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How to Reframe a Negative Situation, According to Psychologists
What is Negative Thinking?
Research shows that humans have anywhere from 12,000 to 50,000 thoughts each day. It also indicates that about 80% of those thoughts are negative. With never-ending sad news, societal pressures, and daily stressors, it’s easy to see why you experience so much negativity.
Negative thinking involves having a pessimistic outlook about yourself, the people in your life, and the world around you. It can happen to anyone, especially if you’re experiencing stress. Even positive people experience this thinking sometimes. You might notice a constant buzz of criticism flowing through your mind. Sometimes it’ll also involve nitpicking and insults.
If you don’t reframe your thoughts, it interferes with your ability to function. Pessimism can become a habit, making it hard to do what’s best for you and your life. When you allow negative thinking to become a habit, it leads to other issues, including depression and anxiety. If you can reframe a negative situation, you’ll notice an improvement in your overall mental health. It also offers other benefits, including: decreased risk of anxiety and depression, improved cardiovascular health, increased life span, improved coping skills
What Causes Negative Thinking?
Sometimes the people yo.u spend your time with can contribute to your mindset. You can give in to the negativity of those around you. Or, you can refocus your thoughts and reframe the negative situation. You might think your environment is to blame, but you can make a change at any time. While genetics contribute to your mindset, it only accounts for around 40%. The other 60% is up to you to decide and control. This statistic indicates that your choices and thought processes are the only reasons for negative thinking.
How to Reframe a Negative Situation
Reframing a negative situation requires identifying your feelings at the moment. It might be hard to shift your thought process, but it’ll get easier the more you do it. You can learn to control the situation rather than letting it control your life. You can make changes in your life to improve your mindset without seeking outside help. It’ll help you reframe negativity, making every situation work for you and your life.
1 – Acknowledge Your Support System
When you express gratitude for your support system, it’ll help you think more positively. You’ll feel grateful for these people and all they bring to your life. It’ll also help you realize what your life would be like if they weren’t there.
2 – Identify Negative Thinking
Reframing negative situations requires identifying the experience. There are a few things to look for, including:
Make a conscious effort to look for these forms of thinking throughout the day. Anytime it occurs, try to shift your mindset by looking for something positive.
3 - – Determine Which Situations and Thoughts to Reframe
Decide which negative thoughts to reframe first. Think about the area of your life that produce the most negativity. Sometimes it helps if you write in a journal when you feel down about a situation. You can look back to pinpoint the issues in your life. Consider your career, a relationship, or any other part of your life. Once you identify the situations to focus on, you can overcome the toxic thoughts.
4 – Find the Bright Side
Reframing a negative situation requires finding the bright side in every situation. It doesn’t mean that you’re happy about what happened. Instead, it shows acceptance and a willingness to look for the good. When you experience hard times, challenge yourself to find something positive about it. You may have learned a lesson or improved your skills in some way. Thinking this way helps you stay positive and ease negative thoughts. Sometimes the best part of a negative situation is getting an opportunity to talk to someone you likely wouldn’t have otherwise.
5 – Focus on Gratitude
Practicing gratitude can make all the difference in reframing a negative situation. Recalling all the good things in your life can improve your life experiences. Consider writing a weekly list of all the positive parts of your life. It’ll help you refocus at the moment. You’ll also remember all the things you’re grateful for when encountering a negative situation. Rather than focusing on the adverse aspects, you’ll recall good thoughts. You can also include good things that happened to you or the world around you when you write your list. It’ll help solidify the good experiences in your mind, giving you something positive to shift your focus to. You don’t have to write many things on your list but focus on getting at least a few positive aspects written out.
6 – Practice Positivity
Practicing positive thinking is a beneficial way to reframe negative situations. It’ll help you develop new habits, letting go of harmful behaviors that trigger or exacerbate a pessimistic mindset. Force yourself to be positive, and you’ll notice that it feels good and is easier than you thought.
7 – Learn About and Identify Thought Distortions
Sometimes negative situations trigger thought distortions or traps. Distortions occur when you fall into negative thought patterns that distort your mindset. These patterns also influence your emotions and can cause you to spiral into negativity.
Thought distortions include these things:
If you can identify these thought distortions, you can stop them as they threaten to take over. Remind yourself that these thoughts are unhelpful and likely inaccurate. This reminder can make a difference in helping you reframe a negative situation.
