Clean House – Removing Negative Influences From Your Life

One of the most incredible experiences I went through years ago was to journal, hour-by-hour my daily activities and associated feelings throughout a 48-hour period.

What I noticed was how many of those feelings were negative and how the struggle to stay positive was really a losing proposition in my life at that time.

I would wake up in the morning and turn on the TV to the morning news show to be bombarded with the worst news stories from the day before.  Then read the newspaper while I was eating breakfast – more bad news.  Most of my family were doing the same so we collectively ended up in bad moods which left us testy with each other.

Next, I headed in to work where the usual cast of complainers, time-wasters and annoyed superiors filled my morning schedule with meetings, emails and phone calls – 95% of which were negative.

Throw in a call from a family member who was complaining about something that happened to them that morning and an afternoon filled with more frustrated co-workers…you get the picture.

I used to wonder why I had been so sapped of energy, so frustrated, so unhappy, anxious and exhausted each day…well that 48-hour journal exercise pretty much slapped me upside the head with the answer.

From that point on, some things changed.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, then try these techniques to remove negative influences from your life.

1. Tune Out The Media

It used to be just TV, Radio and Newspapers, but negative news is prevalent across websites and social networks today.  Make it a point to substitute positive messages, positive websites and positive reading into your daily routine instead of the news, talk TV, reality shows or other sources of negative information.  I now watch only a handful of shows on TV that make me feel GOOD, seek out positive blogs and social contacts, have my YouTube channels that deliver positive energy and messages.  Try this for a week and tell me you don’t feel better.

2. Edit Your Time

Just as an editor of a book, magazine or published work influences the message by removing some material and enhancing other messages, you want to become the editor of your personal schedule.  First, make sure you have one because if you don’t, someone else will set it and chances are you will not benefit from the contacts that come your way.  Second, make a list of people that are typically negative, neutral and positive and who bring those emotions out in you.   If you are like most people, your ratio today leans more toward spending time with negative people than positive people.  Schedule your time to change that.

3. Transform Yourself And Attract The Same

I’m a big believer that you attract what you put out.  In other words if you are in a negative state, expecting conflict, setbacks, complaints etc…that is exactly what you will attract.  On the other hand, if you create a morning ritual where you wake up refreshed, with gratitude for what you is going to go RIGHT today, work on having the right mindset using exercise and meditation you will tend to attract much more positive people and influence into your life.  Personal transformation always comes before social transformation – keep that in mind.

4. Look For Solutions Not Problems

Many people have reached a point in their lives where they spend far more time looking at the negative side of situations…the challenges, problems, hurdles, and reasons why something is NOT possible instead of looking at the possibilities, opportunities keeping in mind that things will work out when you find a way to make them work out.  Your energy will be utilized either way, far better to have it spent on finding ways to reach positive outcomes instead of dwelling on the negatives

5. Vow To Be Different

Realize that the vast majority of people around you stumble around with the same negative cycle you do and that if you really want your life to be different, you have to vow to BE different.  That means do different things, think differently, hold yourself to a higher standard and change your routine.  Choosing to be different is sometimes tough as we are often pulled as humans to be accepted and to be part of the masses – but when you realize that the masses are largely suffering in silent agony with a truckload of negativity in their lives, reaching a new vision of you and your life is a good thing.

This is your chance to escape the rut of negativity you find yourself in right now.  Thankfully you have the control to escape, change your life, remove negative influences and within a few short weeks, be living the kind of life that you may only dream of today.