It’s not easy to change your negative thoughts to positive ones, but it can be helpful to just bring things to neutral.
Moving from negative to neutral
Negative thoughts can be very overwhelming and start to become more than just your thoughts, but your reality. While it may not always be possible to change your negative feelings about something to positive, it can be helpful to just bring them to neutral.
For example, you may have thoughts such as “I hate my job” or “I hate my boss” or “I hate my car.” You may not be able to swap these thoughts to “I love my job” or “I love my boss,” but you can bring them to “I have a job,” “I have a boss,” or “I have a car.”
There are practices in Buddhism, Stoicism, and even the existential parts of religions such as Judaism and Christianity that focus on the concept of accepting life as it is — without giving it meaning. There is the idea that we live in neutral universe and we put our own emotional frame on it — based on our past experiences, or what we’ve been taught, or the ideas we have about something. We create our own judgment or meaning about the object or story and what it means to us.
Instead of giving something meaning, we can instead let it just exist and be neutral.
One example of this that is common in anger management relates to driving. When a car moves in front of you in traffic, rather than giving it the meaning that — the car cut you off, you’re a wimp and the other driver is a jerk, this means that you allow the other driver to do things to you — it can just mean that another car moved in front of your car. It can be as simple as that.
We encourage our patients to look around at your life and the thoughts you are having and see if you can bring them to neutral. While you can continue to work toward positive, neutral will still feel a lot better than negative.
About Us
Wells Medicine is a Houston-based practice designed to provide meaningful care for mental health. Providing targeted interventional treatments for Depression, Anxiety, OCD, PTSD and other conditions, with Ketamine Treatments, Stellate Ganglion Blocks, TMS, and Nitrous-Oxide Treatments. Focused on comprehensive care and integration with Psychiatry, Psychology, and Support Services. We are evidence-based, patient-focused and mission-driven.
The content here is for informational purposes and should not be relied upon for medical decisions. For the details of your specific medical conditions and treatments consult your doctors or other qualified healthcare professionals.
