Overcoming Negative Thinking Patterns

When we have a lot of negative thoughts on our mind, they look very real and upsetting to us and we get the feeling we have to do something about them to get away from them.  Or we get the feeling there must be something wrong with us, and we have to figure them out or discuss them with others to resolve them.  But, as a colleague of ours often used to say, "The life of a thought is as long as you think it, not a moment longer."  The strategies we come up with to escape our negative thoughts or get rid of them just hold them in place, exacerbating the frustration of negativity.  As counterintuitive as it seems, we never have to "deal with" the content of thoughts to get it off our minds.  If we leave it alone, look away, don't take it to heart, it will pass.

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