Free Your Mind From Negative Thoughts In 5 Minutes or Less

Negative thoughts and negative thinking can seem so complicated, especially if we’re in the middle of a life altering situation or faced with an obstacle to overcome, but I promise you, there is a solution!

I dealt with negative thoughts, which manifested as anxiety and self sabotage (getting stuck and not moving forward in life), for years until I became good and tired of it. Ok, so I was more than tired of it. I became absolutely desperate to find an answer. In my mind, I was doing all the right things. I had been to therapy, changed my eating habits to make sure my brain had the proper fuel to function, doubled my water intake, added exercise and time in the sunshine to my daily routine —you get the idea. I was doing all the things you read about to release dopamine and create a healthy environment for positivity and mental strength, but the battle still raged. It was frustrating and I was becoming discouraged. Finally, I brought my entire mess of a thought life to God and basically said, “I can’t do this. I don’t understand what kind of battle I’m in, but I’m not winning. I need Your help.” At the time I had been waking up every morning and immediately feeling the weight of anxiety overtaking my thoughts. It felt like these intrusive thoughts were just freely penetrating my brain and I would end up feeling trapped, like I was a prisoner of anxiety. Sounds dramatic, but if you’ve been there or if you’e currently struggling with negative thoughts, you know. You can relate. And this is for you! Of course, as always, God was faithful. He taught me how to overcome negative thoughts, but first He had to bring clarity to my situation, and that’s exactly what I’m going to share with you in this article. Once you have clarity, you will be able to understand how negative thoughts work, understand where they come from, recognize them when they’re trying to invade your life and most importantly, get rid of them! I’ve broken it down into three easy steps:

Step 1 – Understanding the Battle

The number one and most important step in the process is to understand and fully know that all the battles you will ever face take place in your mind.

A lot of times we try to place blame on something external;

“My job is getting me down.” “I’m surrounded by negative people.” “No one values me.” “I’m always taken advantage of.” Tricky situations are just a part of life, but we are meant to overcome them, not use them as a reason to allow negative thoughts to run wild in our mind. Whatever is going on externally in your life, set it aside because that’s not where the battle is. Nothing is exterior.

Everything takes place in the space between our ears, in our mind.

It’s not what is happening, it’s how we think about what’s happening that makes us or breaks us.

The Word of God proves this to be true. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” 

When you study these words out, wrestling is about the battle. This Scripture is telling us the wrestling (or war) is not with people, ever. 

The battle is actually against principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness. Principalities and powers refers to a calculating army whose entire goal is to invade your thought life. Ummm. Sounds like the devil and all his friends to me.

So it’s not what happens to us that trips us up. It’s what happens inside us, in our thought life.

But what about other things that don’t involve people? Like, what if the negative thoughts are about your health or the future, or your financial situation? These negative thoughts are still coming from the enemy because God has already promised in His Word that He is our healer, provider, and safe refuge from every storm. Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble, but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world!” —John 16:33 The definition of trouble in this verse (according to the Hebrew lexicon) is:

pressure (what constricts or rubs together), a narrow place that “hems someone in”; tribulation, especially internal pressure that causes someone to feel confined (restricted, without options).

Hello… I think the definition above describes the way negative thoughts can make us feel. But look what Jesus is actually saying, “In this world you will have opportunities to feel hemmed in and without options, but be of good cheer (confident, bold) because I’ve already overcome everything in the world for you!” 

So, to recap, step one is all about understanding that everything is a battle for our attention, a battle for our thought life. Once we understand that, the next step is fun and freeing.

Step 2: Every Thought is Not Your Thought

The enemy is calculating. He doesn’t talk to us as an outsider. He doesn’t say, “Hey you. You should totally ruin your marriage today by having sex with a stranger,” or “Get up and drive to the liquor store. Call in sick all week and just get drunk.” Who would fall for that? Hopefully no one. 

Instead, the enemy introduces thoughts to us one at a time and tries to make us believe they are our own. That way he can inch us toward his goal of destruction.

Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” —John 10:10

So, the enemy talks to us more like this (in first person as if we are talking to ourself):

“Wow. I woke up this morning and my husband didn’t even say good morning to me. He doesn’t care. And he didn’t even tell me I looked nice when we went out last night.”

Now the enemy waits to see if you accept the above as your own thought. If yes, he will proceed: “Other people say nice things to me. Why is he like this? I feel so stuck sometimes.” And that might be it. The negative thoughts about your spouse might end there for now, but unless you address them and kick them out, they will just wait right there until the next negative thought about your spouse comes knocking on the door of your mind. The more you accept them, the more they build and strengthen (like bricks in a wall) until one day you find yourself talking to other people about how terrible your spouse is, and once you mix words with your thoughts you’ve officially given them life and it’s just a matter of time before your actions line up with the way you’re allowing yourself to think and to talk.

That’s just one example. There are so many. The voice of the enemy tells us, “I can’t do this. I can’t start my own business,” or “I can’t ask for a raise. I’ll probably get fired if I do.”

Listen, any thought that makes you feel small, or pinned down, or limited, or not equipped…is not your thought!

The enemy’s strategy plays out differently for every person, because every person has their own weaknesses, but there is always one goal in mind: to take you off of God’s divine purpose for your life by tricking you into believing everything is hopeless and there are no solutions (which is never true). 

So, now that you know every thought is not your thought, here’s the fun part. Step 3 is an exercise that will help you discipline your thought life (yes, it’s your job to discipline your mind. It’s not God’s job.). The Bible says we are to “tear down arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” —2 Corinthians 10:5 So, how do we do this? How do we take thoughts captive. Ready for the fun?

Step 3: Exercise to Recognize and Stop Negative Thoughts

I recommend doing this 24/7  but you can certainly implement it in five minutes or less. This exercise can just become a part of who you are and the way you think. At first it will take some work and determination, but if you allow it to be fun it will be.

Rules of the game: Picture all of your thoughts as if they are coming to you on a conveyer belt, like luggage at an airport baggage claim. You have to hold this thought all the time, 24/7. Why? Because if you see thoughts as items on a conveyor belt, you will also see that you have the power of choice. You get to choose whether to pick them up or not.

Active Game Play: Along comes a negative thought.  

“Everything is going to fall apart for me.” 

Or maybe the thought comes as a temptation, 

“I should just go ahead and eat the chocolate cake for breakfast,” or “I should just look up some porn to make me feel better,” or “Maybe I’ll call them up and tell them exactly how terrible I think they are.” 

Whatever your area of weakness has been…he will try to serve it up to you on the conveyor belt in a hundred different ways all throughout your day.

Your job is to see the thought as something that is being offered to you (riding up on the conveyor belt) and not as something that’s already yours, because it’s not! Just let it keep going. Let it pass on by.

And remember, the enemy is defeated and powerless but he’s not stupid. He talks to us in first person. 

He doesn’t say you’re a failure

He says I’m a failure, I’m an addict, I’m a terrible person, I should just give up.

And of course, the enemy can’t read our mind, so he doesn’t know if we take ownership of the thoughts or not, but our actions and our words spill the tea.

If we take ownership of the thought that pops in our mind to go ahead and crawl back in bed “because we’re a failure anyway” and our corresponding action is to lay back down and pull the covers over our head, it’s pretty obvIous that his tactics are working.

And it doesn’t end there. Once you act on the thought and do something stupid, then he immediately changes positions and becomes the accuser,

The Bible says he is “the accuser of the brethren.” 

“Look what you’ve done. Look what a horrible person you are. And you call yourself a Christian? You’re a sorry excuse.”

First he invites us to screw up, then sends a plate of guilt and shame along the conveyor belt to go along with it.

But the good news is, we don’t have to fall for it! And we actually can have fun while we are playing the Conveyor Belt Game and monitoring the thoughts that we allow in our mind. If we refuse to accept negative thoughts as our own and simply view them as an invitation, we can learn to set boundaries. We can learn to say no. We can decline. Thanks but no thanks. I’ll pass on that invitation to pick up fear or to pick up hopelessness.

