That’s right. Negativity is powerful and negative thinking is more powerful than positive thinking. Whoa! You heard me right; negativity is a force to be reckoned with.

The only problem with it is that it will attract to you all the things you most want to avoid. And, as an added bonus, you’ll feel awful each day along your journey. The reason I say it is more powerful than positive thinking is because of its damaging exponential ripple effect.

Have you ever been near someone who is just grouchy and miserable and negative? Has that person ever been you? Whether the negative vibes and messages you are hearing come from those around you or from within your own self-talk the power to have negativity and a big pity party snowball into a gigantic bad mood, bad attitude, and correspondingly bad experiences is huge. If you’ve ever had “one of those days” and had it get progressively worse as the day went on, you know what I mean. It is like even though you know better, you just can’t seem to stop it.

Why is that? Well, just as positive thinking and surrounding yourself with positive people can have far reaching positive effects, the same holds true with its negative sibling. Goodness knows there is no shortage of people that will join you in your bitch session, so I’d suggest that the negative spiral can get bigger even faster. To make matters worse, these bitch sessions and commiserating with one another about how life/work/relationships/money/etc is hard and blaming others is a far more popular and acceptable sport (at least by social standards) than actually taking a hard look at one’s life and making a change.

Let’s face it, life is not always positive. In fact I admit that I’ve been in a bit of a funk the last few days. Building a business while still working a day job that sucks the life out of you isn’t easy, but it is a necessary step toward building what I REALLY want from my career. However, every now and then the Dilbert inspired moments during the day can overwhelm me and I find myself cranky (at best) and temporarily hopeless (at worst). I know I have a bigger vision and plan for my life and that gets me through. The bumps along the way can be a pain though so I wanted to share some tips I use for snapping out of a negative spiral.

• Get in touch with your life plan and bigger vision. If you have one already, read it out loud during the day. If you don’t have one, now is the time to start creating one.
• Do something pleasurable so you can truly savor a few moments. For instance, I uncharacteristically bought a bottle of wine on the way home from work so my partner and I could enjoy a glass with dinner. We’re big wine hobbyists but rarely get to enjoy during the week. It felt good to savor and discuss a glass with dinner so I could then be in a better frame of mind for the evening.
• Pamper yourself. Take a walk, buy yourself flowers, take a bubble bath or do anything that makes you feel cared for from the inside out.
• Escape for a bit (in a healthy way). Workout, read a book, take a hike, or watch a movie. Take a short bit of time and just get away from it all so you can regroup and shift your mood.
• Hug, phone, or pet a loved one. Being with those we love and reaffirming that relationship can do wonders for putting perspective on a bad day or situation.

The key to snapping out of the negative thinking death spiral is to shift how you’re feeling. Sometimes you need to do it every once in a while and other times you may need to do it daily (or even several times a day). However, if you can stay in touch with how you are feeling and spend little time in the negative zone and more time in the neutral and positive zone you are guaranteed to not only feel better but also attract more positive things you really want into your life.

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