Master Your Mind Now

What if you could’t delete negative thoughts—but you could defuse them and get your focus back? We dive into the real math of the mind—why most thoughts are negative and most repeat—and turn that insight into simple, repeatable practices that soften anxiety, improve decisions, and keep your goals alive when motivation dips.

I share where I struggle and what actually helps: short, realistic meditation sessions using soundscapes and Raja Yoga imagery; a playful “guardian at the gate” visualization for intrusive loops; and Savasana to retrain the body to relax on cue. We break down six hidden costs of stress—poor choices, low drive, scattered attention, strained relationships, physical symptoms, and fear of failure—and map them to strategies that work in real life. Expect plain language, zero perfection talk, and tools you can start today, even if your schedule is crowded.

You’ll also learn the 5‑4‑3‑2‑1 grounding method to pull attention back to the present through sight, touch, sound, smell, and taste. Add journaling to clear mental static, movement to change your brain chemistry, and goal‑setting that shrinks overwhelm by breaking big ambitions into small steps. The message is simple: emotions aren’t enemies; they’re signals. When we meet them with structure and compassion, we regain agency without pretending the hard stuff isn’t there.

If this conversation helps you breathe easier or take one better step, share it with someone who could use a steadier day. Subscribe for more practical tools and let me know your favorite way to calm the mind—what’s the one habit you’ll try this week?

