How to Improve Your Thinking skills

Here you go,


1) Notice negative thought patterns. 
   Random thoughts float around in your head like uninvited guests. There's an endless voice chattering away like a monkey about life events, your daily to-do list, or the lunchbox you forgot to give to your child. If you examined your thoughts, you'd see many of them, probably most of them, are negative and self-sabotaging. You dwell on the past, worry about the future, obsess about failures and mistakes, battle shame and guilt, and allow your thoughts to drift into mine shafts of negativity and anger.

   Action Steps:Awareness is always the first step toward change. For a few days, mindfully notice your thoughts. This will take some focus, so you may want to post reminders around your house, your car, and your office. Try to notice patterns of negative thinking and the triggers that set off the thoughts. Make notes about these patterns and the topics of your negative thoughts so you don't forget.

2)Practice pattern interrupts.
   As you become aware of patterns of negative thinking, your goal is to break the patterns. The more you allow negative thoughts to have free reign in your mind, the stronger and more debilitating they become. Repetitive negative thinking can lead to depression, anxiety, and even physical illness. It can certainly prevent you from being happy, productive, and confident. Beyond just breaking the thought pattern, you want to replace the negative thought with a positive thought. If you leave a void, your brain will automatically return to the negative thinking pattern.

   Action Steps: Put a rubber band on your wrist, and every time you notice negative thoughts arising, gently pop the rubber band as a physical pattern interrupt for your brain. Create a positive statement that's the opposite of the negative thought. For example, if your negative thought was, "I'll never finish this project on time," change the thought to, "I have all the time I need to finish the project completely and successfully." Even if you don't believe the new thought initially, say it out loud if possible and to yourself several times. Don't worry if it feels silly or useless. You are taking control of your thoughts and retraining your brain.

3)Replace thought loops with action. 
   Interrupting negative thoughts and replacing them with positive ones is a powerful tool for change. You can reinforce this practice with action. When you are focused on something that requires mental focus or physical exertion, your brain is occupied with the task at hand. Have you noticed when you're engaged in a project, intently focused on a sport, or doing anything that's challenging, your worries disappear—at least for a while? Action prevents you from getting stuck in negative thought loops, and it has the further advantage of allowing you to do something productive or useful. Taking control of your thoughts, deciding to take action, and accomplishing something useful all add to your confidence.

   Action Steps: Plan ahead for this strategy by choosing activities or projects you enjoy that require focus and attention. It could be something creative like cooking, drawing, or playing an instrument, or it could be a work project or household task that is mentally challenging. It needs to require enough focus that your mind doesn't wander to your negative thoughts. When you notice yourself in a negative loop, replace the thought as outlined in #2, and then take action on one of your pre-planned activities. As you practice, your negative thoughts will simply become a trigger for positive thought and action. You might even come to view negative thoughts as your motivator.

4) Challenge limiting beliefs.
   Negative thoughts that have had years to percolate in your mind will grow into limiting beliefs. These beliefs might have had some element of truth initially, or they may have no truth at all, but you accepted them as truth because they were implanted so powerfully. Limiting beliefs often go back to childhood experiences, and the pain that accompanies the beliefs makes it very difficult to disengage from them. However, when you challenge these beliefs and shine the light of truth on them, you can begin to loosen the stronghold they have on you and your confidence.

   Action Steps:Think about the limiting beliefs you have about yourself. These beliefs often relate to your worthiness, your desirability, your intelligence, your appearance, your personality, or your abilities. In some area of your life, you were told or it was implied you weren't "enough." Write down these limiting beliefs. Then think about the initial source or reason you adopted the belief in the first place. Now think about how the belief is no longer true for you or maybe never was true. Find specific evidence in your life that contradicts the belief. If you can't find the evidence, what could you do to create it now or in the future?

5)Learn to meditate.
   Meditation is an approach to training the mind, similar to the way that fitness is an approach to training the body. There are many goals to meditation, but one of the main benefits is the ability to detach from your thoughts, releasing their control over you, and to simply be present in the moment. As you grow in a meditation practice, you'll find it far easier in your daily life to release your thoughts without judgment, thus avoiding many of the negative feelings that accompany the thoughts. Of course, meditation has a myriad of other benefits for your health and well-being, all of which support your efforts toward building your confidence.

