Negative Thoughts - The Origin Of Negative Thinking & How To Eliminate It Forever

Summary

Leo from Actualised.org discusses the impact of negative thoughts and their origins in our subconscious fears, often rooted in childhood or early adulthood. He emphasizes the importance of awareness and offers practical steps to identify and track these thoughts. Techniques such as affirmations, meditation, and focusing on creative or altruistic activities are suggested to combat negativity. The video encourages viewers to visit Actualised.org for more advanced personal development strategies.

Takeaways

• 🧠 Negative thoughts are often automatic and unconscious, arising from our deepest fears and projecting worst-case scenarios.
• 🔍 Awareness is the first step to dealing with negative thoughts; Leo suggests spending three days being conscious of these thoughts and their triggers.
• 📝 Keeping a list of negative thoughts for a few days can help identify patterns and underlying fears.
• 🧘‍♂️ Meditation is a powerful tool for quieting the mind and reducing negative thought patterns.
• 🙏 Affirmations, when done effectively, can help counteract negative thoughts by reinforcing positive beliefs.
• 🌟 The reptilian brain, responsible for survival instincts, can be calmed to reduce the impact of negative thoughts on our conscious mind.
• 💪 Developing new habits and reshaping thought patterns takes time and consistent effort.
• 🎯 Focusing on creative activities or causes outside of oneself can shift attention away from negative self-focus.
• 🤔 The prefrontal cortex, associated with higher consciousness and ideals, can be strengthened to balance the reptilian brain's influence.
• 💡 Negative thoughts are a natural part of the human condition and complete elimination is not expected, but management is key.
• 🌱 Leo encourages further exploration of advanced techniques for mastering emotions and negative thoughts on his website, Actualized.org.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video script provided by Leo from Actualised.org?

The main topic of the video script is about understanding and dealing with negative thoughts, their origins, and techniques to cope with and eliminate them.

Why are negative thoughts sometimes referred to as automatic negative thoughts?

Negative thoughts are called automatic because they often occur unconsciously and spontaneously throughout the day without us realizing how many we are having.

What is the role of our mind in creating negative thoughts?

Our mind is adept at taking our greatest fears and projecting them, catastrophizing them to create the worst possible scenarios, which then flash before our eyes as negative thoughts.

What are some common fears that might lead to negative thoughts?

Common fears that lead to negative thoughts include the fear of failure, fear of being poor and homeless, fear of loneliness and rejection, and fear of humiliation or embarrassment.

What is the first step suggested by Leo to start eliminating negative thoughts?

The first step to eliminating negative thoughts is to become very conscious and aware of when you are having them and what topics they revolve around.

Why is it recommended to spend a few days being aware of one's thoughts?

Spending a few days being aware of one's thoughts helps in identifying patterns and topics of negative thoughts, which is essential for understanding and addressing them effectively.

What is the significance of making a list of negative thoughts over a few days?

Making a list of negative thoughts helps in tracking and categorizing them, which can reveal underlying fears and patterns that contribute to these thoughts.

How does the reptilian brain influence our negative thoughts?

The reptilian brain, being more powerful than the prefrontal cortex, is responsible for our fight-or-flight response and survival instincts, which can lead to negative thoughts when perceiving threats or dangers.

What are some techniques suggested by Leo to reshape negative thought patterns?

Techniques suggested include practicing affirmations, meditation, and engaging in creative activities or causes that focus on contributing to others or the world.

Why is focusing on external contributions or causes beneficial in combating negative thoughts?

Focusing on external contributions or causes helps shift attention away from oneself and one's negative thoughts, creating a positive spiral of giving and focusing on what one can do to make a difference.

What additional resources does Leo recommend for mastering emotions and personal development?

Leo recommends visiting Actualised.org for more advanced personal development videos, meditation techniques, journaling exercises, and subscribing to a free newsletter for exclusive updates.

Outlines

00:00

🤔 Understanding Negative Thoughts

Leo from Actualised.org introduces the concept of negative thoughts, explaining that they are often automatic and unconscious. He emphasizes the mind's tendency to project worst-case scenarios based on our deepest fears, which can be traced back to childhood or early adulthood. The paragraph discusses common fears such as failure, poverty, loneliness, rejection, and humiliation. Leo suggests the first step in combating negative thoughts is to become aware of them, proposing a three-day exercise of conscious thought tracking to identify patterns and topics related to these thoughts.

05:02

🧠 The Role of the Reptilian Brain in Negative Thinking

This paragraph delves into the biological aspect of negative thoughts, attributing them to the reptilian part of the brain, which is responsible for survival instincts and the fight-or-flight response. It explains that this part of the brain is more powerful than the prefrontal cortex, where conscious thoughts and higher ideals reside. The reptilian brain's sensitivity to danger and its influence over our thought patterns make it challenging to eliminate negative thinking. Leo suggests that reshaping negative thought habits involves quieting the reptilian brain through practices like affirmations and meditation, which are discussed in more detail in other videos.

