How to Avoid Dwelling on Negative Emotions

Negative emotions have a way of sneaking up on you and overcoming all your other thoughts. Negative emotions can stem from something concrete, such as losing your job, your car breaking down or discovering you have a serious illness, or they stem from something purely emotional like an argument with a significant other or feeling put down by your parents. Regardless of the cause, dwelling on those emotions will not benefit you or anyone else.

Instructions

• 1

  Practice deep breathing. By concentrating on your breathing, your body will relax and you get let your mind's focus drift away from the negativity.

• 2

  Schedule a time to focus on your negative emotions. If you starting feeling overwhelmed by negativity at 8 am, tell yourself that you will put it aside and think about it at 6 pm. By the time 6 pm comes around, chances are those negative emotions won't seem as important. If they still trouble you, consider the following steps.

• 3

  Write a list of all the things for which you are grateful, no matter how small those things seem to be.

• 4

  Write your feelings in a journal. Sometimes, simply getting how you feel out on paper can help you release the negativity.

• 5

  Remind yourself that you have no control over what caused the negative emotions, but that you can control how you handle the situation.

• 6

  Make a plan to change what you can. For example, if your negative emotions are caused by a job loss, make plan for job hunting, dipping into savings accounts or selling old items to help you pay the bills.