   Action Steps: Consider adding meditation as a daily practice. Begin with just five minutes a day immediately after a trigger (an established habit like brushing your teeth). Slowly increase your meditation time each week until you reach your desired time to meditate. Begin to notice how the practice of meditation is impacting your thinking during the day. Share your achievement kumarsumanabhishek4@gmail.com 

6)Practice daily gratitude.
   Through the dark cloud of negative thinking, we often fail to see the good in our lives. We don't acknowledge the people, experiences, and successes we've enjoyed in the past and continue to enjoy every day. A variety of studies have proven the power of expressing gratitude and its impact on our happiness, self-esteem, and confidence. A University of California study revealed those who wrote about gratitude were more optimistic and felt better about their lives. They also exercised more and had fewer visits to physicians than the control groups who didn't express gratitude.

   Action Steps: Keep a gratitude journal, and every evening before bed write down everything you are grateful for. Think about people in your past or present life who have positively impacted you, and write them a letter expressing your gratitude. Also, write down the benefits you enjoy in your life that you take for granted—enough food, clean water, a comfortable bed for example. Use thoughts of gratitude as replacement thoughts for negative thinking.

7)Develop present moment awareness.
   Meditation grounds you in the present moment as you release thoughts and focus on breathing. However, you can't meditate all day. You have responsibilities to take care of and people you want to connect with. However, you can pull one element of meditation to use in your daily life. This element is mindfulness—present moment awareness and engagement. Even when you're engaged in "mindless" activities like doing the dishes or washing the car, you can redirect your attention to the task at hand and find joy and satisfaction in what you're doing. Mindful action and attention trains your brain to stay in the only reality available to us—the present moment. 

   Action Steps:The practice of mindfulness takes some practice in order to naturally draw your attention to the task at hand. Create a physical reminder for yourself that you'll see frequently (like a rubber band, a ring on a different finger, etc.) so you are prompted to return to the moment and what you are doing. Notice each aspect of the most simple tasks, like the feel of water running, the sounds in the background, and the smells in the room.

8)Practice affirmations.
   Affirmations are basically a form of auto-suggestion, and when practiced deliberately and repeatedly, they push the subconscious mind to take action to make the positive statement real. Repeated positive statements help you focus your mind on your aim, as if it is already real. They create corresponding mental images, which affect the subconscious mind accordingly. Affirmations also reinforce chemical pathways in the brain, strengthening neural connections so that our thoughts change the structure and function of our brains to support our intentions.

   Action Steps: To practice affirmations, choose one or two to focus on for several weeks. Say the affirmation out loud in a confident voice several times a day and before you go to bed. To add more power to the affirmation, write it down as you speak it. Be sure your affirmations are in the present tense, as though they are a current reality. If you face problem in making affirmation list email me kumarsumanabhishek4@gmail.com

9)Visualize success.
   Visualization is the use of mental imagery to create visions of what we want and the process of making it happen. It is often used by athletes to improve their skills by picturing their optimal performance and ultimate achievement. A variety of studies have offered sufficient reliable evidence that mental imagery can improve motor performance. 
   With visualization, you create neural patterns in your brain, just as if you had physically performed the action. The thought can stimulate the nervous system in the same way as the physical action does. Visualization fosters better performance and outcomes in all areas of life that require preparedness and forethought.

   Action Steps:Determine an upcoming situation or area of performance in which you want to succeed. Set aside time in the morning and evening for a five-minute visualization, as well as in the hours just before the event. Visualize all the images, sounds and feelings in your mind surrounding an activity. Mentally go through each step as if you were performing perfectly, culminating in a successful outcome. Try to feel the feelings of energy, confidence, stamina, or whatever feelings you would produce in a successful endeavor.

10)Focus on compassion.
   Cultivating empathy through compassion meditation affects brain regions that make us more sympathetic to other peoples' mental states, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Brain scans reveal that brain circuits used to detect emotions were dramatically altered in subjects who practiced compassion meditation extensively. Compassion meditation is useful for preventing depression in people who are susceptible to it, and it also reduces stress and improves feelings of happiness, contentment, and self-compassion.

   Action Steps: Sit in a comfortable posture in a quiet, peaceful place to meditate. Take several slow, deep, diaphragmatic breaths. Become aware of your mind and body, relaxing any muscle or mental tension that arises. Turn your attention to people you have seen or know who have experienced misfortune. Using your own words, wish them freedom from sorrow or stress and swift recovery to a happier, healthier present and future. Continue offering compassion to any people you may be aware of who are suffering

Thanks for Reading 

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