10:02

🌟 Strategies for Eliminating Negative Thoughts

Leo concludes the video script by offering strategies to manage and reduce negative thoughts. He advises focusing on activities that contribute positively to the world or others, rather than inward reflection that can lead to despair. Leo mentions the importance of creating habits that recondition the mind, such as daily affirmations and meditation, to quiet the mind's negative chatter. He also encourages finding a cause or project outside oneself to invest in, which can help shift focus away from personal negative thoughts. The paragraph ends with an invitation for viewers to engage with the content, share their thoughts, and visit Actualised.org for more advanced personal development resources.

Keywords

💡Negative Thoughts

Negative thoughts, as discussed in the video, refer to the automatic and spontaneous negative mental reactions one has throughout the day. These thoughts are often linked to one's deepest fears and can manifest in various aspects of life, such as relationships, work, or financial concerns. The video emphasizes that these thoughts are a natural part of human cognition but can be detrimental if not managed, and it encourages viewers to become aware of them to begin the process of coping and eliminating them.

💡Automatic Negative Thoughts

The term 'automatic negative thoughts' highlights the unconscious nature of negative thinking. The script explains that these thoughts arise without conscious effort and can be a response to perceived threats or fears. The video suggests that recognizing and tracking these thoughts is the first step in addressing them, as they often go unnoticed and can influence one's emotional state and actions.

💡Catastrophizing

Catastrophizing is the act of imagining the worst possible outcome in a situation. In the context of the video, it is described as the mind's tendency to create and focus on the most negative scenarios, particularly when it comes to one's fears. This concept is central to understanding how negative thoughts can escalate and impact a person's mental well-being.

💡Fear

Fear, in this video, is portrayed as a fundamental emotion that can lead to negative thoughts. The script identifies several common fears such as the fear of failure, rejection, or loneliness, which can act as catalysts for negative thinking. The video suggests that these fears often stem from early life experiences and can significantly influence one's thought patterns.

💡Awareness

Awareness, as discussed in the video, is the state of being conscious or knowledgeable about something, particularly one's own thoughts and feelings. The speaker encourages viewers to develop awareness of their negative thoughts by actively monitoring and recording them. This is presented as a crucial step in managing and eventually eliminating negative thinking.

💡Reptilian Brain

The 'reptilian brain' is a term used to describe the most primitive part of the human brain, associated with survival instincts and the fight-or-flight response. The video explains that this part of the brain is responsible for generating many of the negative thoughts and fears that individuals experience, particularly when perceiving threats to survival or social acceptance.

💡Prefrontal Cortex

The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain involved in higher cognitive functions such as consciousness, decision-making, and planning. In the video, it is contrasted with the reptilian brain, highlighting the struggle between our instinctual reactions and our conscious, goal-oriented thinking. The speaker suggests that quieting the reptilian brain can help individuals align more with the aspirations and values represented by the prefrontal cortex.

💡Affirmations

Affirmations are positive statements that individuals repeat to themselves to foster a more optimistic mindset. The video mentions affirmations as a technique to combat negative thoughts. By consciously choosing to affirm positive beliefs, one can work towards reshaping their thought patterns and reducing the impact of negative thinking.

💡Meditation

Meditation is a practice aimed at achieving mental clarity and emotional calmness through focused attention and awareness. The video suggests meditation as a tool for quieting the mind and reducing negative thoughts. It is presented as a way to create space between oneself and the automatic negative thoughts, allowing for a more peaceful state of mind.

💡Creativity

Creativity, in the context of the video, refers to engaging in activities that inspire and express original ideas, often outside of oneself. The speaker recommends channeling energy into creative pursuits as a means to shift focus away from negative thoughts and towards positive contributions and personal growth.

💡Contribution

Contribution is the act of giving or adding value, often to a cause or community beyond oneself. The video encourages viewers to focus on making contributions as a way to counteract negative thoughts. By directing attention towards helping others or pursuing meaningful goals, individuals can foster a more positive outlook and diminish the prevalence of negative thinking.

Highlights

Negative thoughts are often automatic and unconscious, arising from our greatest fears and projecting worst-case scenarios.

The mind is adept at catastrophizing fears, creating vivid images of negative outcomes.

Common fears include failure, poverty, loneliness, rejection, and humiliation, often rooted in early life experiences.

Becoming aware of negative thoughts is the first step towards eliminating them.

Spend three days consciously observing and noting your negative thoughts to understand their patterns.

