Unlike the good things in our life, negativity is sticky. It’s very hard for a person who is having self-destructive thoughts to break themselves away from their shackle. So potent is the grip of such self-effacing thoughts that one feels they can never break free from it.

Fortunately for all of us, that’s where the bad news end. There are multiple tips and tricks using which we can yank our mind – and the focus of our attention – away from self-doubting thoughts. And the good news is that one doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to implement these trips.

Instead, as you’re going to see later on, all you need is serious commitment and you can easily replace your negative thoughts with positive ones. Or even if you can’t do that, you can at least relegate the negative thoughts from your brain. Here’s how:

#1: Question your negative thoughts

Instead of accepting your negative thoughts as if they are the mirror of reality, question their basis. Ask yourself whether these self-destructive thoughts truly explain your current situation or are they exaggerating the difficult phase you’re going through your life. Here’s how you can do that.

The next time you make a mistake, don’t let your negative thoughts tell you “I’m an idiot.” Instead, you should ask yourself, “Am I an idiot?” Don’t just stop at the question but try to look for the answer. It’s extremely likely that you won’t find any supporting evidence.

You’ll find plenty of examples from your daily life that will prove that your mistake was a one-off, and that you have made better decisions in similar situations in the past. This realization will shed negative thoughts away from your mind as if you’ve washed them away with a Proteux electrostatic sprayer.

#2: Distract yourself

Still not able to break your mind free from the shackles of negative thoughts? Focus your attention on something that is completely unrelated to the thoughts you’re having. Call one of your local disinfection services or simply get up from your chair and move to a different room.

Once you force your brain to focus on a task that is completely unrelated to the negative thoughts that it was previously processing, it won’t be able to steer back towards the self-destructive thoughts. That way you’ll be able to once again start feeling good about yourselves.