Managing Negative Emotions: Strategies for a Positive Mindset

Everyone experiences negative feelings at some point in her life. Negative feelings or thoughts can arise during stressful events or for some may exist on a day-to-day basis. Negative feelings become detrimental when a person becomes preoccupied with the negative feelings, thus creating a never-ending circle of negative thoughts and stress. For some, the negative thoughts are an attempt to control a situation, but normally just contribute to a problem rather than helping to solve the problem.

Instructions

Getting Rid of Negative Feelings

• 1

  Identify the negative feelings that you are experiencing. Decide if the situation is something that can be controlled or resolved easily.

• 2

  Confront the negative feelings that you have and determine whether they are legitimate feelings for your particular situation. Are your feelings justified or are you overreacting?

• 3

  Relinquish control and accept uncertainty in situations that you can't control or have limited control over. Worrying about something that you can't control is only going to exacerbate the problem.

• 4

  Replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts. For every negative feeling that arises, try to find a positive feeling to replace it.

• 5

  Visualize yourself feeling positive and picture yourself abandoning the negative feelings that you have. Really picture yourself feeling happy and content. Place yourself in a happy moment in your life and relive those feelings.

• 6

  Take care of yourself physically. Eat a healthy diet and get regular exercise to help your body be as healthy as possible. This will help to reduce stress and will improve coping skills.