8 – Set Goals
Setting goals to reframe your thoughts can help you have a task to focus on. Think about the big picture and consider what you can change to live your dream life. Once you determine what you can change, set goals to make it happen. Having the goals in mind will help you push away negativity and persevere through everything. It’ll also help you forgive yourself for mistakes because you’ll still have your plan to give you hope.
9 – Let Go of the Idea of Perfection
No one is perfect, and expecting perfection of yourself leads to a negative mindset. Anytime something doesn’t go perfectly, you might spiral and set yourself back. However, if you can let go of striving for perfection, you can reframe any situation. It’ll help you accept when things didn’t go as planned, allowing you to prepare for moving forward. When you think about what you can do better next time, you’ll experience less negativity.
Final Thoughts on How to Reframe a Negative Situation, According to Psychologists
You can reframe a negative situation and help yourself find happiness. When you reframe, you can focus on all the good in your life.
(Article by Sarah Barkley for Power of Positivity, August 2022)
Is it OK to feel pain when I practice yoga?
There is no place for pain/ discomfort/ cramping etc. in our yoga practice;
if pain happens we need to identify the cause and find the remedy.
As the Yoga Sutras of Patañjali (Sutra 2.46) explains, our “asanas should be steady and comfortable.”
It’s important for our continued good health that we don’t adopt the mindset of “no pain no gain.” I would like to change that awful phrase to a less catchy “no exertion, no gain.” It’s good to exert ourselves during our practice, it’s good to raise our heart rate and feel our muscles working hard; it’s not good to feel pain as we stretch and practice yoga. Our yoga practice is more than just a fitness craze - it’s a holistic lifestyle that encompasses both our physical body and our spiritual essence, our entire way of being.
The following topic, toe/foot cramps, was brought in by a few yogis in my class as we practice ankle- intensive and toe-intensive poses. The summary below explains most causes of toe/foot cramping and what to do about the pain that accompanies the symptom.
Causes of Toe or Foot Cramps
Home Remedies for Toe or Foot Cramps
Please see your doctor if the home remedies suggested above don’t work and remember that your body is sending you a signal that something is wrong. Use your awareness to identify what the signal is trying to tell you and don’t get intimidated if an unenlightened physician does not take your symptoms seriously.
Pursue your best health - if not you, who?
Yoga & You - Partners in Health
I have long known that if I don’t enter a task in my calendar, it’s bound to NOT happen, it’ll be forgotten for sure. When I held a full time job, went to Sanskrit school, and taught yoga all at once, I ascribed my forgetfulness to just being overwhelmed. Then, since we all have our private fears, my rising chronological age brought on a concern that down the line I may begin a slow slide into cognitive decline.
Dementia is not in my gene pool but still - with so much talk about cognitive decline going on in the news, I was sucked into the worry. I like to be prepared and I wanted to know what more I could do to stave off any future decline.
Now a new neurological study came out putting me more at ease. The study, presented at the 2022 Alzheimer's Association International Conference in San Diego, followed 296 participants who were completely sedentary at the beginning of the experiment, for 12 months.
The study confirmed two important points: 1) even a modest amount of exercise - 2 to 2.5 hours per week - may slow cognitive decline in sedentary older adults; 2) the exercise does NOT have to be cardio-based (this was the previously entrenched view) - even gentle yoga and basic stretching deliver this slowing down effect on cognitive decline.
So, what have we learned from all these recent studies?
The more we move and exercise, the better our health will be.
Even if we don’t have the time to exercise 1+ hour every day,
just 20 minutes of yoga stretches per day will keep us vibrant and thriving.
As yogis and yoginis, our thirst and need for a healthy mind and body are indelibly impressed in our psyche. I personally use yogic tools every day - in my car while driving (meditating), in my daily encounters with people (zen, inner peace, awareness, mindfulness), and on my mat. I'm wishing you the same, with your days full of movement (asana), contentment (santosha), health (ahimsa), and zest for life and all it has to offer (svadhyaya).
Exercising more than the recommended amounts yields the longest life
(a medical study)
A longer life may mean scheduling in even more than the recommended amount of weekly exercise, according to a new study by the American Heart Association (AHA). But you don’t have to add it all in at once - just 20 minute of exercise a day made a difference on life span, according to a 2021 study.
