Here's how to turn negative thoughts into positive ones

When negative thoughts attempt to take over your mind, don't let them!

How do you prevent this from happening?

By turning those negative thoughts into positive ones.

You can cancel out a negative thought with a positive one in a number of ways:

1. By thinking about or looking at something that relaxes you or otherwise brings a smile to your face (e.g., pictures of kittens).

2. By listening to music or doing anything else that puts you in a good mood.

3. By thinking about or looking at something that makes you laugh (e.g. blooper videos).

4. By thinking about all the wonderful things you aim to accomplish in the future. Focus not on the past, but on the present and the future.

5. And, most importantly, by being thankful for what you have and reminding yourself that it could be worse. It's about never losing sight of the fact that you have it better than a lot of people out there do.

Whenever I'm feeling a little blue, I do one -- if not all -- of these things and my disposition becomes much sunnier in no time. This won't necessarily work in cases of intense emotional distress (e.g., a dying relative), but it can be effective on those days where nothing seems to be going right. And if you have yet another approach that works for you, by all means -- go with that.

Don't let negative thoughts take control of your life. Remember, you're in the driver's seat. Positive thoughts WILL override negative ones so long as you allow optimism to shine through.

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