Mental disasters are the result of a whimsical spirit, does human beings have an astonishing ability to imagine and this, in a way, is adaptive and beneficial, because it helps us create ingenious ideas to solve problems as well as in creation?inventions, stories, works of art?
Our minds are a space where ideas, thoughts and observations continue to appear, whether about ourselves, others or the world at large, sometimes these ideas are shaped by what exists in reality, that is, the world and life as they are, and at other times they are distorted.
- This tendency towards fantasy and unreality.
- Innately present in all human beings.
- Almost always leads to emotional consequences and harmful behaviors.
We can see a very common example of these distortions of reality in anxiety disorders, we suffer from early anxiety, because the idea of a possible future threat appears in our minds, so we change emotionally, blocking our flow of thought and paralyzing our creativity. .
People suffering from permanent anxiety have learned that the world is a dangerous place and that we must be prepared, so we must be attentive to these threats, which can easily lead to disasters.
Thoughts are always ideas, mental images, words, internal dialogues, but they are not realities. Worrying too much about something that probably won’t happen is absurd and energy-intensive.
This dark way of announcing the future is called catastrophism. It is a bias or a cognitive error because we cannot interpret the world, the truth is that at the moment we believe more in our ideas, our fears and our insecurities than in the ideas that come to us through our senses.
Certainly, right now you have some concerns in mind, we all have them, to a greater or lesser extent, maybe you know how to deal with that and it doesn’t generate a lot of anxiety, in which case it’s a healthy concern. because it pushes you to find solutions to a future problem and try to deal with it in the most logical way.
If your concerns invade you, it is necessary to stop this traveling spirit and say, “Dude, go back to the present, which is all that exists!”
When we worry too much, we tend to be very upset, is that normal, do we think a catastrophe is coming and we won’t get out alive, how can we not be nervous?But nothing really comes close to him, as we said, we must reduce our fantasy capacity and realize that the disasters we anticipate are alone in our heads, not in reality.
In this way you reinforce your anxiety and in the next problem or adversity, will you do the same again, until you fall asleep?You think this concern saved you! This concern is magical, it saves us trouble!
No, anxiety isn’t magical, and it doesn’t help solve problems either, that’s absurd. Think about it: how can a thought solve a real problem ? which helps us to face vital adversities are the actions we take about it, on the other hand, we also cannot solve all the problems, because there are certain factors that, by definition, are beyond our control.
Let’s see: do you think something is likely to happen to you (getting sick, falling off a plane, having your partner abandon you?), but you don’t have enough data to think about it. Why do you think it is, probably then? Take paper and pencil and try to calculate realistic probabilities about what you’re afraid of, then think about it.
If in the end you find evidence and still think that something is very likely, think that the worst consequence if the threat actually occurs is not really so tragic. Take paper and pencil and write down real-world disasters, then ask yourself. If yours is as serious as you think, imagine the worst case scenario of what’s happening and then you can accept it.
Finally, be practical. Write down each of your daily concerns, which are unlikely and not very serious, and then consider whether you are in control or not. If you don’t have it, stop wasting your precious time, but if you do, think of solutions using your imagination.