How Do I Stop Negative Thoughts From Taking Over My Mind and Ruining My Life?

Your mind is a garden that never stops growing - every thought you plant today becomes the seed of reality tomorrow. And everything that grows here today, has come from the seed that was once planted.

Have you ever walked past two houses on the same street? 

One has a garden bursting with colorful flowers, neat rows of vegetables, and paths that invite you to wander. The other is overrun with weeds, broken fences, and scattered debris.

Both started with the same soil. Both received the same rain and sunshine. The only difference was that one gardener has made different daily choices.

Your mind is no different.

What your exterior shows today has come in large part from the thoughts you have cultivated and grown in the interior - the garden of your mind.

But not all seeds that have grown in your garden, were yours.

The Garden of Your Thoughts

Every morning when you wake up, you become the proverbial gardener of your mind. Each thought you choose to water and tend becomes stronger. Each worry you feed grows bigger. Each hope you nurture is becoming a possibility.

Most of us never realize the role we play at all. We let any seed blow in with the wind. We water weeds without thinking, and then wonder why our inner landscape feels so chaotic and disturbed.

The first step is to become fully aware of this - that thought reality comes first, then comes the external reality.

Everything you have done today has been preceded by a conscious (or a forced) thought.

Nothing that you have done until now, came without a thought that said, “Do it”.

Thoughts are seeds that grow into actions.

But not all seeds are planted by you. 

Some were given to you by your parents, some by friends, and some by unwelcome people who crossed your life’s path.

They gave you judgments, comparisons, beliefs, principles, values and superstitions which were not your own.

But here's the beautiful truth: you have complete control over what grows in the garden. Not tomorrow, not next week, but right now at this very moment, if you become aware of the seeds that are planted.

Stop Watering, and Start Culling.

Just because someone planted a seed, doesn’t mean you should let it grow.

Just because they said you were not good enough, or not lovable enough, doesn't mean you believe it, relive it, and keep looking for evidence for it in your life.

This isn't about positive thinking or pretending problems don't exist. It's about becoming conscious of what you're cultivating.

When you notice a weed of negative thinking, you don't fight it. You simply choose not to water it anymore.

End all negative self-talk by refusing to feel sorry for yourself.
End all self-doubt by refusing to believe you can’t.
End all fear by confronting what scares you.
End all weakness by refusing to give up.

And there may be those thoughts which fester the disease of addiction in your garden.

Those you pull out stem and root, and throw them out of your garden, once and for all.

Make it a daily practice to watch your thoughts and ask: "Is this the right thought to have?"

If it's not, reject it with all your intention, before it grows into an action.

Instead of following that thought, or fighting it, turn your back to it, and walk the other way.

Redirect your attention to thoughts that serve your highest vision.

If you don’t have a high vision, then give that your time, focus and attention to creating one.

Think about how your garden should look.

Ask yourself:

“Who do I want to be?”
“How should my mind think?”
“What would make me feel happy, accomplished, and fulfilled?”

Whatever answers you get, pursue those.

There, you spend most of your time.

For only those who change the way they think, will change the way they live.