If you want to know how to stop bad thoughts, the number one strategy is... DON’T! I know it sounds counter intuitive not to try to stop unwanted thoughts, but you really need to look at your thoughts as energy. The more you focus on getting rid of something, the more you attract it toward you. In psychology, it’s believed that suppressing negative thoughts only causes them to resurface or “rebound.” In other words, if you want to learn how to stop bad thoughts, suppression is not a good tool because it only proves to intensify such thoughts.
Before we talk about how to stop bad thoughts, we first need to establish what you determine as “bad thoughts.” For the most part, what we determine as bad thoughts are not the kind of thoughts that will prompt you to put corresponding actions in motion. If acting upon negative thoughts is of concern, seeking medical advice is imperative. This article is solely addressing the type of thoughts over which you can take charge by replacing them with better thoughts. The following are three categories for unwanted thoughts and each of them have varying degrees of concern:
How to Stop Bad Thoughts
Three Types of Invasive Thoughts
Negative Thoughts and Harsh Self-talk These are thoughts that rain on your parade and can convince you that you’re unworthy, incapable, foolish, stupid, anything that deems you as less than the wonderful being you are or that suggest you’re less than adequate. These thoughts can also be directed outward at the prospects of success, what is happening in the world, suspicion or judgment of others, limiting beliefs etc. They are the kind of thoughts that plague you and produce feelings that the glass is half empty, rather than half full. They stand in the way of success and complete self-acceptance.
Intrusive and “Off-the-wall” Thoughts These are the thoughts that seemingly come from nowhere, but once they enter your mind, they cause a strong internal reaction that prompts a sense of desperation to get rid of such thoughts. These thoughts seem scary because you don’t know where they come from or if they mean anything. Although disturbing, they’re not in line with who you are or how you act.
Intrusive thoughts such as these can be as simple as a thought that pops into your head when you’re speaking to someone. Thoughts like “I hate you” even though on a conscious level you can’t understand why the thought popped into your mind. They could be thoughts where you imagine yourself yelling something in public or doing something you would never actually do.
Ahh... the possibilities are endless. There is every kind of thought imaginable, just there for the taking. Each of us has an uncanny way of latching onto thoughts that trigger us at our own deepest level. You’re not weird, you’re just having a thought and, because of fear, anxiety, or discomfort, you’re reacting to thoughts that trigger an alarm bell. Believe me, that alarm bell is a good thing. It means your conscience and integrity are intact.
Perhaps this is the single most important reason why they cause so much disturbance in the first place and have you asking the question how to stop bad thoughts. Oftentimes, these sorts of thoughts are simply “junk” thoughts that recycle because they are triggers for you. This trigger continues in reaction to your reaction to them. The pressure to not think them tends to perpetuate the thoughts and the discomfort they produce can start a cycle of fear, stress and anxiety which feeds into that cycle again-and-again.
Invasive Thoughts that Prompt Behaviors This type of invasive thought is the one of most concern. These are thoughts that you may recognize as “bad thoughts”, but they may not produce feelings of concern. These thoughts may involve actions that could be harmful to others or yourself. Now, you may be asking how to stop bad thoughts because you recognize that the thoughts are not uplifting in any form, but they don’t seem to cause you alarm.
When you don’t feel in control of your actions, or such thoughts don’t naturally elicit concern, seeking advice from a medical professional is the next necessary step. A qualified mental health professional will help assess the origin of your thoughts and the best course of action for managing your thoughts and emotions.
Please note that this article on how to stop bad thoughts is for reflective purposes only and not intended to provide medical advice or counsel. Your mental health is important and therefore professional medical diagnosis and/or treatment for any concerns you have regarding your mental welfare are of paramount importance. I am not a medical professional, and the Happiness Called website is only intended to offer food for thought in your life’s journey and not as a substitute for professional medical counsel.
Let’s move onto the law of attraction and the natural effects of energy when it comes to how to stop bad thoughts.
How To Stop Bad Thoughts | The Law Of Attraction
“The best way to overcome undesirable or negative thoughts and feelings is to cultivate the positive ones.”
~ William Walker Atkinson ~
Each time you have a thought, you have a corresponding emotion which produces energy in its kind. Purely from a law of attraction standpoint, that which we focus on grows bigger. So, if you want an effective method for how to stop bad thoughts, you must routinely place your focus away from the thoughts that ail you and shift it toward new, more positive thoughts.
When we have thoughts that trigger emotions, it becomes easy to obsess with the thoughts themselves, which causes those emotions to intensify. If you could categorize thoughts, in terms of which energetically uplift you and which create distress, you soon will come to know that it’s not the thoughts themselves that are the problem, but rather the reactions to your thoughts.
Again, if you don’t have a sense that your thoughts trigger uncomfortable emotions or feel in danger of acting out negative thoughts, this article does not offer professional medical advice. Seeking medical advice will be the first course of action. A medical professional will offer you the appropriate diagnosis and treatment.
