How To Get Positive Thoughts To Stay Dominant

Build a habit and be on guard

Have you ever tried doing something with your non-dominant hand?

Recently, I started using my left hand when brushing my teeth in the morning. This was based on a suggestion made by Jim Kwik in his book ‘Limitless’ and his Superbrain program.

“When you train yourself to do difficult things first thing in the morning, it will show up in other areas of your life.” — Jim Kwik

Jim’s reason is: “Novelty and nutrition helps your brain to spur on neurogenesis, neuroplasticity and create brain-derived neurotrophic factors.”

It was not easy at first, but after a while, I started to get the hang of it.

Is this just about changing physical behavior or can you also apply it to your mind to take up non-dominant thoughts?

Auto behavior

As I was practicing brushing with my left hand, I noticed something interesting happening. My dominant right hand would hover involuntarily near my chest or face, ready to take over in an instant. Sometimes, I would switch to the right hand without even realizing it. It would happen so fast that there was no conscious decision making involved.

This was not happening due to habit. It was an action that was pushing me back into an old habit.

To counter this, I had to consciously force my right hand to hang limp next to my side, like my left hand would do when brushing with the right. And even when I did that, a few times I’d notice that I had moved the right hand up — again without realizing I was doing it.

If you try to replace dominant thoughts, would they involuntarily creep up?

Thought dominance

What thoughts do you usually let dominate your life? We have many habits, patterns, and thoughts that run our life in auto-mode. Unfortunately, too often, the dominant thoughts are negative ones.

“Your brain has a negativity bias that makes it like Velcro for negative experiences and Teflon for positive ones.” — Rick Hanson, Ph.D.

The first step is recognition of the dominant negative thoughts and the next step is replacing them with the non-dominant positive ones.

When you try to replace the bad feelings or behaviors with positive feelings though, there are two issues that you are going to face.

1. It is difficult because you are trying to break a long time habit.
2. The difficulty is compounded by the fact that the dominant thought is going to be hovering real close, ready to take over in an instant. Worse, when it happens, the switch can occur without you even processing the idea and making a decision.

The physical hard-wiring of hand-dominance has been in place for a long time.

Fetuses start to move their arms around 9–10 weeks. By early in the second trimester, the babies show a clear preference for sucking one thumb over the other. So handedness is probably hardwired before birth. — WebMD

You may not have had much of a say with your physical trait. And it is unlikely that you can change it.

The dominant hand is not really a choice because it is not a conscious decision that we make as children. Genetics and the individual’s brain play a role in which will be the dominant hand. — Very Well Family

But the mental hard-wiring of thought dominance is created by you and for you — through social interactions, learning by imitation, and habits. Here too, you may not have had much of a say. The difference though is that you can manage and change it.

Thought recognition

Learn to recognize the negative thought when it tries to come back. Look for what triggers it and how your body and mind react to it. There are always clues. Once you recognize how it happens, you can build a plan to deal with it.

Jim Kwik has a 4 step method to deal with negative thoughts:

1. Acknowledge — the thought
2. Breathe — in the potential
3. Release — the negativity
4. Align — to the positive thought

Cue-Habit

With my brushing, I taught my mind to watch out for the right hand creeping up or taking over. With that came a working circuit in my brain that was triggered, to remind me and to take counteractions.

The same applies when dealing with negative thoughts. Train yourself to become consciously aware of the dominant thought trying to take over. They are not going to just go away because you have replaced it with a good one. They only remain dormant, ready to take over at the most inopportune moment.

If you wire your brain to simultaneously remind you that it is happening and initiate a counter process, then you will be prepared — because this action too eventually will become a habit.

You can use James Clear’s four stages of habit:

1. Cue
2. Craving
3. Response
4. Reward

Thought replacement

Learning to use the opposite hand does not typically change your dominant hand. It only makes you ambidextrous at best.

But replacing dominant bad thoughts with good ones can become a true replacement.

“Neuroplasticity: The brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. Neuroplasticity allows the neurons (nerve cells) in the brain to compensate for injury and disease and to adjust their activities in response to new situations or to changes in their environment.” — Medicine Net

The process has to be repeated over and over as this is what helps shape the neural network and makes the new pathways stronger.

In terms of repetition, it is estimated that it takes 10,000 repetitions to master a skill and develop the associated neural pathway. — Fit4D

Conclusion

• Teach your brain to deal with the disease of negative thoughts, by consciously activating positive ones every day.
• Rewire your brain to become aware and take automatic actions when the previously dominant negative feelings try to take over.
• Repeat this and eventually, the positive feelings will become the dominant force in your life.

Medium curated in Mental Health, Psychology and Help