The way in which we think can become a habit, a bad habit if it leads to pain. Cognitive-Behavioral psychology has some good points to make about how our thinking influences our lives. Review the following and see if you can pinpoint ways in which your thinking has become a bad habit. Becoming aware of what we are doing is the first step to change.
- Mental Filtration: A tendency to focus on the negative.
- Over Generalizations: You view a negative event as a never-ending pattern of defeat. “I can never do anything right!”
- All or Nothing Thinking: You see things as either or categories, but nothing in-between.
- Discounting the Positives: You don’t put value into your accomplishments or positive qualities.
- Magnification: Making things bigger than they are.
- Minimization: Ignoring or discounting the importance of something.
- Labeling Yourself or Others: Instead of accepting mistakes, you tend to call yourself or others names. (“Jerk” or “loser”)
- Personalization and Blame: This is when you blame yourself or others for something that was not your/their responsibility or denying your role in the situation.
- Should Statements: You criticize yourself or others with “should,” “ought,” “must,” or “have to.”
- Emotional Reasoning: You reason from how you feel. “I feel like a failure, so I must be one.”