Practice Healthy Thinking to Calm Anxiety

Three healthy thinking strategies you can use to control negative thoughts and anxiety.

 Negative thoughts trigger anxiety.   To prevent this from happening, practice healthy thinking.

Here are three ways to practice healthy thinking.

• Recover from downer thoughts. 

Figure out which thoughts drag you down and  practice “releasing statements”.

My downfall is eating too much chocolate.  Sometimes I binge on chocolate and then feel badly that I overate.  To recover from this thought, I forgive myself for overeating.

A person should never berate himself.  Berating yourself does not help anything.  When I forgive myself for eating too much chocolate, I can redirect my energy into finding a strategy to prevent myself from repeating the same mistake.

• Ask yourself questions.

Use the “Question-Behavior Effect”.   Ask yourself questions about your future to increase the likelihood that you will change your behavior.

Instead of berating myself for eating too much chocolate, I ask myself how much weight I want to lose.  Asking myself this question reminds me to make better food choices.

• Focus on progress instead of perfection.

To reset your negative thoughts and self-doubt, think about who you are becoming.  Focus on your progress instead of perfection!

Every day I try to avoid eating chocolate.  But this morning I ate three pieces of it from a candy jar on a clerk’s desk.  I did not just take one—I took three!  Shame on me, right?

Instead of focusing on the fact that I ate three pieces instead of just one, I said to myself, “I have come so far with my chocolate addiction.  I took three instead of eating a whole bag of chocolate from the store.”

***

I have been practicing healthy thinking for quite a few years.  I still have to work at it but each day I get a little bit better.

Soar like an eagle over the anxiety created by life’s storms.  Practice healthy thinking  instead of negative thoughts!

Let the encouraging words in these near a river posts help you

soar like an eagle above life’s storms.

Be proud of your scars!

Hey, watch my video, friend!

Here is lots of encouragement for your life.

Yes, you can reach all of your goals this year.

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