Thoughts are all around us and can be triggered by any number of things. Thoughts don’t really hold any value until we either react with emotions or carry them out with action, or both. For most of us, thoughts are rather benign until they trigger fear, anger, anxiety, discomfort etc.
Some thoughts seem to drop in out of the blue and we automatically judge them because we’re surprised to have such a thought, but once we judge them, soon after follows the cause-and-effect cycle.
Before we know it, we’re asking “where did that thought come from?” or “why would I even think that?” Then we start to feel uncomfortable for having the thoughts, even fearful of where they will lead. The more we try to control them, the more difficult it becomes. Unless you’re thinking about harming others or yourself, most thoughts that bring anxiety and discomfort are simply thoughts to which you have attached yourself in reaction to them.
If you didn’t feel uncomfortable with some thoughts, there would be considerable cause for concern. The very fact that you want to know how to stop bad thoughts means you have already made the distinction between uplifting thoughts and those that feel uncomfortable, those that are persistent and run amok. The good news is that it’s a lot easier than you think to find relief from these thoughts.
Oftentimes, the sheer pressure to control one’s thoughts can lead to overthinking and an almost OCD like obsession. When I was younger, I used to be plagued by thoughts when speaking to strangers. I would imagine myself saying outrageous things or throwing my coffee at people. When I walked through shopping malls, I couldn’t walk close to the large openings that overlooked the lower levels because I constantly imagined jumping over.
Once I became overly consumed with my thoughts, I started to imagine horrible scenes in my mind. This scared me so much that I continually worried about not being able to shut the thoughts out.
Really, was I going to throw coffee at people, or yell insults at them, or jump over the railing at the shopping mall? No, of course not. I knew I wasn’t going to and yet these thoughts grew ever larger in my mind. I had plenty of unwanted thoughts, but the more I tried to make them go away, the worse they became. This was not because of the thoughts themselves, but because of the feelings they caused. The vicious cycle went from thought, to fear, to judgment, to fear and back to the thought, again-and-again.
Relief finally came when I realized all I had to do was place my focus on new thoughts that I liked rather than on trying to force the ugly ones to go away. You see, the most effective tool for how to stop bad thoughts is to turn your attention to something else. Whether you focus on something creative, spending time reimagining your space to make it more pleasing, or planning a project that will bring you joy, all that matters is that you find interests to occupy your mind so you can shift this pattern of thought fixation.
Don’t worry, this isn’t about pretending to think positive because we’re not talking about fooling ourselves, or the universe. “Don’t worry, be happy” may sound ideal, but you and I both know there is a step in between before we can drop that worry. If it were that simple, we’d all be doing it. We’ll go over some tools for managing thoughts in a way that will allow for a gentle transition. Now let’s take a closer look at thoughts and what they are.
What if I told you that many thoughts don’t even belong to you? That lots of thoughts are just up for grabs, there for the taking. We may be solid entities, you, and I, but we’re multidimensional beings. We pick up on things and we feel things without even consciously knowing that we’re absorbing from all around us. Sometimes we just pick up on thoughts from the atmosphere.
Where do these thoughts come from? Not all of them even originate in our own minds. I like to think of thoughts like clouds passing overhead and, as much as possible, simply observe them without reacting. It’s about witnessing the thoughts passing by without taking ownership. They’re just thoughts and they don’t have meaning until you give them meaning.
Give yourself a little break. If you’re having thoughts that you label as bad and these thoughts don’t prompt you to act in any way that causes harm, then welcome to the club because we all have thoughts that trigger fear, anxiety, and worry. The fact that they do, means that your thought assessor is working! Assess those thoughts without judgment and turn your focus to new thoughts that bring joy and comfort. Bit-by-bit, you’ll get there.
Let’s look at how surroundings can intensify thoughts and feelings. Let’s say for example, you’re standing at the top floor balcony of a tall building or overlooking below from a high cliff. You may feel uncomfortable at the prospect. Of course, there is a fear of falling or being pushed which is a common fear, but what most of us are challenged by is our own thoughts. Sometimes, we cannot bear to be at such a height because we don’t feel in control of the torturous thoughts.
Why then, can a man walk a tightrope between two 110 story high buildings as Philippe Petit did at the newly constructed New York twin towers in 1974? Without any kind of safety measures in place, he crossed the towers successfully (about eight times). Clearly, he had mastered his focus on things such as the physics of lowering his center of gravity and how to compensate for the cable underfoot which rotates and threatens to throw the balance. This requires skill in positioning and continually overcoming the changes happening as the tightrope twists.
How did he do this? He used tools such as a long balancing pole and focused on the minutiae of every step and placement. In his state of focused presence, he did not think of falling or looking down at the near one thousand feet below. Most of us couldn’t do this at eight inches off the ground, much less at over 800 feet.
The only choice is to focus on the task at hand (or at foot). Over time, he’s learning to focus only on the tightrope, his balance, and the art of the walk. Just as he never thinks of falling, he also never thinks of how not to fall. Instead, he focuses on his movements using the highly tuned skills he’s developed over the hundreds of times he’s walked the rope.