Transcript

Why Negative Thoughts Dominate

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Have you ever strangled with overwhelming negative thinking, guys? You might think this episode is meant for only a few people. Those people who struggle with negative feelings and repetitive patterns in their minds. The truth is, according to the National Science Foundation, 80% of our totes are negative, and 95% of our totes are repetitive. I'm sure you know that after hearing these stats, you don't feel so much alone. But how should we deal with them? What can we do to lighten this situation? We don't know that yet, but that's what we are going to talk about today. Hi guys, my name is Fabio from Journey to Success and welcome. I want to tell you something. I also experience negative and repetitive thoughts. Sometimes I manage to deal with them, other times I struggle. And there are moments when it feels like I'm trapped in a black hole. Still, there are other times when I can see them fade away, like clouds on the horizon. Alright? But I have my methods, I have my methods for managing these thoughts, and today we will introduce the concept of mastering the mind to dive into negative emotions. We're gonna discuss the common challenges people face with negative emotions, including stress and anxiety, and how they can hinder personal growth. Lastly, I'm going to show you how. Well, I will say how to eliminate them, but it's not true. I cannot promise that. But at least I can help your mind feel calmer, okay? But before we go forward, as always, please subscribe so I know this is the right direction to lead you guys, to drive you, to guide you on your journey to success. Let's get started. Alright, as always. So, first of all, mastering your mind is absolutely important. If you don't, everything will become heavier, okay? And uh, and the harder it is to understand how to reach your goals, any goals. And when you you are so focused on uh managing your mindset, you don't have the time or energy to deal with anything else. Okay, that's the the truth. So mastering the mind is an essential skill that empowers us to navigate our emotional landscape, especially when confronting negative emotions. So instead of viewing these emotions as uh enemies to be avoided, we can learn, we can learn to engage with them. Okay, first of all, how are we gonna do that? Well, first of all, by practicing mindfulness and using a yoga reflection technique where we can observe negative emotions from a distance, you know, where we can uh analyze our roots and recognize our nature. And this process not only helps us understand what triggers these emotions, but also helps us transform our relationship with them, okay? And so rather than feeling then rather than fearing or suppressing negative feelings, we can embrace them as opportunities for growth and self-discovery, okay? And lastly, mastering the mind in this way leads us to bigger emotional resilience and a more profound sense of inner peace. So that that's very important. Negative emotions, guys, like especially like stress and anxiety, are common experiences that many people face in today's world. And these emotions can present a variety of challenges that not only affect mental well-being, but are also personal grow in so many ways, in several ways. So, what are these these emotions? Well, first of all, we have as as how many points I wrote here. Yeah, six points. We have the first one is bad decision making. So bad decision making is about when stress and anxiety can cloud judgment and lead to poor decision making. Okay, and when uh overwhelmed by negative emotions, individuals may rush into choices without considering long-term consequences, often resulting in a regret or feeling of failure. The second one is uh decreased motivation. So negative emotions can drain motivation and energy, okay, making difficult to pursue goals. And when anxiety rise, when the anxiety levels rise, it can lead to procrastination or avoidance behaviors, causing individuals to miss opportunities for growth and development. Okay. Number three, reduced focus and concentration. So anxiety, guys, often creates a sense of distraction, making hard for individuals to concentrate on tasks or projects. This can affect performance in both personal and I would say also professional situations, limiting one's ability to acquire new skills or knowledge. Okay. And number four, impact on relationships. So stress and anxiety can test relationships, guys. When people are worried about their negative emotions, they make they may take a step back from social interactions, leading to feelings of isolation, alright? And the truth is that healthy relationships are crucial for personal growth as they provide support, encouragement, and new perspectives. Number five, physical health issues. Just remember, chronic stress and anxiety can manifest physically and leading to health issues such as headaches, as my case, I have a lot of Micrania, and fatigue or even more severe conditions, you know. And when the body is sick, it can be challenging to focus on personal development or pursue passions and interests, guys. And number six, we have a fear of failure. So anxiety often breeds a fear of failure, you know, which can paralyze individuals from taking risks or stepping outside their comfort zones. And personal growth often requires taking risks, guys. And when fear holds someone back, they miss valuable learning experiences. Okay, these are big challenges. But how can we counteract them? How can we counteract this challenge? You can use several strategies. The first strategies is mindfulness and meditation. So practicing mindfulness can help individuals become more aware of their emotions and reduce stress. Okay? Techniques such as meditation or deep breathing can promote relaxation and clarity. Number two, we have the seeking support. It's important to talk with uh trustful people, guys. Talking to friends, family, a therapist, a trustful therapist, like a very good one. And but you know, these can provide relief and alternative viewpoints because you understand better how to reflect, you know, on your struggles. Support systems are vital for managing stress and can promote personal growth through shared experiences, okay? Also, this is very, very important. Another point is setting realistic goals. So breaking down larger goals into smaller manageable tasks can help alleviate the feeling of being overwhelmed. I don't know if you know, well, some of you is part of my community on Journey to Success. So, Journey to Success Clap is an extension of my podcast, guys. I just decided to do live streamings from now on, and then these episodes they're gonna be translated to audio episodes in my podcast. What I want to say is that in Journey to Success, we always talk about you know, dream dreaming and achieve success. Very important, it's very important to dream, and at the same time, it's important to dream uh knowing the clear path that you want to achieve, reaching uh knowing that you want to reach that dream. But it's also important, this is something that I always say, it is also important to break big goals into smaller manageable tasks, okay? And yeah, like very, very important. Then we have physical activity. So regular exercise can be a powerful antidote to stress and anxiety, and it releases endorphins, which can improve mood and enhange overall well-being, guys. Okay. Then we have journaling. Writing down thoughts and feelings can help individuals process their emotions. Okay, writing, do journaling is very important. In a way, you know, to to provide clarity, direction, and uh reducing uh anxiety, of course. But what the what do I do personally? What do I personally use? So I would like just to share my you know my journey. And let's see if someone meanwhile asks some question. And guys, if you like to ask some question, like don't be afraid, you can ask as many questions as you want. No, look like uh look like uh right now we are 170 people, but you just listen. That's okay. But if you like to, you know, to join and uh ask questions, like please no worries, yeah. And I mean if I can expose my myself and uh I'm Italian mother tongue, you