Human thoughts, feelings, and actions or behaviors are closely related and can indirectly affect each other. The human mind is powerful that it can generate thoughts even beyond normal means of thinking. People tend to develop thought habits that can eventually shape their lives.
In general, the mind is capable of producing two major types of thoughts: good and bad. These thoughts send off signals to the human emotions manipulating how it should feel. Good thoughts generate good feelings while negative feelings are a product of bad or negative thoughts.
All these thoughts in the mind that direct an individual’s emotions also manifest in action. Vibrancy and cheerfulness displayed on a person’s physical outlook reflect a positive feeling due to a positive or a happy thought. Lack of enthusiasm in gestures and facial expressions mean that the person is experiencing a negative feeling brought about by a thought that is obviously not good.
Negative thinking can have so much effect on an individual’s life. Successes in endeavors and aspirations are outputs of a person’s positive mindset while failures are caused by dominant pessimistic thoughts.
Negative Thinking Defined
Based on a technical definition, negative thinking is a mental attitude of anticipating the worst possible outcomes on situations, events, and circumstances. It is the ability of the mind to produce thoughts that are not deemed favorable to what the person wants. Whenever a challenge arises, a person with negative thinking pre-empts a negative outcome before it has even occurred or being acted upon. Pessimism is synonymous to negative thinking. The act of pessimism is also a state of mind that lets the individual view life in a negative manner.
Negative thoughts are described as intrusive, disturbing, annoying, and unwelcoming. These may be in the form of involuntary thoughts, bad images or unlikable ideas that can cause the person to be upset and distressed. In certain instances, negative thoughts may be difficult to be removed from the mind and can be challenging to deal with.
In order to determine whether a person thinks negatively, a common example of a glass half-filled with water may be used. When asked if the glass is half-full or half-empty, a positive thinker would say that it is half-full while a negative thinker would remark that it is half-empty. A negative thinker sees more of the flaws, weaknesses, and negativities of things more than the good ones.
Describing the Manner of Negative Thinking
Many individuals experience a negative manner of thinking manifested by intrusive and disturbing thoughts, although there are those who are able to quickly get rid of it. The way a person reacts to bad thoughts and deal with it will determine the severity of the thoughts. Bad thoughts cause annoyance to those who are in that state of mind. Uncontrolled negative thoughts can easily lead to serious cases of poor emotional, mental, and even physical wellbeing. If these negativities are absorbed and felt in every nerve of the body, it just weakens the person. In worse cases, some people suffer from severe cases of certain illnesses. That is why negative thinking is associated with cases of anxiety and depression.
Apparently, negative mental images and unpleasant ideas lead to negative thinking. It then connects to the emotions and manifested through actions. There are many other manifestations of negative thinking and these vary according to factors such as the gravity of the thought and the way the person manages it.
Worst Case Scenario
It is but natural to feel negative emotions when bad and intrusive thoughts predominantly occupy the mind. Yet, when these thoughts are uncontrolled, there is always a tendency that the person will resort to unpleasant acts or even violence. A conscious state of mind will inject feelings of guilt and remorse when a negative situation has already occurred due to the pressure of intrusive thoughts. However, these negative thoughts become dangerous to an individual if there are no feelings of annoyance and disturbance in the mind considering the presence of these thoughts. Instead, the person finds pleasure and gratification with intrusive thoughts filling the mind. These are results of worst cases of psychosis and insanity. Yet, there are contributing factors to such types of mental conditions.
