How to Remove Negative Thoughts From Your Subconscious Mind

You’re about to learn five powerful techniques to remove negative thoughts from your subconscious mind. These techniques will give you ways of dealing with the thoughts when they show up.

Each technique is separate and independent from the other. But each is highly effective on its own or in combination with others, for eliminating negative thinking.

Let’s jump right in with the first technique.

5 Ways to Stop Negative Thinking

1. The Pattern Interrupt

The instant you recognize you are thinking a negative thought, end it. Cut it off by inserting a totally different thought into your mind. Think of something else. Try to remember your last vacation or become curious about the surroundings you’re in.

The key for this technique to work is to stop negative thinking the instant you recognize it. You don’t argue with it, you don’t analyze it, you don’t defend yourself against it. Just cut it off. The thought will come back. And when it does, interrupt it again.

Imagine listening to the radio. If a song you didn’t like came on, you would change the station, wouldn’t you? Train yourself to do the same with your mind. If you don’t like a thought, “skip” to the next one.

Removing a negative thought by interrupting it

2. Labeling

Another way to remove negative thoughts from your mind is to label them.

As soon as you recognize that you are thinking negatively, label it as such. Say to yourself: “What’s happening right now is that I am experiencing a negative thought inside me.” Then keep reminding yourself: “It’s only a negative thought. It’s only a negative thought.”

Negatives only have power over you if you react to them.

I’d like you to read over the above sentence at least three times before you continue on so that it becomes imprinted into your mind. Continue to read it until you fully realize that it’s your reaction to negative thoughts that is what gives them power.

The minute you start worrying, the minute you start reacting, the minute you start working yourself up, the negative thought has got you. Thoughts only have power over you when you react to them. You always can choose not to react.

Label it. Remind yourself that it is only a negative thought. And move on to something else. Don’t get trapped into thinking about it. Dismiss it.

Removing a negative thought by calling it what it is

3. Negative Visualization

Another technique is to exaggerate negative thoughts into ridiculousness. And the keyword here is ridiculousness.

Let’s say you’re a salesperson and you’re out making your sales calls. Suddenly the thought comes to you: “Ah, what’s the use, I’m not going to make another sale today.” First, catch yourself. Label the thought: “Wait a second that’s a negative thought.” Then, using the exaggeration technique, you might say:

“That’s right, I’m not going to make another sale today. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised when I visit this next company, if, as soon as I open the door people throw pails of water on me. They’ll release pit bull terriers and German shepherds on me. I’ll be bitten and soaking. Then this great big mechanical boxing glove will come out of nowhere and smash me in the face. Everyone will leap up on their desk and reveal a great big banner that says, ‘You fool, why did you come here? You’re never going to make another sale!’ ”

The trick is to just keep carrying on exaggerating the negative thought until your mind goes, “Okay, enough. This is ridiculous.” Then you find yourself laughing at the thought. And once you’re laughing at the thought, it is robbed of all its negative power.

Man removing a negative thought by exaggerating it

4. Opposite Thinking

Whenever you get a negative thought, counteract it by thinking the exact opposite.

For example, when the negative thought says, “I’m not going to make another sale today,” counteract it with, “I’m going to make several more sales today.”

“I’m not going to make another sale today.” → “I’m going to make several more sales today.”
“I’m never going to get ahead financially.”→ “I’m going to be tremendously successful financially.”
“I’m never going to have a meaningful relationship.” → “I’m going to have a fabulous relationship soon.”

The mind can only think one thought at a time. It might seem that you’re thinking many thoughts at a time but you’re actually just thinking one thought after another after another.

At any given moment, you’re only thinking one thought. So negative thoughts and positive thoughts cannot coexist. If you remove the negative thought and replace it with its exact opposite, you remove the negative thought from your mind.

Most people think about things they don’t want to happen. They think about them, they worry about them, and they focus on them. Eventually, they manifest the very things they didn’t want to happen. Don’t feed the beast!

Replacing a negative thought to get rid of it

5. Affirmations

Affirmations are simply statements that you repeat to yourself over and over again. Affirmations are extremely effective, especially on reoccurring negatives — the ones that have haunted you for years.

The next time you find yourself thinking a negative thought, calmly inform it: “From here on, every time you come to me, you will be met with two minutes of affirmations stating the precise opposite of what you are saying.” Then keep to that promise.

When your mind comes up with a negative thought such as, “I’m never going to get ahead in my life,” counteract it with two minutes of affirmations stating the exact opposite: “I’m going to be tremendously successful in my life. I’m going to be tremendously successful in my life. I’m going to be tremendously successful in my life.”

Repeat this affirmation to yourself over and over again for the full two minutes. If the negative comes back, hit it again with another two minutes.

If you respond with two minutes of affirmations every single time the negative thought comes to you, the negative will cease haunting you, often within days.

I have a whole lesson on affirmations in the Mind Power Training.

Using affirmations to remove negative thoughts

What Causes Negative Thinking?

Our minds often hold onto bad memories, like when someone treats us poorly or we make a mistake. These memories replay in our heads, leading to more negative thoughts and making us feel sad or anxious.

Our past experiences teach us to worry about the future, like messing up a project at work or losing a relationship. Even small things, like being late for a meeting, can trigger negative thoughts because of past mistakes.

Examples of negative thoughts include:

• “I’m not good enough.”
• “I always mess things up.”
• “No one likes me.”
• “I’ll never succeed at this.”
• “Something bad is going to happen.”

These thoughts are neither productive nor helpful. So how come we keep on having them?

It happens because our brains develop a habit of negative thinking. We get stuck in these negative thinking patterns, and the more we think these negative thoughts, the more our brain believes them. It’s like practicing a song until we know all the words. But we can learn to get rid of negative thinking by practicing the five techniques shared in this post, reprogramming our brain to focus on the positive instead of what went or could go wrong.

But remember, negative thoughts are always either linked to a memory or a projection into the future. They don’t exist in the present moment. So when we focus on what is happening right now, without thinking about the past or the future, negative thoughts lose their power.

Why Remove Negative Thoughts from Your Subconscious Mind?

Eliminating negative thinking is not simply about having a good attitude, feeling good, or being positive. It goes much deeper than that.

Thoughts are real forces. How we think affects the things that happen to us. That’s because each thought vibrates with energy and attracts to us the circumstances, people, and events of a similar frequency.

So when we focus on positive thoughts, we attract positive experiences. Conversely, negative thoughts can bring about unwanted outcomes.

Our mind is like a garden of which we are the master gardeners. Through care and diligence, we have the opportunity to create a botanical masterpiece. Through neglect, our garden can be a mass of weeds: negatives, insecurities, and failures.

Keeping our garden neat — eliminating negative thinking — is our duty and responsibility. And that’s precisely what I teach people to do in the 6-week Mind Power training.

Conclusion

Wouldn’t it be great if negative thoughts came with a warning sign? It would read: “I’m only a negative thought, you don’t have to believe me if you don’t want to.” Unfortunately, negatives don’t come like that. They come disguised as real problems. They slip in when we’re not paying attention.

But if you understand that the mind is a great trickster, forever conjuring up negative thoughts, you don’t have to buy into every single destructive thought that occurs to us.

You’ve discovered five ways of dealing with negative thinking. Use whichever ones you find beneficial, use them in combination with one another, but most importantly, use them.

You no longer need to be overpowered by negatives. You no longer have to let negative thoughts bring you down. From this point on you possess the tools and techniques to clear your mind of negative thoughts. Congratulations. Now go out and use them.