know, who does an English podcast. I mean, I'm sure that you all can uh also speak out and ask me questions. What another, what another. So yeah, that's what I want to say to you. So, what do I personally use? Well, we talked about meditation, right? Meditation is something I do with pleasure, even if I should practice a little bit more often. And my only problem with meditation is that the moment I start to feel better, like now, now I feel like I'm tired because I'm doing a lot of things, but I feel I feel good. But well, the moment that I feel better, then I stop I stop meditating. This is not good. This is not good because when we begin to accumulate stress, guys, we often don't notice or feel it right away. Okay, so what I usually do is take one session per day, usually the evening. Ideally, it would be better two times per day, you know, doing meditation in the morning and in the evening. But in my case, I do mostly in the evening. In my case, so I set my timer for 10 minutes. Of course, you can do for a few minutes, two, three minutes, it doesn't matter. But in my case, it's the minutes right now. I use an app. The name is brain.fm. It's a great app that helps me focus when I write my podcast script, or in this case, when I meditate, and I choose the music that introduces specific mental states by targeting uh alpha, beta, delta, gamma, and uh theta frequencies. And after that, I start picturing myself in different scenarios, you know. For example, if I choose the sound of rain in the app, I just picture myself on a vast ocean with an infinite expanse of water, like an ocean, and a beautiful mountain landscape in front of me, and I focus on the waves, you know. And when a wave tries to rise up, that's the moment when I push it down. And the waves represent my negative thoughts. So when I I I you know when I put the waves down, it's the moment where I put down basically my negative thoughts. It's very, very beautiful. And this kind of meditation comes from Raja Yoga, and is uh there's a lot of imagination, you know, in this kind of uh in this meditation. And or another example, if the music is set to evoke a feeling of being deep inside the ocean, I imagine myself floating in a delicate way, you know. And uh if there are sharks around me, so that's our the negative thoughts, I make sure to remain silent and calm inside because after all, I'm water and they cannot hurt me. Okay, very beautiful, very beautiful. This inspired me to do some meditation today, probably after this recording. The second method involves visualizing oh, this is cool, visualizing a guardian in front of my mind, truly. I don't do so much, I don't do so many times, but I guess just when I have a real big introsy though that you know put me out from um out of my focus, and so just imagine your guardian, you know, as a golden gladiator or a brave warrior equipped with a big sword, at least this is my in my case, or perhaps an angelic entity, you know. And whenever introsith thoughts arise, this guardian's this guardian stands there blocking their passage. The third strategy is savasana. If you do a little bit of yoga, you may know. Savasana, also known as a korpse pose, which is a healing yoga position, typically practiced at the end of a yoga session. And in this pose, you lie flat on your back as if you are sleeping, with your arms relaxed by your side, you know, palms facing uh upward like this, and legs extended comfortably apart. The goal of savasana is to promote deep relaxation and invite a sense of peace and uh tranquility. And this practice, imagine your body as it is, all right, like just laying down and visualize your bones and organs. So it literally is a work of imagination still, and go deeper and deeper into this awareness, you know. And lastly, realize that you are simply a soul, a beautiful one, connected to a mind that has its strengths and weaknesses, nothing more, nothing less, as everyone else. Then lastly, I want to share my favorite strategy, which helps keep me slash keep you also grounded in the present moment in case you like to try out. This technique is called the 54321 grounding method. Very, very beautiful, very beautiful technique. It is a mindfulness exercise designed to reduce anxiety and promote a calmer mind. So the first time I hear about it was with my fiance, I was stressed, I was overthinking, uh, I was doing so many things and a headache, and it was a disaster. And she taught me this one. Uh, I still remember uh where it happened, and uh we were walking, and she she said to me, Alright, so just be focused on five things you can see. So five things you can see, look around you, identify five things in your environment. Alright, so it could be anything uh colorful, painting, a car, a tree outside, you know. Uh maybe if you are in the house, guys, a book on a shelf, you know. So take a moment to really observe them. Number two, four things you can touch. Before to go forward, guys. Uh, this strategy is very, very, very, very important and beautiful because it keeps you grounded, it keeps you grounded on the present. Okay. All the anxiety that we have, all the issues that we have in our brain, is because we think or too much about the future or too much about the past. This technique is very, very beautiful because it reminds you that you are here. Okay. So again, number two, four things you can touch, not just four things you can physically feel. Okay, it might be the texture of your clothing, the surface of my desk, of your desk, the sensation of your feet, you know, on the ground. This is very, very important. Number three, three things you can hear. So pay attention to the sounds around you. This could include the the sound of birds, the sound of a fan, distant chatter, you know. Number four, two things you can smell. So identify two smell, two smells in your environment, guys. If you can't smell anything, you can think of your favorite smell. Or if you are in the house, smell some oil or perfum, you know, to help with this uh with this step. And number five, the last one, one thing you can taste. Focus on one thing you can taste right now, could be the lasting taste of food or drink in your mouth, for example. In my case, uh, I made a smoothie before, like a banana peanut butter smoothie. So I still have this uh lasting taste, you know. And or you might choose to take a sip of water or maybe something more flavourish, sorry, like a tea, you know, to engage this sense. So, yeah, beautiful technique, and this technique keeps you grounded on the present, like truly remember. And addressing negative emotions, guys, like stress and anxiety is truly crucial for personal growth. Okay, by acknowledging these feelings, employing coping strategies, individuals can pave the way for deeper self-awareness, resilience, and lastly a more fulfilling life. Now, I want to hear from you in the comments. Let's see if you uh if you say something, if you like to ask me anything. No, no, no, no, no. Look like uh you look like you are good guys. Well, I mean this episode is gonna be saved uh uh on subsack, you so you can always uh you know answer later if you like to ask something, just do it. And uh and at the same time uh The video is gonna be translated into audio so you can always go to Spotify or you know or your favorite uh audio streaming. Um so, last question: how do you personally deal with negative or repetitive thoughts, guys? Is there a practice, image, or or small habit that helps you feel calmer when uh your mind gets heavy? Send me a message, share your experience, or connect with me on Soupstack. I would genuinely love to hear your story. And if you enjoyed today's episode, guys, you know how important it is to subscribe so you never miss an update. And if this resonated with you, if this episode resonated with you, consider sharing sharing with a friend, alright? A friend who might need a reminder that they're not alone in their inner battles. Okay. Thank you so much for being here on journey to success. And uh and in this case, also on journey to success clap on Soupstack, and remember mastering the mind is not about control, it's about compassion. Alright, I'll see you in the next episode. Cheers.