The first step towards overcoming your negative thoughts is to realise that you're not the only one - everybody, even the most positive person, gets negative thoughts!
Olympian John Konrads won one gold and one bronze medal in the 1960 Rome Olympics. During an interview following the 400-meter freestyle, for which he won the bronze medal, John said that he lost focus by nurturing negative thoughts on how his arch rival Murray was going to perform. He admitted that although he had convinced himself he could win, these negative thoughts got in the way and blew his chances.
Negative thoughts are commonplace and anyone can fall victim to them. However, it's not the presence of negative thoughts but the way we handle them and react to them that either breaks or makes our confidence and self-esteem. This is because nothing in life has any meaning other than the meaning you give to it. If you allow negative thoughts to harm you they will and, conversely, if you allow them to help you they will do that too.
When developing and maintaining a positive outlook on life it's important to bear a few points in mind:
You're not the only one that gets negative thoughts; everyone in the world gets them.
Negative thoughts, per se, don't harm you - it's what you say to yourself after the thought has entered your head that does the damage.
You can change the impact of any thought simply by changing what it means to you.
Staying positive in life is not achieved by ignoring or denying negative thoughts but by handling them more smartly.
The main thing to remember is that it isn't the actual event that causes the negative thoughts and emotions; it's the internal conversations you have with yourself in response to the trigger or event that cause you to feel despondent, negative or pessimistic. Once you can identify the triggers and events and analyse your responses to them you can deliberately change your responses from unhelpful to helpful, un-resourceful to resourceful, negative to positive.