Negative thoughts are linked to feelings of anxiety, stress, worry, and being overwhelmed.

The subconscious mind fills in negative outcomes based on our deepest fears.

The human brain has a 'lower self' and 'higher self', with the lower self focused on survival and the higher self on ideals and goals.

The reptilian brain's fight-or-flight response can override higher consciousness and values.

Quieting the reptilian brain is key to reducing negative thoughts and focusing on higher ideals.

Affirmations, when done effectively, can help eliminate negative thoughts.

Meditation is a powerful tool for quieting the mind and reducing negative thought patterns.

Engaging in creative activities or focusing on causes outside oneself can shift attention away from negative thoughts.

The speaker suggests that dwelling on oneself can lead to a negative spiral, while focusing outward can reverse this trend.

For more advanced techniques on mastering emotions and personal development, the speaker refers viewers to their site.

The speaker encourages viewers to subscribe to a free newsletter for exclusive updates on personal development topics.

Transcripts

hey this is Leo for actualised org and

let's talk about negative thoughts all

right in this quick self-help segment I

am going to cover negative thoughts what

they are set your expectations for how

they work and give you some techniques

that you can use to cope with them deal

with them eliminate them all right so

negative thoughts or as many of us call

it automatic negative thoughts because

that's what it is we don't realize is

how many of these thoughts you're

actually having and how unconsciously

and spontaneous interests automatically

you're having them throughout that your

day so whether it's a negative thought

about your girlfriend or boyfriend

negative thought about what somebody did

to you while you were driving to work or

negative thought about having to go to

the gym or negative thought about what's

going to be happening to you

next month when you can't pay the bills

you know your mind is really really good

at taking your greatest fears and

projecting them and catastrophizing them

and just creating the worst possible

case scenarios and then putting them

right before your eyes and just like BAM

flashing them right for before you so

whatever your greatest fears are in life

chances are that you're having a lot of

negative thoughts around that fear and I

do usually tend to find that it's one or

two main fears and this is probably

something like an issue that crept up

and kind of stuck with you from

childhood or early adulthood and these

things tend to be centered around for

example the fear of failure maybe you

have a fear of whining a poor and

homeless maybe you have a fear of not

winding up in a good relationship and

being lonely and dying miserable and

unloved maybe you have a fear of really

getting rejected by somebody if you put

yourself out there whether in a

relationship or maybe in a business

context maybe you have a fear of like

failure in going and trying some sort of

goal and then not succeeding at it and

then having everybody point point

fingers at you and say well we told you

so we

you couldn't do that and so we have a

failure of of that kind of embarrassment

or humiliation so there's many different

types of core fundamental fears but

whatever it is it's going to be like a

filter that you look and filter your

whole day through and this will have

tend to happen again and again and again

so one first step to starting to

eliminate negative thoughts is to become

very conscious become very aware of when

you are having negative thoughts and

what is the topic that is revolving

around I guarantee you that you will be

shocked if you have not done this

exercise spend the next few days spend

the next three days just be very aware

about what it is that you're thinking

and what you might want to do

practically is for five minutes every

day for five minutes

randomly three times within your day

just stop for five minutes and ask

yourself what am I feeling right now and

what am i thinking and what you'll

notice is that if you're feeling

negatively if you're feeling anxious or

stressed or worried or overwhelmed

you're going to notice that there's an

Associated thought with that and that

thought is going to be some sort of

negative automatic thought that you

might not even realize that you're

having it might be something like well

I'm feeling overwhelmed right now and

the reason I'm feeling that way is

because I'm thinking that oh I've got a

hundred things that I need to do before

the end of the week or if I don't do

that then something bad will happen

right and that's usually where your

brain fills in your subconscious mind

will fill in that blank with your worst

imaginable fear you might think that

well if I don't get all this stuff done

this week

then I might get fired and I might not

be able to pay my mortgage and then

though the bank will repossess my house

and then I'll wind up on the street and

I'll never be able to recover from that

and I'll be homeless and poor for the

rest of my life so maybe that's what

your brain is projecting in into your

into your mind or maybe it's something

like well if I don't get all this stuff

done then my spouse or my boyfriend or

my girlfriend will think less of me and

they won't love me anymore and maybe

they'll leave me

and then I'll not ever be able to

replace them and get into a good

relationship so I'll wind up alone and

miserable and nobody will ever want me

because I'm unlovable and I'm not

successful in their eyes so maybe it's

something like that right become aware

of that do a little bit of analysis and

spend the next three days really

tracking your negative thoughts and

maybe recording them and in fact I'll

tell you make a list make a list of all

the negative thoughts you're having

throughout the next three days and just

see what are the categories are they

based around money are they based around

relationships and people are they based

around humiliation fear of failure

something else maybe your diet maybe

your how you look maybe your level of

confidence in your life maybe the things

