You Are Who You Think You Are
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
You Are Who You Think You Are!
Most of our thoughts about ourselves are not from reasoning, but come from unconscious thoughts derived from habits we have accumulated during our lifetime. Some of these habits, unfortunately, are negative and can lead to negative thinking.
According to David Burns’ 1980 released book, “Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy” the following are some of the more commonplace cognitive distortions:
All-or-Nothing Thinking - Seeing things in black and white; with anything short of perfection as a complete failure.
Overgeneralization - Seeing a single negative event as a pattern of defeat.
Jumping to Conclusions - Negative interpretations made without all the facts being known to us.
Mental Filter - Picking out a single negative detail and dwelling on it which then causes you/us to believe the entire event is negative.
‘Should’ Statements - A listing of rules about behavior. “He should have done this….”
Emotional Reasoning - Assuming negative emotions reflect the way things really are. (I fell this way…so it must be true!)
If you recognize a majority of these negative thought patterns you can change them. By consistently refuting negative thoughts you will, over time, weaken and thus replace them by more rational, balanced thinking. While it takes time and genuine effort to reverse what has become a habit, it can be done!
Posted in: Intown Living