What is a toxic thought?
Toxic thoughts tend to be thoughts that we hold about ourselves that are negative in nature. These thoughts are typically routed in our own negative view of ourselves. It is not uncommon for these thoughts to be triggered by others. Often our own misperception of information shared by another person is enough to trigger an already negative perception or ourselves. Sometimes negative situations can heighten the amount of negativity in our life. This can bring up these thoughts more readily.
What can toxic thoughts cause?
They can rob us of our happiness, damage relationships, destroy success, and harm our careers.
How do we deal with toxic thoughts?
Learn to self analyze. When you have a thought about yourself that is negative identify the root of the thought. If you can identify the reason you have this thought about yourself. It becomes easier to manage the thought. It is often found that the thought has no grounding in reality and is more derived from fears about ourselves. It can be a product of our own insecurities. This can also be a result of negative emotionality. We will cover thinking errors more in the future. So be sure to check back for that subject matter in the future.
Another way to challenge Toxic Thoughts is to have a healthy support system. In order for the support system to be healthy number one the person providing support has to be healthy. If they are not then their advice may not be helpful and in the end may cause you additional distress in your life. The person providing you support should be someone you respect and are willing to listen to. If you are not willing to listen to them, then you will in no ways gain any helpful support from them. Even if the information is perfect and would be a huge help, you will just dismiss the information and go about your life. They should be neutral and try to keep neutrality. This is where counseling is highly beneficial as it allows for an individual who is neutral and not there to make any judgements help you process life struggles. They just want to see you succeed. Remember it is easy for us to find someone that supports us in bad decisions and people at times will seek out the people they know who will give them the encouragement to do something that is not healthy at the time. This is often a huge pitfall for people so beware.
Get more exercise. In book that I was recently reading it outlined that humans were designed to walk about 20 miles per day. Most people are lucky if they walk a mile to two miles per day. We all would benefit from getting out and walking some more. Tracking our time walking and steps is even easier with all of the exercise apps we have today. It can even help make exercise fun trying to compete with your friends and family. Physical activity has been found to release dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, and endorphins. Each of these brain chemicals play an important role in regulation of mood.
The final item is a simple one. Get more sleep. It has been found the closer a person is to getting eight hours of good rest. The better they are able to cope with daily life stressors. In the end the more things you have going in your life in the healthy direction the better we are able to cope with life in itself.