed that he has no control over his thoughts. They come and go on their own, making people either happy or worried. Once bad thoughts come into your head, it is no longer possible to get rid of them. One after another, new negative reasoning arises that can drive a person into depression.
So how can you distract yourself from bad thoughts? To protect yourself from such bad developments, you should know a few recommendations from psychologists. By following the advice of experts, you can forget about bad thoughts and protect yourself from negative influences.
Understand yourself
First of all, qualified psychologists recommend trying to understand yourself, or rather, the essence of negative thoughts. After all, bad thoughts are formed subconsciously when some unresolved problems and questions are stored in the head. Therefore, you should try to understand yourself in detail and try to find the root of the problem, subconsciously returning to the moment when the situation occurred that provoked the subsequent appearance of bad thoughts. To make this easier, you need to concentrate on the flow of thoughts and try to unite them with one topic.
When you can remember the situation, it is worth thinking about the moment that became the reason for further mental return to this issue. Only by understanding the very essence of the problem will a person be able to solve it and, therefore, get rid of bad thoughts. For example, it could be some unfortunate action or an incorrectly expressed phrase. Very often it is difficult for a person to understand the essence of the problem, since the source of negative thoughts is simply forgotten. However, it gets deposited in the head and begins to provoke the subconscious into bad, difficult thoughts. In such cases, experts advise trying to thoroughly remember all actions, phrases and actions over the past days.
How to abstract yourself from the outside world
Anyone can learn to abstract themselves. You yourself have already done this more than once, albeit unconsciously. Remember if there were similar situations in your life:
- Your friend is telling you something, and meanwhile you are thinking about the girl you met in the minibus this morning
- There is an important meeting at work, and you have your head in the clouds, looking forward to your upcoming vacation.
- At home, someone expresses dissatisfaction with you, and you, without paying any attention to it, read an interesting book or watch an exciting film
Surely you have encountered something like this. And this just means that you already know how to abstract yourself. But if earlier you did this automatically, now you can begin to distract yourself from the world around you on purpose, and at the moment when you need it.
The first thing you will have to master in order to learn to abstract yourself from the negative manifestations of the outside world will be controlling your thoughts. There is a simple algorithm for this:
- Exhale
- Start counting slowly to ten
- For each count, take one slow inhale and one slow exhale.
- While concentrating on your breathing, pay attention to your thoughts and breathe them out.
To enhance the effect of the technique, you can look at something. For example, you are standing in line at a store, and two other customers are arguing next to you. Do the above steps and look at what is happening outside the window, take a look at the interior of the store, and concentrate on what actions the cashier performs while serving the customer. If you can play your favorite music, do it. This breathing technique can be used in any situation.
Always remember that, abstracting from the outside world, you need to try to maintain a positive attitude and not succumb to emerging negative emotions. This means that any circumstances, situations, events and people should be looked at from a different perspective. Here are just a few possible points of view:
- You may be exaggerating and giving too much importance to circumstances.
- Perhaps there is some personal benefit specifically for you in the current situation, and you just need to see it
- Perhaps if things had gone the way you wanted, you would have faced more serious problems
- You may fall into the habit of reacting negatively when something goes against your expectations.
By looking at what is happening from this position, you can easily abstract yourself from the outside world and focus on positive thoughts and/or solving specific issues. In addition, you will have more energy and strength, and life will seem better and easier.
In addition to the proposed technique of abstracting from the outside world, you can use meditation. It improves concentration and is wonderfully relaxing. It is best to meditate at home when you want to be alone with yourself, forget about everything and everyone, and organize your thoughts. But in general, you can meditate on the street, on public transport, and even at work. We talked in detail about meditation in our article “Tips for proper meditation.”
Also, activities such as walking, watching movies, meeting with friends, shopping, concentrating on specific activities, contemplating works of art, nature, etc. will help you to abstract yourself from the outside world. Also, so that no one “gets” you, we recommend turning off all your gadgets from time to time.
But manifestations of the external world are often expressed specifically in annoying noises and sounds - this is one of the most common phenomena that interfere with concentration and cause negative emotions. Next we will tell you how to abstract yourself from them.
Stream of thoughts
Every day, when faced with negativity coming from others, the body begins to adapt, producing more and more negative emotions. As a rule, a person himself does not realize that negative thoughts accumulate in him. Only when one negative thought flashes in the subconscious, followed by a second, does a person begin to realize the degree of his irritation or anger. However, it is already very difficult to stop the flow of thoughts rushing through the head and every minute replenished with new memories. It is not for nothing that in ancient times they began to say that nothing material can be compared with thoughts. After all, thoughts that arise in the head at lightning speed are almost impossible to stop simply by expressing a desire.