Ideally, adults should get 1.5 - 5 hours of moderate physical activity or 1.5 - 2.5 hours of vigorous physical activity a week, according to the World Health Organization. But people who surpass those levels live longer than those who don’t.
Researchers analyzed more than 116,000 adults in a study published Monday in the American Heart Association journal Circulation. Participants self-reported their leisure time activity in questionnaires several times over the course of 30 years, and researchers estimated the association between the time and intensity of exercise with rates of death.
The highest reduction in early death was in people who reported 2.5 - 5 hours a week of vigorous physical activity or 5 - 10 hours of moderate physical activity -- or an equivalent mix of the two, said study author Dong Hoon Lee, a research associate in the department of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "It is also important to note that we found no harmful association among individuals who reported (more than four times) the recommended minimum levels of long-term leisure-time moderate and vigorous physical activity," he added in an email.
Examples of moderate activity include a very brisk walk, yoga, mowing the lawn or playing tennis doubles, while vigorous activity includes cardio activities like hiking, jogging or playing soccer, according to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The study results support WHO's current physical activity guidelines, but also push for higher levels to see even more benefit in living a longer life, Lee said.
How to add more movement
You may be thinking, "10 hours a week of moderate activity sounds like a lot. There is no way I can work that in with all my other responsibilities.” And yes, it may take some intentionality and effort. But studies have also shown the best ways to work in exercise into routines so that they stick. Set up your fitness time as you would set up a doctor’s appointment - a firm time on your calendar, worked into the flow of your day.
A megastudy published in December 2021 showed that the best exercise programs include planning when you work out, getting reminders, offering incentives and discouraging missing more than one planned workout in a row.
"If people are hoping to boost their physical activity or change their health behaviors, there are very low-cost behavioral insights that can be built into programs to help them achieve greater success," said the December study's lead author Katy Milkman, the James G. Dinan Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and author of "How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be."
Again, remember that don’t have to add it all in at once - just 20 minutes of exercise a day (walk, yoga, gardening, hand-weight workout, dancing to an upbeat song) made a difference on life span said Dana Santas, a certified strength and conditioning specialist and mind-body coach in professional sports.
In your calendar, prioritize your health and set up your fitness breaks to fit into your day.
You can't exercise away poor dietary choices, study finds
Adapted article in the Medical News Today 7/24/2022
There has been a lot of conversation — and a great deal of research — attempting to determine whether exercise or a healthy diet is more important for longevity. A new study led by researchers from the University of Sydney in Australia analyzing UK Biobank data may provide the answer.
Researchers found that people who engaged in high levels of physical activity and also ate a high quality diet had lower mortality risks.
For anyone who believed that one can exercise away poor dietary choices, this study suggests otherwise.
People who engage in one or the other lowered the risk of mortality to a lesser degree. Study corresponding author, associate professor Dr. Melody Ding, told Medical News Today:
“These groups still do better (and statistically significant) than the group with poor diet and lowest physical activity, but the group with the best diet and moderate or high physical activity levels do the best!”
The study focused on deaths due to all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and adiposity-related (PDAR) cancers
Cardiology dietician Michelle Routhenstein, who specializes in heart health, and was not involved in the study, told MNT:
“The study results are no surprise to me. Many people have come to see me in my private practice after suffering a heart attack when training for their fourth or fifth marathon, or right after doing a CrossFit exercise.”
“When I do a comprehensive evaluation of their lifestyle, it is apparent that they thought their intense daily exercise regimen would make up for their poor, unbalanced diet, and it simply doesn’t.”
— Michelle Routhenstein, cardiology dietician
The study is published in BMJ Sports Medicine.
Analyzing exercise and diet habits
The researchers analyzed existing health records for 346, 627 U.K. residents that enrolled in the UK Biobank between April 2007 to December 2010. The health of these individuals was followed for an average of 11.2 years. For this study, the UK Biobank data were linked to the National Health Service death records until 30 April 2020.
For the purposes of their analysis, researchers considered the number of minutes people engaged in walking, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and vigorous-intensity physical activity (VPA). For both MVPA and VPA, they used a 1-4 ranking system.
