Say No To Negative Thoughts

Negativity, at some time or the other, attacks all of us. Prof. AVR Rao elucidates its mechanism and suggests ways of overcoming this debilitating tendency

- Prof. AVR Rao

Rarely do we find a human being who has never had negative thoughts. Negative thoughts are creeping fears, including those about things presumed to be hidden in the future and concealed in people, which take various shapes and attack us any time. It is the tendency, in some people, of expecting the worst. Paradoxically, when these thoughts are analysed and understood, it will become clear that there is no depth or stuff in them. They disappear like an iceberg in the hot sun.

Negative by nature

Very rarely do these negative thoughts originate from external causes. Your wrong interpretation of the external events and people gives birth to negative thoughts and strengthens them, often forcing you to believe them to be true. Some external causes are ill-health and physical weakness, situations of deep and unexpected grief, being a victim of great injustice, attacks of wicked but strong people, and so on. These can be won over with some effort and positive thought enforcement.

It is the other kind—the internally generated or imagined ones—that should bother you. Negative thinking is virtually self-talk which limits your ability to trust yourself and strengthen your potential virtues. Thoughts direct and control your behaviour and, therefore, their quality is of extreme importance.

Understanding

Understanding negative thoughts is the first and essential step for banishing them from your life pattern. Whenever you are confronted by one or more of the kind of thoughts mentioned below, understand that you are being pushed into the bottomless pit of negative feelings:

• I am alone in this world and so helpless that there is no help daring difficulties.