Initially posted in LinkedIn March 2024

I read a study once that indicated that if people experienced 9 positive things in their day, and 1 thing was negative, then they spent the entire evening ruminating on the 1 negative thing and forgetting about the other 9 positive things.

This thought process then led to a restless night and a negative outlook on the next morning. Therefore, our thoughts do impact our emotions and by extension, our overall mood. In a way, you are giving control to whatever situation upset you in the first place. Understanding the impact of negative thinking on our mood is crucial. It's true that our thoughts influence how we feel, but we have the power to reframe them.

One way to counteract this fallacy in thinking and to regain emotional control is to retrain your brain into thinking about things you are grateful for. I am a cognitive behavioral therapist that regularly assigns homework to my clients to journal daily about 3 things they were grateful for today and/or 3 positive things that happened during their day. Practicing gratitude by journaling about positive experiences can help shift our perspective and improve our overall mood.

Research has shown that focusing on gratitude and positive aspects of your day will start to reframe how you perceive daily events. You will even be able to reframe actual negative encounters in a more positive light. It takes 60 days to either break a bad habit or start a new habit, so what small changes can you make today to cultivate a more positive outlook on life and increase your sense of wellbeing?

Next Steps

Identify and reframe the negative thoughts that drag you down and make you feel less capable in your personal and professional life. Career consultants are available to help at Quantum Career Consulting.

Tonya Osmond, EdD, LPC, is a Career Consultant and President of Quantum Career Consulting, LLC. With more than 20 years of career counseling experience, she is a licensed professional counselor in Virginia.