Everyone has negative thoughts and doubts. Everyone. Do you think you are better than Mother Theresa? While the image most people have of her is one of constant kindness, humility, and hope, she famously admitted that there were times, more than a few, where she had negative thoughts and doubt not just about herself but even the Church, God, and the world and work she had done and was doing.

That may come as a shock to many people, with the 50,000 thoughts a day that the average person has, it is no wonder that at least some of them are going to be negative or less than positive or productive.
Having negative thoughts is not the problem in and of its self. Having them and then focusing on them, feeding them even, until they are the prevalent thoughts you are having is a problem, and all too often a totally paralyzing one at that.

Starting off with the proper mindset that not all your thoughts will be positive or productive is an important first step. No one expects all the traffic lights to be green on their drive to work, but still we are disappointed when they aren’t or even when they may all be green but one or two.

Does that really make any sense at all?

Granted, most people don’t agonize over the fact that one of the lights was red, but still that moment of negativity, disappointment, and even anger pops up even when we know deep down that the lights aren’t going to all go our way.

Usually those thoughts lesson or disappear as soon as you hit the next green light. But what happens if you hit two red lights in a row? There is often a snowball effect. Heaven forbid you should hit three or more in a row. From then on you are just blowing through the green lights that do come while strewing over the red ones in the past and looking ahead to when the next one is surely going to come.

Silly, isn’t it?

The same thing happens with negative thoughts. Even when we hit good thought – good thought (green light – green light), it only takes one negative thought to completely wipe out the good you just experienced.

Accept that negative thoughts will come. Let the negative thoughts pass and look for your next positive thought as soon as possible. Unlike green lights, positive thoughts are something you can control. You can even prepare them ahead of time to pull out when you need them.
We are not quite at the stage where you can prepare a green light to pull out whenever you need it, but till then, get your positive thought ready.