While you and I aren’t likely to learn to walk between two tall buildings, this example simply goes to illustrate the power of the mind and what we can do to harness that power by applying discipline and regular practice. We can indeed train our thoughts and get them to a place that creates inner peace and joy. We can even go beyond that to create all sorts of magic in our lives once we start to experience the effects of elevating our thoughts to those of joy and excitement.
Maintaining high-quality thoughts takes work just like anything else in life, whether it’s keeping a good diet, staying fit or keeping your house clean. You can have a sloppy mind just as you can have too many junk drawers in your house that fill up with all your “I don’t know where to put this” stuff.
If you want every drawer to contain only items that will be used and have each one serve as an organized system, you need to maintain them, constantly purging unnecessary or unwanted items. You must see to it that you only place well-chosen items in each drawer, so they are not overrun with junk.
The same goes for your mind. You get to pick and choose what you put into it, not the other way around. But maintaining purity of thought is never about using force. Discipline yes, but not force. If you have ever tried to force a thought away, you’ll know that the more you focus on it with force, the more it rears its ugly head, taunting you and threatening never to leave.
Instead, you want to simply acknowledge the thought while maintaining objectivity. No judgment, just acknowledge the thought by saying something like “interesting, there’s that thought again.” Train yourself not to react, then choose a new focus. It’s a great idea to have a group of thoughts in your back pocket, so to speak.
These are thoughts you can pull out any time you like. They could be thoughts around a project you have in mind, a goal you have, what you’d like to work on in your home, a creative idea, something you’d like to do for someone else. You know which thoughts take you to peaceful and inspiring places. Use those thoughts each time you notice a thought you don’t wish to keep.
These are exercises for your mind and you need to practice them regularly in order to trim the fat and build your mental muscles. This is called mental hygiene and it will turn your world around. Starting this routine will set you on a path to freedom and enjoyment. From there, you can achieve anything.
But what about those thoughts that burst in while you’re trying to hum a loud tune to drown them out? Those too will start to diminish as you practice noticing your thoughts without judgment or reaction, acknowledging them as they come up and directing your mind to thoughts that bring pleasure, peace, and inspiration. Let’s break down the three steps for how to stop bad thoughts:
How To Stop Bad Thoughts
3 Steps Toward Thought Empowerment
Notice Your Thoughts Without Judgment or Reaction - The reason your thoughts repeat and feel so haunting is that, at some point, you were taken aback by your thoughts and judged them as “bad” or weird or wrong. Unless you’re having thoughts that may cause you to act in harmful ways, these are just thoughts. They entered your mind and immediately a reaction of some sort was triggered.
The fact that you had a strong emotional reaction to a negative thought means that you’re likely in a good place. You know right from wrong, and you want to choose a higher path. You want better thoughts and that’s great. You can retrain your brain simply by observing thoughts as they arise. Don’t judge them. Don’t react to them.
Acknowledge Your Thoughts - Breathe and acknowledge your thoughts by saying to yourself “there’s that thought again.” End of story. You are simply watching your thoughts pass by, without creating a huge attachment to them. While you did think the thoughts yourself, you don’t need to look at them as “your thought.” There are all sorts of thoughts to be had. They are simply ideas floating about in the ether. You don’t need to take ownership for them as if they are your invention.
After all, if they were thoughts that you felt 100 percent aligned with, you wouldn’t feel any kind of disturbance regarding their presence. Any one of us can have thoughts about any number of things, pleasant or unpleasant, but we don’t need to spend time entertaining them if they are not the thoughts of our ideal choosing. Acknowledge your thoughts as a witness to them and that’s all.
Shift Your Focus to a New Thought - This is where you get to reshape your mind and build those mental muscles. Now that you have noticed your thoughts without judgment and acknowledged they exist, you can turn your focus to a thought that brings you pleasure. As we discussed before, having a selection of thoughts that you like to turn to will greatly assist you when it comes to shifting your focus.
You want to build an arsenal of go-to thoughts that really occupy your mind peacefully and joyfully. Make a list of thoughts that bring you this kind of quality experience. Internally, you know which thoughts will carry you away onto a pleasant ride. These thoughts can be imagery such as walking along the beach with the sun and breeze on your face, or they can be related to projects, creative ideas, goals or plans that bring joy.
It could even be around something you want to do for someone you care about or for your community. Planning something that will offer hope to those around you will automatically begin to shift your mind from obsessive, all-consuming thoughts to ones that follow a new energetic path that uplifts. Suddenly, while you’re having your new thoughts, you’ll begin to find you’re out of your own head and focused on the task at hand. It’s one of the most natural ways to make the shift. Should the old thoughts creep in again, start from step one and keep building upon these changes. Incrementally, you will see how your thoughts naturally dissipate as you allow them to leave without force. This is how to stop bad thoughts by redirecting your focus. The new thoughts that fill their place will be your path to freedom and discovery.
Return from How to Stop Bad Thoughts to Thoughts Page