You will never completely stop negative thoughts from entering your mind or awareness. It is an impossible task. Even if you decide to go and live in a cave in the Himalaya away from society and away from all potential negative influences, you will still find them creeping in. Buddha had them and Jesus had them, so I like to think we’re in good company.

The solution is to accept the reality that less than constructive thoughts and images will arise now and again while we are working toward a more stable, positive attitude and greater acceptance of ourselves.

I used to suffer under the tyranny of whatever latest positive thinking regime I was putting myself through. I would hate myself for letting any negative thoughts enter my head. I would feel guilty about it and feel like I was failing! Can you believe that? There i was trying to be positive and yet I was actually working against myself all the time. At the time though, I couldn’t really see any of that. As a counter measure I would conduct round after round of positive affirmations to make up for it and this left me mentally exhausted and physically drained. My brain was like a mouse running around a mental wheel and getting nowhere.

Getting into this pattern isn’t difficult and i would liken it to a maze with several false escape routes and one real exit.

The false exits are:

1. Thinking you can ‘positive think’ you’re way out of mental problems. Behind this might be a sense of fear or desperation and the thought that ‘if i keep up with this program or affirmation I’ll be ok in a couple of days, weeks or months.’
2. Thinking you are running out of time and therefore need to be more positive all the time. Time and running out of it is a major cause of mental anxiety and makes us take steps which haven’t been thought out very well. You are probably being driven by guilt about wasting opportunities in the past or worrying that there aren’t that many opportunities left to come (and that is never true).
3. Concentrating on short term goals which are not in line with your major purpose in life (which you may or not be aware of).

What we have to realise is that it is ok for all thoughts, concepts, and ideas to exist in our awareness but not necessarily to indulge in them for any length of time. We need to become more aware of exactly what we are thinking and if it is negative then we can gently nudge it aside for something better. Of course positive thinking works but not if one of these larger negative emotions is lying hidden under the surface.

If you are feeling guilty or bad or frustrated about having negative thoughts then this is a sign that you are being too hard on yourself. This signals the presence of resistance and resistance is not accepting what is here in our lives right now.

The only exit from the mental maze is self-acceptance.