Help Hush Negative Thoughts

Negative thoughts are inevitable, unavoidable; as much apart of the great balanced Yin and Yang as the positive. The trick is to not entertain those negative thoughts, turning them into a hurricane and letting them take you down. Now, we're not talking about serious sad moments, we're talking about silly forgivable mistakes that your inner-voice takes advantage of you for, making you feel worse and for longer than necessary. Of course there will be times when the negativity of sadness and grief are appropriate - we don't all live forever, and we've got connections. When something hugely negative happens, embrace it, it's good for you, it's life. 

Visual negative thoughts, like daydreaming scenarios that'll probably never happen, is the most common visual-type of negative thought I deal with. They aren't always necessarily negative, I've just noticed that when I get too wrapped up in my daydreaming world, it can trigger my anxiety. So, to avoid that, and to pull myself out of my daydream, I'll simply visualize a background layer of blank paper; then, imagine it crumpling up, along with the daydream, into a paper ball. Chuck it in the mental fuck-it-bucket and move on with your thoughts. Sometimes I find that daydream resurrecting itself, making it's way back to me, and I'll have to imagine that background layer of paper crumpling it up again, and sometimes for a third or fourth time. Usually the third time's the charm, though, it'll vary depending on what I'm worried about and how worried I am, but that's okay! 

Inner-voice's negative thoughts (ie: self-loathing, self-depreciating, just beating yourself up in general) are a little more challenging to silence, for me anyway. The hard part is realizing you are not your inner-voice; I still struggle with this idea. But it's definitely an empowering idea. Once you grasp the concept that You are Not your Inner-Voice, you can (ironically, using your inner-voice) literally, "Hushhhhhhh" your inner-voice's negativity. Use your inner-voice to tell it to "Hushhhhhh" (extend the "Shhhh" for as long as you can). This actually tricks your tongue and throat muscles into moving the slightest bit to turn your breaths into a less extreme Ujjayi pranayama breath, which does calm the mind. Again, sometimes I'll have to tell my inner-voice to Husshhhhh a few times before it actually quiets down, but again, that's fine.