“Understand who you are. Educate yourself on the self.”
– Jennifer Anniston
Agonizing over the mistakes of your past can cause you significant harm, sapping your energy and undermining your self-esteem while hindering you in the pursuit of your goals. Focusing on the negative aspects of your past can impact every area of your life.
It can be easy to get stuck in your past, while it’s difficult to break out of it. Studies have shown that humans have between 12.000 and 60.000 thoughts per day, with 80 percent of those being mostly negative. Just imagine how many thoughts you have each day about something you did years ago. When you’re having these thoughts, your first step should be finding ways to overcome them.
1. Change your situation. Negative thoughts occur most often when you’re idle or doing something you don’t like. If this happens frequently, it’s time to change the scenery for a fresh perspective. try going for a walk or hanging out with a friend.
2. Be positive, and keep positive company. Keeping a positive perspective is the ultimate balm to negativity. If you’re going through a rough time, make sure you’re surrounded by positive influences that will lift your mood.
3. Train your mind to focus on other things. When negative thoughts occur, find ways to accomplish something positive, such as organizing your books in alphabetical order, or even cleaning the litterbox. These small feelings of accomplishment can help set your mood to rights.
4. Is it personal? Contact them. If your negativity involves another person, contact them and tell them your story if possible. You’ll be vulnerable while doing this, but there could be a huge reward when you take this risk.
Bonus Video Resource
In this vlog Traciana Graves, CEO of The Visionary Leader Network, tries to spark forgiveness within ourselves in situations where we have either been bullies or bystanders. This speech is about energizing the hopelessness of the past into the effective action of today. She asks us to relive our past, examine the circumstances that prompted our actions, and allow ourselves to feel the strength of compassion that can act as a “radar” to help ourselves and other people in the future.
