We are conditioned from a young age to believe that it is better to look on the bright side of life and to always keep a positive mental attitude. Staying positive helps us to feel happier, maintain hope, and makes it generally nicer for others to be around us. But it isn’t always easy or realistic to keep a positive outlook, especially in stressful times. Sometimes negativity is hard to shake, no matter what you do.

It is an inevitable aspect of life that sooner or later, negativity will find a way to creep into your mentality. And while negativity serves a purpose of protection and self-preservation that is sometimes necessary, it can become detrimental to you if you stay in a negative mood for too long. If you do, you run the risk of being caught in a downward spiral of stress, fear, anger or depression – and life won’t be a pleasant experience for you.

So, are you too negative? How do you know? If you can categorize your thoughts in any one of the following ways – you are in need of a change of mind:

The Signs of a Negative Mind

Feeling sorry for yourself
Thoughts of unworthiness
Complaining
Criticism
Expecting the worse
Victim mentality
Resentment
Worry
Blame
Constant discouragement
Hopelessness
Irritation
Anger
Fear
Depression

Combating Negativity

So once you realize that you are in a negative frame of mind, what do you do about it?

In the quest to quiet your negative thoughts, your first instinct might be to combat them with their positive counterparts. However, you’ll soon notice that your thoughts and words are too contrived, earnest, and not at all sincere. You can’t force yourself into optimism, and you can only fool yourself for so long.

You might also try to stop the thoughts altogether and it may work – but only as long as you can keep your guard up. Fighting them will eventually turn into a cantankerous battle: you vs. yourself. This reaction will rapidly backfire, forcing you deeper into a downward spiral of negativity.

But you can’t give in to the negativity. The damage it inflicts on your well-being may be hard to measure, but it’s not hard to spot.At the very least, it can stop you from feeling good and at worst, it can cause you to descend into a cycle of depression and possible self-hatred.

Yet as damaging as negative thoughts can be, all they really are is a mental pattern … which is actually good news. Why? Because patterns can be broken and new ones can be formed. It may take effort, it may take courage, but it can be done.

To help you change your negative mind, here is a quick and easy set of seated yogic postures that you can do anytime, anywhere, regardless of your fitness level, age or physical stamina. Designed to relieve you of the 4 companions of negativity – anger, depression,stress and fatigue – they will uplift your well-being and elevate you into a positive state of mind, both quickly and easily.

How to Remove Negativity: 4 Moves in 4 Minutes

Clasp your fingers in Venus Lock, but curl your pinkie and ring fingers into the palms instead of crossing them. Then hook you left middle finger over your right ring finger and pull, hard. Close your eyes and focus them at your third eye point, between and above your eyebrows. Hold for 1-3 minutes. This one helps to remove anger and charges the neutral mind.

Grasp your left wrist with the right hand and pull the left arm as far to the right as possible. Hold for 1-3 minutes. This one helps to remove stress and tension across the shoulder blades.

Next, fit the base of the palms of your hands under your cheekbones and push as hard as you can for 1-3 minutes. It doesn’t have to hurt, but if it does you have hit the right spot. This one makes you feel happy.

Grasp each hand by the wrist behind your back with the hands touching the spine. Bring elbows together as much as you can and pull. Arch the spine forward and apply chin lock for 1-3 minutes. This will raise your energy up the spine and elevate you.

Keep It Up

This short set will leave you feeling refreshed and positive.What is great is that you can do these postures anytime, anywhere, to remove any negativity you may be harboring. Try it once a day for a week, and notice your more positive and relaxed demeanor.

The more you practice this, the more it establishes itself as a new, positive pattern for your mental outlook. Keep it up and you will find yourself looking on the bright side of life without any additional effort at all.

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