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How to Be Positively Creative — A 5 Step Guide for Recovering Negaholics
By Dan Goodwin
“The reason that most negative thinking does such major damage is because it goes undetected on the surface.”
Negative thoughts can destroy in an instant any good feelings and positive intentions we have, whether about creating, or any other parts of our lives.
But how do we cure ourselves of negative thinking? In fact, CAN we even cure ourselves or will we always be teetering precariously as a recovering negaholic, just a few unchecked thoughts away from plummeting back into relentless bleakness and hopelessness?
Here’s how to combat negaholism and become positively creative in 5 steps:
- Awareness. The reason that most negative thinking does such major damage is because it goes undetected on the surface. What possible damage can the odd harmless negative thought or remark here and there do, you might think?
Huge damage actually. Leave a dripping tap long enough without fixing it and the sink is going to fill with water, then eventually flood the bathroom. Make enough negative comments to yourself and they too will swell in volume and before you realise, you’re barely able to think anything BUT negative thoughts.
- Weaken the effects. Once you become more aware of your negative thinking, you’ve already taken the first step to lessen its effect on you. Build on that straight away with the next step.
Every time you hear yourself saying something negative in your mind, immediately switch it round to the positive form. For example, if you find yourself saying “I’m no writer, why do I bother?”, switch it around to something like: “I have a written a variety of interesting, stimulating pieces of writing so far. I have written well in the past and will continue to improve and build on this, starting now.”
- Increase your action. So now you’re noticing more when the negative thoughts appear, and are replacing them with more positive equivalents. Now to take this to the next level, take the kind of actions that are congruent with these thoughts.
What does a positive creative person do, how do they behave? What kind of regular, daily actions will you take that are in alignment with your positive, healthy thoughts about yourself and your creativity? Come up with a list of 4 or 5 actions you can take every day to keep you congruent with your positive thoughts.
- Repeat and build. With daily positive acts of creativity in place, you’ll be starting to form strong routines and habits, both in your outward actions, and in your thought patterns.
How can you now turn up the volume a little and take this positive framework you’ve been building to the next level? A word of advice here. It’s easier to build up slowly in the amount you create each time and keep the frequency the same as what you’re used to. So for example, go from creating for 5 minutes 3 times a day to creating for 10 minutes 3 times a day, rather than creating for 5 minutes 6 times a day.
- Stay vigilant. By this stage your negative thinking will have been greatly reduced. But don’t get complacent. Negative thoughts are always in your mind, it’s whether you choose to tune into them or not that’s important.
Imagine it as being like listening to different radio stations. You can only tune into one radio station at a time. But it doesn’t mean just because you’re tuned into one that all the other stations have stopped broadcasting. You’re just tuned into a different channel. Do the same with your negative thoughts. If you start to hear them, simply retune into a more positive channel!
By following these 5 steps you can drastically reduce the affects of negative thinking or negaholism.
Isn’t it time you started to become a recovering negaholic rather than one caught in the full destructive grip of the disease?
Choose to be positively creative and start taking the steps today. •
© Copyright 2007 Dan Goodwin
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Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin is the author of “Create Create!”, a FREE twice monthly ezine for people who want simple and powerful articles, tips and exercises to help them unleash their creative talents. Sign up right now and get your FREE “Explode Your Creativity!” Action Workbook, at
www.CoachCreative.com.
08/06/07
