Every human being falls victim to negative thoughts. Some people have learned to let those thoughts come and go without much attention. They’re the lucky few. For most people, once a negative thought creeps into the mind, it set up camp. It keeps a person for doing anything and everything. It’s impossible to ignore.
That’s the problem. That’s what’s going wrong. We’re all trying to ignore the negative thoughts and put them out of our head. That’s the wrong approach, explains this piece in the Wall Street Journal. We shouldn’t try to ignore our negative thoughts. We should reframe them to work to our advantage.
One of the best pieces of advice in the article suggests that instead of turning the thoughts off, people should take those thoughts to end, and often times, ridiculous end.
Exaggerate the thought. Follow your negative thought to its extreme conclusion. You think you’re a loser? Tell yourself you are the biggest loser in the country. If there was a loser Olympics, you’d win 10 gold medals. Time magazine would put your face on the cover, under the headline: “Biggest Loser on Earth.”
“You’re going for the laughter,” says Dr. Steve Orma, clinical psychologist and author of Stop Worrying and Go to Sleep. That alone will help you feel better. The exaggeration also helps underscore the absurdity of your negative thoughts.
It’s a much different way to approach negativity that I’ve personally never attempted. I’m just afraid if I took it to the extreme I will convince myself even that is possible. I’m willing to try it.
“This blog is awful. It’s the worst blog I’ve ever written. It’s so bad they’re going to revoke my blogging license, I’ll get canned, never write again and end up counting landscaping stones at Home Depot for $4 an hour.”
I love how you’re laughing but I’m not.
[via WSJ]