Your mind can sound certain and still be completely wrong. Negative thoughts can feel frighteningly convincing when they show up, especially when they’re loud and insistent… but thoughts are not facts, and you don’t have to let every anxious thought take control of your day. 

In this episode of the Let’s Talk About Mental Health podcast, I’m talking about your relationship with your thoughts: why your mind can make negative thinking, racing thoughts and overthinking occurs, what automatic negative thoughts are, and why negative thoughts and anxiety feel like absolute truth… even when it’s just mental noise dressed up as certainty. This is for you if your mindset gets hijacked by worst-case scenarios, harsh self-judgement, 3am spirals, or that familiar feeling of being dragged around by whatever your mind shouted at you most recently. I’ll explain why trying to silence your thoughts or argue with every single one is exhausting (and usually pointless), and I’ll share practical ways to catch a thought and decide whether it actually deserves to take control. This is not about cultivating a perfectly quiet mind; it’s about learning how to stop believing your thoughts automatically, how to stop negative thoughts from running your life, and how to protect your emotional health one thought at a time. 

👉 Ready to stop handing your thoughts the wheel? Then let’s talk!

💡 TL;DR: Your negative thoughts might feel true, but this episode shows you how to stop believing your thoughts on contact and start treating thoughts as thoughts… not facts.

Let's Talk About Mental Health with Jeremy Godwin is about practical mental health advice for real life; each week I teach you how to improve your mental wellbeing with simple tips that actually work, drawing on my professional expertise as a counsellor and my personal experience living with anxiety and depression. Welcome and let's talk!

⏱️ Chapters/Timestamps:

0:00 Don’t believe every negative thought

0:31 You don’t have to believe every thought

4:04 What are negative thoughts?

8:49 Why negative thoughts affect your mental health

14:37 How to deal with negative thoughts

22:47 What I want you to take away

📝 Transcript & show notes: https://ltamh.com/?p=20856  

📖 Buy my book 'Life Advice That Doesn't Suck': https://jeremygodwin.com.au/latds/

📍 Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/jeremygodwin

➕ Related episodes:

Being hard on yourself (Episode 343): https://ltamh.com/?p=20759 

Overthinking and thought spirals (Episode 321): https://ltamh.com/?p=19518 

👋 New here?

Hi! I'm Jeremy Godwin, writer and counsellor plus the host of the Let's Talk About Mental Health podcast, your weekly dose of practical advice for better mental health. I share straightforward tips to help you protect your peace and improve your mental health, with new episodes every Sunday.

🔗 Links:

Learn more about Let's Talk About Mental Health: https://ltamh.com

Subscribe for free show notes/transcripts in your inbox: https://ltamh.com/subscribe/

My Digital Store: https://ltamh.com/shop/

Buy my Daily Reflection Tool here: https://ltamh.com/product/daily-reflection/

Buy my Daily Affirmations tool here: https://ltamh.com/product/affirmations/

Subscribe to my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ltamh

Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ltamentalhealth/

Mental health resources: https://ltamh.com/resources/

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