How to Transform Negative Thoughts and Reclaim Your Energy

Ever found yourself exhausted from battling negative thoughts? You're not alone. What if those pesky inner critics weren't actually your enemies, but misguided protectors you could transform into powerful allies?

Throughout this episode, I dive into the counterintuitive approach to handling the negative voices in our heads—what I playfully call our "gremlins." These aren't malevolent forces conspiring against us, but outdated protection mechanisms trying to keep us safe in the only way they know how. Drawing from personal experiences and professional coaching insights, I share why fighting against these thoughts actually amplifies their power and drains our precious energy.

The transformation begins with a simple yet profound shift: instead of resisting your gremlin, invite it in. Acknowledge its message, thank it for its protective intentions, and then offer it a new role in your life story. This ritual of recognition and redirection doesn't reject the gremlin's energy but repurposes it for your benefit. As one client beautifully described after practicing this approach, "My gremlin has become my greatest ally—checking in regularly to ask how it can support me today."

Whether you're facing important decisions, stepping into new challenges, or simply tired of the energy drain from negative self-talk, this episode offers a practical framework to shift your relationship with your inner critic. Take a moment today to tune into that voice—what outdated message is it repeating, and how might you thank it and rewrite its script? Your transformed ally is waiting to support you in ways you never imagined possible.

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Chapters

• 0:46 The Energy of Negative Thoughts
• 1:26 Understanding Your Inner Gremlin
• 2:05 Rewriting Your Gremlin's Script
• 3:57 Transforming Gremlins into Allies
• 5:29 Choose to Repurpose Your Energy
• 9:50 Final Thoughts and Invitation

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:23

How much time and energy do you spend trying to get rid of negative thoughts or stressing about the fact that you have them at all? Hey, I'm Lisa Hopkins. Welcome back to Coaching Insights from the room where it happens. In these short episodes, I share moments pulled straight from the coaching room or personal reflection, something to spark awareness, offer you a tool, shift your energy and remind you of your power to choose.

Speaker 1: 0:49

Let's talk about energy and the voices inside our heads. Everything is energy, thoughts are energy, and negative, unproductive thoughts take up way more energy than positive, generative thoughts. Why? Well, because it takes energy to resist. So when I was a kid and my brother teased me, it really wound me up. My mom and dad would tell me to just ignore him, and so, armed with this sage advice, I went around actively trying to ignore him, even when he wasn't taunting me. I actually skipped around the house singing ignore, ignore, ignore, drawing even more attention to the thing that I was trying to well ignore. So think of my brother as your gremlin. You know the voice in your head that delivers the negative message. Now, as counterintuitive as it seems, trying to ignore or fight the negative thought only depletes your energy and amplifies its message. It draws your focus to the very thing you don't want to be thinking about and away from what you do want to focus on. But here's the thing about gremlins they're not evil or nefarious. They're not conspiring to take us down. They're hardwired to keep us safe. But even with the best of intentions, if left unchecked, well, they can really take us off course. We all have them, and the good news is there's a way to repurpose their energy. First of all, it's really important to recognize that they aren't separate from us. They are part of our energetic profile. That means that we get to rewrite their dialogue and recast the role that they play in our lives. So take a moment, take a moment right now to draw awareness around the message of your gremlin and get clear about the message that isn't serving you right now, the one that you want to re-script. It's usually something along the lines of you weren't good enough. You know you're not ready. No, don't do it now. A message that creates doubt or worry and keeps you from moving forward. Take the time you need to think about this. Drawing awareness is key.

Speaker 1: 3:47

Sometimes it helps to give your gremlin a name. Think of it like an old friend you used to know, rather than a dragon, that you have to slay the quintessential doubting Thomas who, by definition, is a skeptic that won't believe in anything unless there is proof. It makes sense that your gremlin shows up, especially when you're trying something new or near your edge, because it has no data to support that you will succeed because you've never done it before. It's innocently just trying to keep you safe and I know, I know my friends, it doesn't feel that way, but I promise you it's true. The message it's sending you is an old one and it's our job, our job as a good friend to educate and update our gremlin's message to something that will serve us better now, something that matches where we're at Time for an upgrade, a reboot, a re-script, a recasting. It's helpful to take a moment to remember when you first encountered this friend and how they may have helped protect you from failure or embarrassment, or maybe taking on anything too difficult or dangerous. Maybe their crude message you are not good enough was just a primitive way to make sure that you prepared thoroughly. But now, as an experienced adult, do you still need to motivate yourself with fear?

Speaker 1: 5:35

Many of my clients have ritualized these old messages. They deplete their energy by believing they have to operate this way or they'll fail, missing out on so many new possibilities. Again, while the message may have helped you once, it's old data, you don't require it anymore. But instead of trying to shut it out, there's something that we can do. I learned this in my training at IPAC. It's a kind of ritual that we do with our gremlin, and this is kind of my version of it. I want to share it with you and it's really, really important. It's important to acknowledge it first, to identify it, identify its message, invite it in, sit it down and say Gremlin, and again, you may have a name for it. I'm not going to name it after my brother. Whatever you've named it right now, I'll just call it hey, gremlin, come on in.

Speaker 1: 6:44

Thank you for the role you've played in my life and fill in that role with whatever it was, so it might be. Thank you so much for keeping me safe by making me remember to rehearse my lines over and over again before the school play or make sure my clothes are clean so that nobody laughs at me, etc. My socks were matched. Whatever it is, whatever the message is, that is, you're not ready. You better be careful. This is too dangerous, whatever it might be. Identify it, remember, remember when it showed up the first time and thank it. Thank you for helping me get this far by telling me and fill in the blank but I've got this.

Speaker 1: 7:44

And then offer it something new. Offer it a new script, a new role in your life. You want it in your life story. I don't need you to help me motivate in this way anymore. You can say to it but I could really use your energy to help me in another way.

Speaker 1: 8:10

You hear how inviting that is, because repurposing its energy to better support you releases any negative energy and creates a new relationship with your friend, your voice in your head. I call it my ally. My gremlin has been transformed into my ally and I check in with it on a regular basis and say, hey, you want to know how you can help me. And it sits up real tall, bright-eyed and says absolutely. And then I give it its script or I tell it and share it. I make it feel important in my life because it is how I use my energy is of ultimate importance to me, and these thoughts, these notions, this gremlin, this negative energy well, it's just that energy. So we, my friends, can repurpose our energy and allow more energy and support for ourselves and less energy trying to get rid of the negative thoughts.

Speaker 1: 9:27

If this insight resonated, take a moment today to tune into your inner voice. What message is it repeating and how might you thank it and then choose to rewrite the script? I'll be back soon with another Coaching Insight. Until then, stay curious and stay open to what's possible. Thanks so much for listening. Take care.