How Can I Change The Way I Think?
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You can change the way you think by practicing different methods such as affirmations, reframing, journaling, and surrounding changes. However, changing the way you think is a deeply personal journey and is different for everyone.
It is important that this process be personal to you, allowing yourself to do what is needed to aid you the most rather than what you may find most helpful to others. So keep reading to find out what might be best for you in this journey and what you can try.
How Can You Do it?
You can change the way you think by participating in several different practices, the most common being affirmations. Negative thoughts often crop up, and we allow ourselves to feed into them. The first step in changing this is positive affirmations.
Instead of feeding these negative thoughts, reframe your mindset to a more positive one and come at that thought with a different approach. This applies to negative thoughts involving how you look or feel and negative thoughts revolving around day-to-day life.
Like any other technique with a goal of change, positive thinking and reframing your mindset takes practice. Stay consistent, and you will begin to see improvements over time.
Do You Need Someone to Help You?
No, you do not need someone to help you change how you think. However, having help can make things easier. In particular, therapy is a useful tool when trying to change. A therapist can help guide these changes and provide professional help.
Beyond a therapist or a professional in something similar, even having a friend to anchor you can be helpful. A friend can help redirect or reframe your thoughts whenever they are negative. They can also help affirm positive thoughts and provide the assistance you might need.
If neither of these is available to you, don’t worry. Most of the work that comes with changing your mindset comes from yourself. You have to do the work toward this change, and you can do it alone, even if it will be more difficult if you keep at it.
How Long Does it Take to Change it?
Changing the way you think can take as few as three to four weeks. However, this is not as simple as it sounds. After performing these practices for just a couple of weeks, you are not cured of your mindset.
Maintaining a healthy mindset is a lifelong process. After a couple of weeks, it begins to solidify in your mind and become easier.
Like any exercise, however, mental exercises like this must be kept up with. It gets easier with time, and slipping up becomes less and less common.
Will Thought Journal Help?
Yes, thought journaling could help change the way you think. Thought journaling is the process of tracking your thoughts and feelings. It allows you to recognize patterns over time while also expressing how you feel.
With this recognition of pattern also comes the ability to change or reshape it. For example, when you realize what harmful thoughts crop up the most, you can focus more of your attention and energy on it rather than aiming blindly at what you may need to be working on.
Outside of this, expressing how you are feeling also allows for an emotional release. For example, getting out how you feel when you begin to feel overwhelmed can help calm that internal storm and regulate those emotions much faster and more easily.
Does Changing Your Surrounding Help?
Yes, changing your surroundings can help you change the way you think. However, this is a delicate balance. Changing your surroundings can help but also harm your thoughts and feelings. So again, it is about personal balance.
Many people find change to be helpful to this process, such as going out into nature or stepping away from whatever is troubling them. However, many people do not find change relaxing but rather stressful.
Many people also find some surroundings more calming than others. Internal reflection is important before changing your surroundings to discover if this would be helpful to you as well as what setting would be the most beneficial. It is a personal journey.
Final Thoughts on How Can You Change The Way You Think
Changing your thoughts is a difficult, lifelong journey. It will be frustrating at first as you try to figure out what helps you the most. Dozens of different practices and methods can help or hurt you during this process.
The important thing is to be patient with yourself and stick to it. No matter how hopeless it feels, know that you are making important progress every day as long as you put effort into it. After some time, you will notice a difference, and your thoughts will change for the better.
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