If you are like most people, you will find that your thoughts usually veer to the negative as if pessimism was the default setting of the mind. Isn’t it so easy for the mind to switch from a positive happy state to one of anxiety, worry and fear? And then like an unwanted guest who just won’t go away, the negative thoughts stay stuck in your head, going round and round in circles until you make a conscious effort to get rid of them.

The average person is said to have about 60,000-70,000 thoughts per day, and over 90 per cent of these thoughts are the same, repeated day after day.

So what can we do to break this spiral of negativity? The answer is to train the mind to think positively; so just like you would adopt a new way of doing something to replace an old habit, similarly you have to replace negative thinking with positive thoughts. And when it comes to learning anything new, even a new way of thinking, you have to start with small steps and build up gradually over time.

The starting point is self awareness. You need to be aware of your thoughts before you can change them. For this, you have to tune in to what you are thinking, to catch yourself thinking anxious, fearful thoughts. Keeping a journal and writing down the thoughts you want to change is a useful exercise which helps you clarify your thinking. The next step would be to replace the negative thought with a positive one, and then you need to firmly repeat it to yourself over and over again until you start believing it.

It’s undoubtedly a long and tedious process but if you stick with it, you will notice your pessimistic perspective being replaced by a new sense of optimism. And eventually you will feel greater happiness and peace of mind. As A. Parthasarathy says in the ‘The Eternities: Vedanta Treatise’: “Thinking is skilled work, you need to learn and practice it.”

Spiritual leader Shri Shri Ravi Shankar, the founder of the Art of Living Foundation, says:

Watch your thoughts, they become words
Watch your words, they become actions
Watch your actions, they become habits
Watch your habits, they become character
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny

So do take the time and make the effort to change your negative thoughts; this single action will change your life!