This is a short blog post to identify three concepts that we can all train to help with negative thinking. The concepts in question are:

1. Openness
2. Awareness
3. Engagement

I will explain each concept in a little more detail

Openness

This is referring to the ability to be open to the unwanted internal experiences such as negative thoughts and feelings. The unfortunate reality to this situation is that although you may not want these thoughts and feelings you ARE experiencing. Often the fight against trying not to have them really compounds the problem. It is the equivalent of trying really hard to not think of pink elephant- everyone reading this has just thought of a pink elephant 😊 By being open to these uncomfortable thoughts and feelings we can avoid getting completely wrapped up in them.

Awareness

This involves contact with the present moment, not what could happen, not what has happened in the past but what is actually happening around us and in our bodies RIGHT NOW. We may do this by engaging our senses. What can we smell? What are we hearing? What are we seeing?

This can help in numerous ways

1. Helps to not be ruled by previous ideas about ourselves or our abilities
2. Less need to try and protect our self-esteem as we are not concerned about the future (e.g what others may think)?
3. Allows us to be more focused on the task in hand

Engagement

This concept is closely aligned with values. It refers to being fully aligned with what is important to you and doing something that you really want to do irrespective of any negative thoughts or feelings that often get in the way with things that are important to us. Engagement is being crystal clear about what is important to you and then acting on them by making a committed action. An example may be committing to going for a run twice per week as a healthy level of physical fitness is important to you.

Hope this blog as been helpful. If there are any questions please drop me a message as always enjoy discussing these topics.