Why do we have negative thoughts?
What causes negative thoughts? Like many people who suffer from negative thoughts, perhaps you imagine unwanted self-talk is an enemy. Your thoughts exist for good reasons, though, and reveal information about you. Negative self-talk can teach you about old emotional wounds and aid healing. Understanding your old programming is key to improving your mental health. We need to understand that we are not our thoughts and that it is our conditioning.
Why do negative thoughts exist?
Critical self-talk is unpleasant. Discomfort begins before your inner voice disparages you, though. It rises because of old negativity that needs an outlet. It wants to be recognized so you can take measures to rectify unease. The mind wants to do one thing. Keep you alive. It is like a radar tracking for danger. It pulls from the past and predicts the future. This is where fear and depression reside.
Unseen hurt and misconceptions remain in the shallows of your mind until events trigger them. When they rise to the surface, they show your hidden emotions. It might upset you when your partner doesn’t call to say they will be late home, for instance, or when a friend doesn’t contact you. This triggers an event from your childhood or a past relationship. Your mind makes you believe it is real and happening again. Here it is important that you do not personalize it.
Your thoughts tell you they don’t care about you, and it hurts. But you were already feeling insecure, and you needed people to show their constancy and loyalty. Not getting the amount of reassurance you want triggers existing pain. Negative thoughts follow, but they are more about old hurt, not current circumstances.
What are negative thoughts?
Your thoughts, positive or negative, are inner guidance. They help you gravitate toward what works for you and away from whatever’s unhelpful. You miss insights and chances to heal when you fight them. You are no longer in the present moment. In this present state there is no way for your thoughts to be real. In the present moment there is only awareness.
Self-talk highlights your unmet needs so you can work on old pain. You need to look behind the actual words used when it appears and uncover what it means. If left unexplored, the negative thoughts triggered in the scenarios mentioned could cause arguments. Study the hurt beneath them, though, and you can gain self-understanding. Once you have learned this self understanding your now able to stay present and not pull form conditioning and old programming that has been controlling your emotional state your entire life.
How can I uncover what negative thoughts mean?
Many of the fears lurking behind negative thoughts develop in childhood. You are liable to be an insecure adult if you didn’t meet your need for security as a child. Likewise, if you did not satisfy other requirements early in your life, you will benefit from fulfilling them later, and your psyche will nudge you to do so. This is why mental health counseling is beneficial. Along with the help of a therapist, you will start to peel away the layers of old negative toxic thought patterns.
Glance beneath negative thoughts and find out what they divulge. Sit quietly, shut your eyes, and think about the underlying emotion and when it first appeared years ago. Doubtless, a memory will surface. The significance of the recollection could be huge or small, as current events can be triggered by both childhood traumas and minor misunderstandings. Mindfulness and meditation are crucial and effective ways to combat these negative thoughts.
You may note that you misconstrued what happened at the time, and change your perception if you examine memories through adult eyes. Or, if your negative thoughts come from trauma, you can seek professional help or find support from a wise friend or relative.
What Causes Negative Thoughts?
Understanding your emotions can help you see why you respond to events as you do and separate them from current circumstances. You could explain your feelings to people you love and put supportive measures in place. Your partner in the earlier scenario, for example, would understand why you needed to know they would be late and call you.
Your negative thoughts are untapped gems. They may be unpleasant to experience, but once you recognize what is beneath them, you can use them for personal growth and emotional healing.
