We can all admit to making mistakes and we can recover from them fairly easily.
However sometimes they make us feel helpless and stuck and like it’s the final straw where one thing after another is going wrong.

When we are in the midst of these bouts of bad luck all we think about is the negative and that means we are tuning out the positives in our lives.

Let me give you an example. The other day I asked a client, who’d come feeling at the end of her tether and complaining of feeling strung out and anxious all the time: “If you didn’t feel stressed; what would you be able to do instead?”

She looked at me for a moment or two, opened her mouth to start to speak, changed her mind and paused. Then started to explain all the things that were making her stressed and how she didn’t want to be so stressed.

My client had got so used to focusing only on her stressed state and the reasons why she felt that way that her mind was stuck in that grove, seemingly unable to go in any other direction. It had become a deeply ingrained habit.

Habits like this and others are often the reason why people stay stuck with feelings of being helpless and hopeless.

There are common mental habits that keep people stuck and cut off from living a full life and here are my Top 5.

Top 5 Mental Habits to Keep you Feeling Blue and Stuck:

1. Believing your thoughts are in charge. Stop and ask yourself: ‘Where do my thoughts come from?’ Your answer should be obvious, but sometimes you need to remind yourself that you are in control of your thoughts.
2. Forgetting all the achievements you’ve made in your life. A sure way to keep yourself on a downward spiral is to never think about what you have achieved or what is good in your life right now.
3. Stop any connection with nature. This is a good way to cut yourself off from feelings of vitality and optimism. Stay away from every opportunity of taking a walk on grass, to notice the sky, the trees, to hear birdsong and breathe in the air.
4. Resist exercise or spontaneous action. Our bodies are meant to move and when we avoid doing this our minds suffer the consequence and feel stagnant and even more inclined to feel sorry for ourselves.
5. Decline invitations to socialise and stay in touch. Taking the focus off ourselves and outwards to other people especially those we love or consider our friends breaks the spell of introversion. We are by nature social animals and thrive on interaction with others.

Do you find yourself guilty of any or all of the above? If you are curious as to how a few simple changes in your habitual thinking patterns can make big changes in your life why not explore my new e-book Beat the Burnout Blues.

It is practical, step by step help that really works and is the result of many years experience working with clients one to one.

Or stay tuned to this Blog for the next few weeks to find out other ways to help yourself live the life you were meant to.

What’s the negative mental habit that you realise has not served you well or kept you in a negative state of mind?

Please share it here.