People’s imagination works in the same rhythm. The two combined abilities of the mind, such as fantasy and thought, do simply amazing things with the human brain. For example, imagining inclement weather, trees bending from the wind and leaves falling to the ground, it is very difficult to force the subconscious to immediately draw wonderful weather. The human body reacts in the same way when it represents a raging sea or a swinging pendulum of a clock. Even with strong concentration, it is difficult for a person to force the presented picture to change. However, it is still possible to subjugate your consciousness and learn to control the flow of thoughts.
Multitasking
One of the popular myths of our generation is that multitasking is the key solution to lack of time.
“From a neurological perspective, it is impossible to attend to two attention-demanding tasks at the same time,” says Holowell. This means that if you are on the phone with a client and reading a message from a colleague, the brain's attention is shifted towards the email, and the mind cannot handle both tasks at the same time. Holowell believes that multitasking is a recipe for mediocrity. As long as you are doing 2 things at the same time, neither of them will be done well. Thus, email reading may not be complete and conversation productive while you are multitasking.
“You definitely can't be highly productive by multitasking,” Holowell says. However, the specialist agrees that multitasking is sometimes necessary, for example, when it comes to taking notes during a meeting. He says that we need to be aware of the need to split our attention between both tasks, and consciously sacrifice our level of productivity to do both things at the same time.
Let's distract ourselves correctly
How to distract yourself from bad thoughts? When a person starts thinking about something negative, he should immediately try to switch.
To do this, it is recommended to remember the happiest, funniest moment in life, your favorite joke, phrase, or watch funny films (for example, “Groundhog Day”, “And in my heart I’m dancing”, “Neighbors. On the Warpath-2”, “The Simpleton”, "Third wheel"). In this way, a huge number of people are saved from depression. The main thing is to distract yourself from negative thoughts in time, eradicating them. It is much easier to solve a problem when it is just beginning than to try to eliminate the consequences of daily torment with negative thinking.
Favourite buisness
So how can you distract yourself from bad thoughts? There is another method. In this case, a person needs to find something to do that requires maximum concentration. This could be a favorite activity or, conversely, a very difficult task that requires complete concentration. If such a hobby is found, then bad thoughts will automatically fade into the background. Their place will be taken by reflections and ideas on the topic that the person has taken up.
What is your favorite activity? For example, you might want to try puzzles, which are a hobby for many people, or start solving difficult crossword puzzles. Such activities are not burdensome. But they are very good at distracting from bad thoughts. Experts also advise people to repeat their achievements and successes every day, to remember their importance in society. After all, it is precisely from self-doubt that a feeling of fear appears, which provokes the appearance of negative thoughts.
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Key words:1Time management
Psychological reception
How to switch attention? There is a really effective and not at all difficult way to outwit your mind, forcing it to distract itself from bad thoughts. All that is required from a person in this situation is a good imagination and the ability to laugh. So, closing your eyes, you need to imagine all your problems as something small and insignificant, even funny.
For example, these could be some tiny cartoon creatures or just small insects. A person should imagine himself as a huge bright ball from which warmth and light emanate. Only by assessing your importance, realizing how insignificant negative thoughts look, can you get rid of them once and for all. The same can be said about fear. If a person has a real fear of something, he should mentally imagine this object or situation, only adding a little comedy. For example, if a person has a fear of his boss, why not mentally put a funny wig or ridiculous clothes on his head? It has long been known that sincere laughter can drive away any, even the most obsessive fears.
Let's be positive
What other effective way is there? Stay positive! That is, when a person has negative thoughts, he should look for positive aspects in the situation. In general, people suffering from constant negative influence of their own mind should try to become more optimistic. Then, in the worst thoughts, it will be easy enough to find even the slightest good moment, which will become salvation.
For example, a huge number of people daily torment themselves with thoughts about their inferiority. So, many are not satisfied with their figure, physical fitness, appearance, attitude in society, etc. Such people are advised to try to find in themselves the distinctive positive traits that create their personality. If you suddenly can’t do this on your own, you can turn to family and friends for help. They certainly know for what qualities and characteristics they communicate and make friends with a person. It is best to ask each of them to make a list of characteristics that made them fall in love with the insecure person. You definitely need to remember all your positive traits and be proud of them every day. Then all the negative thoughts that appear against the background of uncertainty about your personality will disappear by themselves.
Create a support box
If you and your friend are in different cities or you simply don’t have the opportunity to see each other often, show your concern using a “support box.” Put there everything that your friend loves, that helps her relax, and gives her a reason to take care of herself. This could be a book about dealing with stress, aromatic candles, some kind of treat, or a set of face masks. Add a note with words of gratitude and compliments.
Varied life
How to deal with a bad mood? To prevent negative thoughts from appearing in your head, you should diversify your life, filling it with all sorts of interesting activities and colorful emotions. For example, go to cinemas more often, watch funny films, visit clubs, go on various tourist trips, and so on.
You should also stay away from people who cause discomfort, and, conversely, communicate with those who are able to please and give a good mood.
