4 Practical Ways to Reduce Negativity in Your Life

There is no denying that there is a lot of negativity in the world.

Every day we are bombarded with news of a recent humanitarian crisis, natural disaster, disgraced global figure or political scandal.

Some days it can be hard to remember that there are also many positive things happening in the world and how incredibly lucky we are.

In addition to the news and media, most of us also interact with negative people on a regular basis.

It is important to identify the main sources of negative energy in your life and limit your exposure to them.

Here are 4 practical ways to reduce negativity in your life:

Reduce your media intake

You may be sick of hearing this, but have you actually started doing it?

Most people start their day either by watching TV, scrolling through their social media timelines or checking email and messages.

Much of the media you intake is negative and by the time you have finished your first cup of tea or coffee, you’ve been exposed to enough bad news to last a week.

And how do you end the day?

Many of us end the day in the same way we started – watching the news or scrolling through social media and checking messages.

So, of course, you get a big dose of negativity just before going to sleep.

Listening to inspirational podcasts, motivational audiobooks or uplifting music are great alternatives to watching morning TV.

Similarly, reading empowering books before going to bed is a much better option than scrolling mindlessly through your social media timeline.

Limit your exposure to negative people 

Being around negative people is exhausting!

They drain you mentally, emotionally and sometimes physically.

With some negative people, you’re not aware of their effect until you’re away from them.

Other people suck all positive energy out of the environment just with their presence.

The phrase “misery loves company” is so true.

Negative people can really pull you down, so limit your exposure to them as much as possible.

This can be more challenging when the negative person is a close friend or family member, but you have to do everything you can to protect your energy.

Avoid people who constantly criticise, do nothing but gossip about others or regularly throw themselves a pity party.

To reduce negativity in your life surround yourself with optimistic people.

Spend time with people who you feel uplifted around and make you feel good about yourself and life.

Change your self-talk

Sometimes, the most damaging source of negativity comes from you.

Most of us generate lots of negative self-talk that our minds accept as the truth and results in being held back in many ways.

We often focus on our shortcomings and our problems.

We spend our time predicting more bad news for ourselves and generating lots of fear while sabotaging our efforts to improve our lives.

To reduce negativity in your life make a conscious effort to focus on the positive aspects of yourself. 

Use visualisation and affirmations to replace the negative thoughts and instead generate positive images of yourself achieving your dreams.

Praise, acknowledge and celebrate your accomplishments, big and small, so you are reinforcing positive messages about yourself.

Keeping a journal is an excellent tool for monitoring your internal thoughts by giving a voice to your inner critic.

Question any negative statements or beliefs that you capture and ask yourself if they’re true.

Over time you’ll become more aware of the thoughts passing through your mind and less likely to take every negative one as fact.

Help others

A negative mindset can go hand in hand with a lack of gratitude.

And nothing brings you back to reality like spending time with people who are less fortunate than yourself.

Take time to get involved in a charity or cause that helps others.

You will quickly realise that you have so much to be thankful for and that even if you’re not where you want to be in life, you’re still doing a lot better than many others.

Helping others can reduce negativity in your life because it gives you an overall sense of doing good.

And when you do good, you feel good.

It really does pay to consciously reduce negativity in your life and adopt an optimistic outlook.

Not only can it increase your happiness and improve the quality of your relationships, but it can also help you to maintain your emotional, mental and physical health and well-being.

Journal prompt: What do I need to do to reduce negativity in my life?

Affirmation: I welcome positivity into my life.