A high quality diet consisted of 4.5 cups or more of vegetables or fruit per day, two or more servings of fish weekly, and less than two servings of processed meat or less than five servings of red meat weekly.
The selection of target foods reflects recommendations from the American Heart Association, with the authors noting:
“These food groups were selected as markers for overall diet quality because other important dietary components and/or nutrient groups, such as whole grains and dairy, were not measured during baseline assessment.”
The researchers rated the individuals’ diet quality poor, medium, or one of two levels of best.
The best results
Compared to physically inactive individuals who ate the lowest-quality diet, those engaging in the highest activity levels and eating the highest-quality diet reduced their risk of all-cause mortality by 17%. They also reduced their mortality risk of cardiovascular disease by 19% and of PDAR cancers by 27%.
The higher the level of MVPA, the greater the reduction in all-cause and PDAR cancer mortality risk, with the most active group attaining a 13% to 14% reduction over the least active group.
The same was true for VPA, although it also had a beneficial effect on cardiovascular disease mortality risk. However, the two middle levels curiously reduced individuals’ risk more than the highest level of activity.
As for the reason behind vigorous activities’ larger effect on cardiovascular disease mortality risk, the authors note:
“It has been argued that VPA may lead to more physiological adaptations and elicit more insulin-sensitizing and anti-inflammatory effects than lower-intensity physical activity, which may explain why the stronger association with VPA are particularly pronounced for CVD mortality in our study.”
The highest-quality diet by itself — without MVPA or VPA — had no statistically significant bearing on all-cause mortality risk or cardiovascular mortality risk. It did, however, reduce their chances of PDAR cancer mortality by 14%.
In terms of the interaction between physical activity and diet, Dr. Ding said, “Diet plays a similar role in mortality risk in those who are physically active and those who are inactive, and vice versa.”
Living longer
As far as optimizing one’s chance of a long life based on the study’s insights, Dr. Ding said:
“I guess the simplest answer is to adhere to public health guidelines, such as The Eatwell Guide for eating, and the WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behavior
. These guidelines are based on solid evidence.”
Taking physical activity and diet separately, Routhenstein noted:
“I need to assess where the person is in their exercise journey, their medical conditions, and their limitations to guide them appropriately. Too much too fast or too heavy of intensity both in aerobic or anaerobic exercise can lead to negative side effects.”
“When it comes to exercise, we are looking ideally for 150 to 225 minutes of weekly moderate-intensity cardiovascular activity, about 60 minutes of low to medium intensity resistance exercise and regular stretching. [Start] your day with a balanced breakfast and [have] therapeutic foods, such as lean protein, vegetables and fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes, in line with your hunger/satiety cues.”
— Michelle Routhenstein, nutritionist
“In order for your diet to be truly heart healthy, it needs to be long-lasting,” added Routhenstein. “Quick fixes do not work, and starting a diet plan that won’t last long term isn’t effective.”
The Unbearable Heaviness of Negative Inner Narrative
6/5/2022
I have been thinking about the unbearable heaviness of negative personal narrative. All of us, no matter what age, have made choices that did not turn out 100% well for us. Or perhaps we experienced things beyond our control that have become a life-long cross to bear. When our mind is triggered by something and revisits those dark places, it can bring other unwelcome visitors into our soul - harsh words, judgments, criticism, thoughts of our limitations and powerlessness.
This can happen to any of us, any time. Letting go of the past is, of course, the best way to go, but non-attachment is often hard to practice as we suffer and wallow in the unfairness of it all. Then it all mushrooms into an all-encompassing misery as the dark, negative thoughts start impacting our emotions and behavior, affecting our loved ones: our parents, spouses, children, all the way down to our pets.
When and if that happens, I want to invite you to become your very own best friend, right then and there. Think of someone that you love very much, unconditionally, and imagine that they have come to you with all this darkness and misery. What will you tell them? Will you affirm and reinforce their darkest thoughts and words about their life, or will you offer less judgment, more compassion, kindness, a soothing tone of voice, empowering words? Be that friend to yourself, that good friend that you need; be gentle and kind as you soothe your inner turmoil. As the rabbinic sage Hillel the Elder famously said, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?”
The world around us, the forever-changing world, is both the most beautiful and the most hellish place. We owe it to ourselves, our family, our community, and the whole world to fight the darkness everywhere, starting with our own souls.
