How To Combat Negative Thinking
Use This Method To Stop Negative Thoughts in Their Tracks
Takeaway: Positive thinking can be triggered by telling alternative stories.
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How To Combat Negative Thinking
Our thoughts and beliefs are powerful. They shape the stories we tell ourselves in our head, and thus, shape our reality.Â
What happens when these stories create an interpretation that causes anxiety or depression? Well, the result is more anxiety and depression. Fear, worry, sadness; these things can be brought on by how we interpret the events happening in our lives.Â
Somebody criticizes our work and it initiates thoughts about how our work isn’t good enough, how embarrassed we felt to have presented something of such low quality.Â
Or you make a mistake and this causes you to drop the ball on a task. A negative belief might be that you aren’t good enough to have ever thought you could succeed in the first place.Â
Note that it’s not the situations themselves that cause these negative feelings. It is our interpretation of them. Â
Positive emotions can be triggered by telling ourselves alternative stories.
We get goosebumps and butterflies when a romantic crush brushes their arm against our body and flashes a smile. We tell ourselves they’re interested in us. Even if the reality is that they did it on accident and smiled because they were embarrassed, the story we used in our heads elicited the emotions we felt.Â
If we find ourselves defaulting to negative interpretations, is there a way to combat this and change our default to something more positive?Â
As it turns out, yes there is. It’s called Socratic Questioning, and is a strategy commonly used in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This form of therapy involves altering your belief structure so you begin to tell yourself new stories about the events happening around you.Â
Socratic questions are designed to challenge your stories and to see if they hold up to scrutiny. That’s the challenge with these mental stories, even though they are malleable we tend to take them as gospel. We take them as hard truths instead of a flimsy house of cards.
Socratic questions allow you to check how sturdy these assumptions are and, in the process, alter your beliefs.
The exercise is simple. Take a recent scenario in your life that caused you some anxiety or other negative feeling. Then, ask yourself these questions:
What’s the evidence that your thought is true?Â
If you’re wrong, what’s another way of looking at the situation?Â
If you’re right, what could you do about the situation?Â
What advice would you give to a friend in the same situation?Â
What should you do now?
Each question serves a powerful purpose.
The first brings to light the subjectivity of your thoughts.
The next two questions get you thinking about the broad spectrum of possible outcomes of your actions. This gives you more insight with which to base future actions.
The fourth question helps create distance from the problem, dulling your emotional brain and activating your rational thinking processes.
Finally, the last question starts to move you toward the cure: your next move.
Once you’ve completed answering each question honestly, do you notice anything different about the way you feel?
~ Coach Alex
Disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes only and is not meant to diagnose or treat any medical condition. If you believe you suffer from anxiety or depression, consult with a medical professional.