As you identify thought patterns that you want to disrupt and feelings that you want to work through, taking a contrary action can be an effective tool for personal growth.

Negative beliefs are exactly that: beliefs, not facts. The world was never flat, although everyone believed it was. You are not dumb, crazy, egomaniacal, grandiose, or silly just because you falsely believe yourself to be. What you are is scared. Core negatives keep you scared.

“You should tell yourself frequently, ‘I will only react to constructive suggestions,’ for this gives you some protection against your own negative thoughts and those of others. A negative thought if not erased will almost certainly result in a negative condition: a momentary despondency, a headache, according to the intensity of the thought.

Notice that you haven’t challenged the thought at all. You haven’t tried to get rid of it, debated whether it’s true or false, or tried to replace it with a positive thought.

The more useful approach is to ask, “Does this thought offer anything useful? If I let it guide me, will it take me toward or away from the life I want?” If this thought is offering something helpful, then make good use of it; allow it to guide what you do. But if it’s not offering anything of value, unhook.

When you work with unpleasant thoughts in this way, they become assets to mental stability rather than liabilities—like adding weight to the bar when you’re exercising in a gym. You’re developing psychological muscles to cope with greater and greater levels of stress.

Left- brain attempts to control the body or emotions often sound something like this: I need to go to sleep right now; I'm nervous about my meeting at work tomorrow and I don't want to be; I don't have any right to be angry. Perhaps there's a memory you keep reliving and you wish it would go away. Or a feeling of regret you can't seem to change. Th