Negative thoughts don't make You healthy

[Pumax]

I recently read something that connected to a real feeling people have after discovering the redpill and how the world truly works: negative thoughts.


The post said:

You can go to the gym, eat healthy, do yoga, drink water, and take vitamins, and look healthy
but if you don't directly confront the negativity in your thoughts,
you will never truly be "HEALTHY".

This goes deeper.
After taking the redpill, going through divorce, betrayal, seeing kids turned against us by their mothers, businesses failing, wives leaving for others, or learning even the best women fall to temptation, your perspective changes forever.
You lose that childish, irrational positivity that made you appreciate everything and adapt easily.


Now, you know the rules, make the rules, command respect, but also carry negative thoughts because of it.
So how do you move past these negative thoughts from awareness, without losing the knowledge?
How do you turn negativity into something positive while still seeing reality clearly?


The Stoics practiced negative visualization, imagining worse scenarios to stay calm and grounded. This didn’t weaken them, it strengthened them. If this was their best tool, why think erasing negative thoughts is what makes you healthy?

 

[BaronOfHair]

I recently read something that connected to a real feeling people have after discovering the redpill and how the world truly works...

.
And that(Mistaking anything and everything that's marketed as Red Pill for Holy Writ, as opposed to something created by fallible, f-cked humans)'s a fatal error entirely too many of us have been committing, for an unforgivably long time...

Red Pill Thought is ultimately a PERSPECTIVE on reality. "How the world really works" is entirely too messy and complex topic for any single individual or worldview to figure out, once and for all

 

[Peaks&Valleys]

You are the light. They have their own problems and misconceptions. You better yourself, "see through smoke", and, when they act like children, look down upon them like they are children and therefore pat them on the head. You once respected the people around you as equals, now that you have gained the next level, you see things differently. They will act out, be immature, say stupid **** and play stupid games, you will smile because you know. They have communicated that they are either struggling or undeserving. Either way, you are the light.

 

[FlexpertHamilton]

Your mind is all you are, and all you have. Your body and environment are extensions (or more like reflections) of the mind, and these can be changed to an extent, but ultimately your mind is mysterious and not under your directly control. So the Stoics were right to focus on controlling what little they could, and I think the Roman flavor of Stoicism was right to put 100% of your focus on tranquility of the mind, through what was essentially a better form of CBT that you perform on yourself as series of prophylactic and disciplined antidotes to the sort of knee-jerk monkey mind reactions we have to events in our life.

 

[Pumax]

Your mind is all you are, and all you have. Your body and environment are extensions (or more like reflections) of the mind, and these can be changed to an extent, but ultimately your mind is mysterious and not under your directly control. So the Stoics were right to focus on controlling what little they could, and I think the Roman flavor of Stoicism was right to put 100% of your focus on tranquility of the mind, through what was essentially a better form of CBT that you perform on yourself as series of prophylactic and disciplined antidotes to the sort of knee-jerk monkey mind reactions we have to events in our life.

So are negative thoughts > positive thoughts to make your mind positive?

 

[BaronOfHair]

So are negative thoughts > positive thoughts to make your mind positive?

Aim for gaining a more lucid view of the external world in all of it's horror, mundaneness, and beauty. Positive and negative are false binaries

 

[zekko]

One of the biggest obstacles I faced early in life was overcoming negative thoughts. And changing my habit of negative thinking made one of the biggest differences in my life. You have to be nice to yourself, because if you're not going to, who is?

 

[BillyPilgrim]

Aim for gaining a more lucid view of the external world in all of it's horror, mundaneness, and beauty. Positive and negative are false binaries

Lucid views will lead to jadedness. Got to be real but keep a positive spin. Better to appreciate the simple things than to indulge in random vignettes of gore.

 

[zekko]

Got to be real but keep a positive spin. Better to appreciate the simple things than to indulge in random vignettes of gore.

You've got to appreciate the simple things because when you stop to think about it, we are tremendously blessed. Remember to have an attitude of gratitude and you will always be happy, or nearly always.

 

[BillyPilgrim]

You've got to appreciate the simple things because when you stop to think about it, we are tremendously blessed. Remember to have an attitude of gratitude and you will always be happy, or nearly always.

Agreed about the simple things and adopting gratitude outllooks but don't know about the blessed part, this realm is a trail by fire. With pretty sunsets.

