How we relate to negative thoughts influences how we perceive and interpret what is happening around us and also influences the behavior we exhibit in certain situations.
For example, if we think all the time that the presentation of the work is going to go wrong, it’s possible that this insecurity generated actually makes things go wrong, as expected.
- American psychiatrist Aaron Temkin Beck says negative thoughts sabotage the best of ourselves and.
- If we don’t know how to control them.
- End up creating a situation of insecurity.
- Anxiety and anger that.
- In turn.
- Generates new automatic negative thoughts.
- A vicious circle from which it is not easy to leave.
- In which negative thoughts are constantly repeated.
Somehow, they become a snowball that, over time, gets bigger and gets out of control. We reflect on these thoughts, depleting our energy. But how can we stop this situation?
Communication with ourselves or, in other words, internal language (commonly called “thought”) is nothing more than a conversation we have with our being, with ourselves. This conversation influences how we relate to the world around us, as we talk, and a lot, about how we treat ourselves.
Therefore, the language we have with ourselves (thoughts) is a form of communication, just as we establish a conversation with someone.
There is a wide range of thoughts in the inner language, both positive and negative, our mind stops at those we value most and spend more time on, so negative thoughts can gain more and more ground, such as the parasites that settle. our minds and don’t let other kinds of thoughts flow.
Remember that abusing yourself has the same effect as being abused by a loved one. For example, if a family member kept saying you’re clumsy, useless, and you don’t know how to do anything right, how would you feel?
Notice how the feeling of discomfort generated by a person’s negative comments can be equivalent to the feedback we make to each other, they end up becoming ruminant and obsessive thoughts that suck our energy.
The University of Rhode Island has published research in the journal Pshychology and Aging to discover how negative thoughts affect each age group.
The results show that age does not matter, because this type of thinking generates anxiety and acts as a trigger for many diseases, both for young people and for the elderly.
The discomfort and frustration generated by the negative emotions produced by this pattern of thought eventually leave the door open to depression and anxiety if it continues over time.
For this reason, it is essential to learn how to handle these thoughts. Here are some ways to learn how to combat negative thoughts.
Sometimes we are not aware of the ideas that we have in our heads and everything that condition in our lives, we may even think that these ideas are correct and that we believe them correctly, but the reality is very different.
So, to make a more appropriate identification, we can take note of the most recurrent negative thoughts What do they say, how do they say it and in what situations?Writing them down can help you analyze them better later.
Then reflect on these thoughts about their origin, recurrence, and consequences, as an external observer would. If a friend told you he has these negative thoughts, what would you say to him?Using another bookmark can help you see things differently.
Just as it is important to identify negative thoughts, it is also important to accept them, we must accept that this type of thinking is necessary in certain circumstances, we must not forget that sometimes we continually try to block them, avoid them and eliminate them makes them react.
Once you’ve identified them, you can try to reverse these thoughts to slowly start introducing more realistic and positive thoughts. To do this, ask:
After questioning each negative thought, it is time to start introducing other alternative thoughts, also applicable to the situation, but more positive, realistic and adaptive. The goal is not to eliminate negative thoughts, but to give them another approach, to learn to challenge. so that they start to lose space in our minds.
Learning to deal with negative thoughts is a process that requires time, practice, and consistency.
Sometimes low self-esteem triggers negative thoughts due to insecurity and low self-efficacy, as a result, constant doubts arise about ourselves and what we do, which ends up being a magnet of negative thoughts.
A starting point can also be to consider how the concept of ourselves (self-concept) lies and whether it influences the kind of thoughts we experience.
It is about listening to our negative thoughts, as we would with a best friend: with patience, affection, trying to respond to these thoughts rationally and positively, disarmantling any cognitive distortion in which we may fall.