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Funny Motivational Speaker Amy Dee’s Blog;
Let’s say you prepare a lovely Thanksgiving feast for nineteen people. You are a splendid cook, so your turkey is moist, your pies look like Martha Stewart made them herself, and your stuffing is to die for.
Unfortunately, your mashed potatoes are a lumpy gray mess. They suck.
Your nineteen guests have a fantastic time laughing, chatting and eating your delicious food. While leaving, everyone thanks you, hugs you, and announces that it was the best Thanksgiving EVER!
That night you lie your head on the pillow, and what do you think about?
Do you think about the laughter that filled your home while nineteen people had a fantastic time?
Do you think of the moist turkey or the beautiful pies?
Or
Do you block out all the positive details, focus on the lumpy mashed potatoes and decide that Thanksgiving bombed because of the lumpy mashed potatoes?
If you focus on the lumpy mashed potatoes, you are not alone. Lots of us get stuck in unhelpful thinking patterns.
As human beings, we like to believe that our thoughts are rational and unbiased, but this isn’t always true. At least sometimes, we can all get stuck in faulty thinking styles. Like it or not, our thoughts are not always correct and maybe heavily skewed for a variety of reasons.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) calls these faulty thinking styles cognitive distortions.
This scenario is an example of cognitive distortion Magnification and Minimization, and we all fall into this unhelpful thinking style from time to time.
Here are a few tips for shifting your negative thinking
- Identify the thought.
- Question your thinking by asking, Is this thought true? Is there evidence to support this thought?
- Ask, is this fact or opinion?
4. Ask, is this thought helpful? Does this thought move me forward?
5. How else can I view this situation? What are the positives I am ignoring?
Occasionally, we all get caught up in negative thought patterns. The marvelous news is we don’t have to get stuck there.
