Conclusion of our Unhelpful Thinking Styles
Catch it, Check it, Change it
Don’t worry if you cannot change a thought.
Sometimes you will be able to change an unhelpful thought to a positive or a more realistic one, but this will not always be possible.
If you can learn to identify and separate unhelpful thoughts from harmful ones, you can find a different way to look at the situation.
Do you know that at some stage of our life through times of sadness, self-doubt, insecurity, fear and challenging relationships our Mental Filtering can be triggered?
This is a form of ‘tunnel vision’ where you only tend to focus on a part of something and you ignore the rest.
You may only focus on the negatives of a particular situation and move away from recognising the positives. Your perspective is then tarnished by the negative outcomes in the situation.
Let’s just say you are anxious by nature, you home in on the evidence that the world is unsafe, while ignoring information that is inconsistent with this view.
If you have poor self-esteem, you notice any events that suggest that you are incompetent or disliked, while ignoring evidence that you are competent and valued.
Catch it: Catch that negative thought, notice you are focusing on the negative.
Check it: What’s the positive? What’s the evidence?
Change it: The more you keep thinking the negative, the more you will feel it.
So change it! Think of the positive, imagine the positive and live it!
Thought Patterns can seem hard to change, it takes time and practice. It can feel quite hard if this has been your style for some time. You need to make a difference. So back yourself.
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Mandy Barr
Counsellor