that you think you can can't achieve

start to notice that because awareness

is the first step and honestly you're

not going to be able to eliminate your

negative thinking in a week that's not

going to happen

all of us have negative thoughts it's

totally natural it's the human condition

our mind is geared this way our mind

really has a lower self and higher self

the lower self is literally physically

in your brain you have a reptilian brain

that part of your brain that evolved

when there were no humans on earth that

part of the brain that evolved when we

were still mammals and even before

mammals when we're really at the

reptilian phase this was millions of

years ago because then there was no

higher consciousness thinking there were

no such things as ideals like beauty and

excellence and truth and there were no

goals what there was was just

fight-or-flight response

survival of the fittest and in that kind

of ecosystem your brain or your

reptilian brain the brainstem the lower

part of your brain really evolved to

ensure that your survival is taken care

of so when your survival is threatened

everything else in your life shuts off

nothing else can take priority

you can't honor values like beauty and

honesty and love and truth and

excellence you can't honor these types

of values and you can't honor those

types of goals and

towards them in your life if you're

worried about your physical survival for

example or if you're worried that you're

going to be humiliated and ostracized or

if you're worried that you're not going

to be loved so these fundamental fears

are grounded in your reptilian brain and

your reptilian brain is more powerful

than your prefrontal cortex and your

your more mammalian and your more human

brain so the prefrontal cortex is where

you get your conscious thought from and

there we have these bigger ideals we

have these goals we have these visions

for ourselves we have this amazing life

that we want to live we have the

contribution that we want to make to the

world but to make that to actually honor

that in your life what you need to do is

you need to kind of quiet your reptilian

brain and make sure that your reptilian

brain is kind of a is mellowed out it's

calm and it's not too overstressed and

that means taking a look at the negative

thoughts that you're having and it's not

going to be that easy to recondition

your reptilian brain to stop having

these negative thoughts because you've

got like a lifetime of history of of

having these negative thoughts so you

have these negative thought habits that

you really need to start to reshape and

then of course even then your reptilian

brain is still always going to be very

sensitive to any kind of dangers in your

environment or perceived dangers so the

way to start is through awareness but

then of course you can build in habits

that will help you to reshape your

negative your negative thought patterns

one way to do this is to do affirmations

and I have other videos that talk about

how to do affirmations effectively there

are some important tips about how to do

affirmations but doing just five or ten

minutes of affirmations in the morning

is a really effective way to eliminate

negative thoughts another way to

eliminate negative thoughts is with

meditation meditation is all about

quieting the mind and shutting off

shutting off all that chitter chatter

that's going on especially the negative

chitter chatter and just quieting your

mind and being happy in the moment and I

got other videos to talk about how to

really do with meditation effectively as

well

but setting up a meditation habit can be

a really powerful strategy for

eliminating negative thoughts other ways

to eliminate negative thoughts is to

have something creative that you're

doing in your life have your life be not

focused on yourself but be focused on

other people and not in the sense that

you're a mother Teresa type person but

in the sense that there's something you

want to contribute something that you're

doing that's outside of yourself so

maybe you are really interested in some

sort of cause like you have a charity

that you really like to contribute to

and that's important to you or maybe

your family is your cause or maybe your

work is your cause maybe your church is

your cause or some other organization or

maybe your cause is maybe you're like a

scientist and your causes to discover

something new to add something to

humanity to do something to do something

positive right maybe you're an inventor

and you want to create something that's

going to help people out maybe you're a

business maker you're an entrepreneur

and you want to make some sort of

business that's going to have a positive

impact on the world right so focus on

that rather than just sitting alone in

your room

dwelling on yourself and your own

thoughts because that tends to be just

like a negative spiral of pit and

despair that you go down whereas if you

start focusing your attention outward

and you start giving and you start

focusing on what you can be doing then

all of a sudden you reverse that trend

and you start moving upward alright so

those are my thoughts on negative

thoughts negative thoughts are really a

pernicious thing and you want to start

to get a handle on them and it's really

it is a deep topic and there's a lot of

more advanced techniques that I cannot

share with you in this quick self-help

segment so I'm going to refer you to my

site for those but I'm going to wrap up

here so go ahead share your comments I

want to hear what you guys think about

this please like this and share this and

then of course check out actualized org

for more advanced personal development

videos just like this where we talk

about issues like mastering your

emotions success personal development

mastery negative thoughts all different

techniques involved with meditation and

doing journaling and various exercises

to get this part of your life really

really handled and you can subscribe to

a free newsletter there that will get

you all the exclusive free updates that

I do on actualize that we're going to

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you