![]() Mindfulness creates a distance between yourself and your thoughts, allowing you to view yourself as separate from them. By cultivating mindfulness, you can acknowledge and identify the thinking patterns that have become habitual, then decide whether or not to engage them. In order to adopt more positive thinking patterns, you must first become aware of your current ways of thinking. ![]() How do you get yourself out of these negative thinking patterns and replace them with more useful thoughts? Here are five tips. Overthinking: Trying to think of and plan for every possible scenario, essentially attempting to control that which is out of your control, in an effort to avoid pain or failure.Negative Rumination: Continuously focusing on negative outcomes, leading to feelings of being stuck, anxious, and even depressed.Melanie Greenberg discusses two more common thinking patterns: I should eat super healthy for the rest of the month. I should return all of those work emails. I should work out after eating that pizza. Should Statements: Using “should” statements to motivate behavior when they ultimately leave you feeling pressured and frustrated.Emotional Reasoning: Believing that how you feel accurately represents the truth of your reality. I have felt so anxious and stressed out lately, which must mean my problems are pretty major and near impossible to overcome.My boss is surely going to fire me over this. They must think I am the dumbest person on the planet. I fumbled over my words in front of all those people. Magnification (or Catastrophizing): Exaggerating negative details of an event and overemphasizing your own imperfections and fears, making things into a much bigger deal than they actually are.Now I’ll never land one and will be unemployed forever. Overgeneralization: Inaccurately concluding that one unpleasant experience will lead to a negative future filled with many more of them.You either act in a way that you label as “perfect” or as a “failure.” I can’t believe I ate a handful of potato chips. All-or-Nothing Thinking: Thinking in terms of black or white, or in extremes.David Burns outlines common negative thinking patterns, or cognitive distortions, such as: In his book, Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, Dr. Negative thinking patterns can create unnecessary stress and anxiety and pave the way for a bleak outlook on life. It may not always feel like this is the case since your thinking patterns become so habitual, but with a little awareness and some time, you can replace negative thoughts with more positive ones. ![]() You do have a say over which thoughts to pay attention to. The good news is you don’t have to feel victim to either one. In other words, you are influenced by your genetic makeup as well as your environment surroundings. The nature versus nurture dichotomy has been debated for centuries but many believe the two to be intricately interwoven. Does the lens through which you view the world lay the groundwork for an optimistic or pessimistic attitude? Thinking patterns can be habitual, but with a little awareness and some time, you can replace negative thoughtswith more positive ones.īoth your biology and environment help to answer these questions.
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