 

[FlexpertHamilton]

So are negative thoughts > positive thoughts to make your mind positive?

No

 

[zekko]

Agreed about the simple things and adopting gratitude outllooks but don't know about the blessed part, this realm is a trail by fire. With pretty sunsets.

Perhaps, but I can't complain so far.

 

[Vanderdonck]

If this was their best tool, why think erasing negative thoughts is what makes you healthy?

Negative thoughts are part of your brain's survival instincts. It's built to "worry" about negative outcomes to keep you safe, well-fed and in a position to procreate.

This results in us often thinking of the past (what we'd change if we could) or the future (what may befall us). Usually "negative" in nature but to the mechanism of human evolution it's neutral.

Worries about money = your brain preventing starvation. Worries about rejection from girls = your brain preventing tribal exclusion. Etc. Your mind is trying to help you. But you have to help your mind.

You can't erase them 100% or you'd live like a fool. But don't indulge them either. Thank your brain when you catch one coming along and then shift to something positive. ("What if everything works out for me?") Or tell yourself all the positive things that will happen as a result of your efforts. Or be grateful for all the good things you've accomplished; make a list.

The key is to replace negativity with positivity in your conscious mind to the extent that your subconscious believes it - and with practice, it will. This is why affirmations are so popular.

Doesn't mean you will never have doubts, worries, etc. Just means you have to deal with them for what they are and not be dominated by them. Remember your brain is a computer and you can reprogram it - not entirely (old operating system) but you can rewrite a lot of its day to day function.

 

[DonJefe19]

The Stoics practiced negative visualization, imagining worse scenarios to stay calm and grounded. This didn’t weaken them, it strengthened them. If this was their best tool, why think erasing negative thoughts is what makes you healthy?

I don't agree with this. In fact, I think any sort of visualization that involves a negative outcome can really mess with your psyche. Rehearsing negative events, I think, reinforces the reactionary responses to bad things (like when a chick gives a **** test, or some confrontation out in public, etc..) and it generally generates unnecessary stress. I speak from my own experience as I have a bad habit in recreating past negative events in my head.

Maybe if instead of it being a negative visualization but a contingency to a negative scenario much like what's discussed in a strategy meeting I think it would be more practical. But if it's being devised in one's head, that's dangerous territory for bad headspace.

P.S. Cavet being this all my opinion and it holds no weight against your thought quoted above

 

[BaronOfHair]

Lucid views will lead to jadedness

It CAN. Recognizing that "positive" and "negative" are just labels we put on that which we find agreeable or disagreeable then allows us to investigate our beliefs around those things, ask questions like:

"Is this really ALL negative? Or is it a blend of things I find objectionable, things I'm indifferent toward, and things I approve of? What thoughts and beliefs motivate me to place such labels on (insert subjects), and are those thoughts and belies 100% true, 50% true, or less than 5% true?"

By doing so, we end with a far richer and more nuanced understanding of the universe, rather than ending up jaded

 

[CoolWave1331]

Stoic philosophy has its place

There's nothing inherently wrong with having negative thoughts. They come and they go - if the negative thought is of a particular nature does it motivate you to do something about it?

The problem is there are people who simply dwell in negativity. There is not a trace of happiness or optimism to be found, everything is a grim, bleak and hopeless. The best of efforts to help are often unwanted - every suggestion (before you even finish) is met with "It won't work" or "I can't". I feel bad for these people it's certainly a terrible spot to be in.

Being "positive" all the time can be equally as bad. You got those people who could find their house on fire and they'll take up the lotus position, close their eyes and tell themselves nothing is wrong. It's very disingenuous, this toxic positivity is a bit of a new age thing from what I can tell.

 

[BadBoy89]

Blame our ancestors.

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Why Our Brains Are Hardwired to Focus on the Negative

The brain has a built-in negative bias that causes us to focus on bad things. This negativity bias can have an impact on our behavior and decisions.

www.verywellmind.com

Our tendency to pay more attention to bad things and overlook good things is likely a result of evolution. Earlier in human history, paying attention to bad, dangerous, and negative threats in the world was literally a matter of life and death. Those who were more attuned to danger and who paid more attention to the bad things around them were more likely to survive.

This meant they were also more likely to hand down the genes that made them more attentive to danger.

The evolutionary perspective suggests that this tendency to dwell on the negative more than the positive is simply one way the brain tries to keep us safe.