How To Refuse Negative Thoughts

Sometimes the invitation to pick up a negative thought is easy to deflect. We recognize it and we just say no thanks and move our attention toward something else, letting that piece of luggage just keep passing by. Bye bye, negative thought.

But sometimes the opportunity to pick up negative thoughts is directly connected to something going on in the physical realm. Maybe we received a diagnosis and we have the opportunity to pick up fear-based thoughts and play a bunch of mental movies of us suffering or losing our ability to live life the way we want to. With intrusive negative thoughts that try to force their way in because they seem to have a “right to be there” because of circumstances, I usually speak to the situation out loud. I will say something like, “I thank You God that You are My Healer and You said in Your Word that ‘by Your stripes I am healed.’ I believe that according to Jesus’ finished work on the cross, I am the healed of the Lord and symptoms in my body have to line up with the Word of God and manifest healing. Sickness, you have to go in Jesus name, never to return! I will not think about sickness or disease. I will have perfect peace because that’s what You provide.” That’s how to fight in the spiritual realm, with our words. Words are powerful and they create our world.

Our confession becomes our possession! Click To Tweet

The weapons of our warfare are not carnal (so we’re not fighting in our own strength) but mighty to the pulling down of strongholds. —2 Corinthians 10:4

Strongholds are those fortresses we’ve allowed to be built brick by brick by taking thoughts as our own that we shouldn’t. We can repent and break every word we have spoken over ourself, our families, and our lives in Jesus’ name.

The mightiest weapon we have when we recognize the lies of the enemy is the Word of God. That’s why it’s so important to get in the Word daily and fill our mind with who God says we are. That way we are able to speak words of life (the Word of God) over our situation instead of considering the lies of the enemy.

How to Respond to Negative Thoughts

The enemy says you’re afraid. “No, the Word tells me that God hasn’t given me a spirit of fear but of power of love and a sound mind.” 

The enemy says you’re confused and you don’t know which way to go. “No, the Word tells me that God will direct my path.” 

The enemy says you can’t do it. “No, the Word says I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”

The enemy says you were an accident, nobody really wanted you. “No, the Word says I was fearfully and wonderfully made by my Creator. I’m no accident.”

Even if you’ve experienced years of this poor self talk; even if your parents or a spouse actually said these words to you, it still all depends on how you choose to receive it. Are you going to receive these negative words and take ownership of them or are you going to believe what God says about you?

I grew up in a very verbally abusive household. I was told for years that I was stupid, I couldn’t do anything right and that I’d never amount to anything. These words came to me through my own mother and they affected me greatly until I got a hold of the Word of God and realized who I was. One word from God telling you who you are is more powerful than decades of bad input.

I hope this message has brought encouragement to you. It is truly my passion to help believers become and possess all that God has for them.

I’m standing with you today and I’m here, playing the Conveyor Belt Game with you.

So, let’s guard our minds. 

Let’s not take the bait today.

Let’s not believe the lies of the enemy or even consider them. 

We are not failures or fearful or sitting ducks for the enemy

The Word says we are more than conquerors and that’s how we’re going to face today.

The past is behind us, and all of God’s plans, promises, grace and mercy are here for us right now.

Much love, Robin  

Side note: And just so you know, while I was studying to put this little message together for you I was served up a ton of crappy thoughts. “No one needs this. This is stupid. You’re just rambling.”

How did I deal with it? I was tired. I had a long day of writing and honestly I was really being messed with. But I just kept writing out my notes and at the end I said, “I don’t care. This isn’t my thing. This is God’s thing. If it helps one person, or no one, You’re in control, God.”

So that’s what you’ve gotta do as well. Move forward in faith at whatever it is He’s calling you to do and leave the rest to Him. Your job is to believe, speak and act as if all is well and it’s all a done deal (because it is). To read more on this topic, I suggest “God Doesn’t Say No To Your Prayers.”