- Activity
According to the National Science Foundation, an average person has about 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. Of those, 80% are negative and 95% are repetitive thoughts. If we repeat those negative thoughts, we think negative way more than we think positive thoughts.
All negative thoughts are not bad. Being alert can help you survive but most negative thoughts are useless. They only create imaginary drama in your mind.
This exercise will show young people how to shift negative thoughts about the future.
Step 1
Ask the participants to work individually. Give each person a piece of paper and a pen or pencil.
Step 2
Ask them to list every negative thought they have about the future. Once they’ve listed everything down, ask them not to stop. Let them dig deeper and write more thoughts about their fears and insecurities, thought that stress them out.
Step 3
Ask them to make another column. Now, for every negative thought, ask them to write at least one positive thought. If they fear failure, ask them to write one instance when failure helped them to learn a lesson. If they stress about work, let them write how their current activities are serving other people. Shifting perspective sounds easy. But it’s not. It takes practice.
Step 4
Share and discuss their thoughts. Ask them whenever they think of a negative thought, counter it with a positive one.
Discuss this quote with the participants:
“Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habit. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.” — Lao Tzu
60′
Paper and pens or pencils.
To show young people the corelation between thoughts, actions and habits; to change their attitude about the future
