You may believe that you have a very good idea of what your own thinking style is and that you also control it.
If you are depressed, have stress and anxiety related issues, the chances are you don’t understand your thinking style, neither are you in control of it. If you were, you would not be depressed or suffering from anxiety or stress, you’d be handling life very well where you control what and how you think. You would also be in control of the way you attach negative meanings to certain situations.
The fact that you are depressed, anxious or having panic attacks means that your thinking style at this moment in time may not be positive, rational or working for you and your well-being. In your negative state of mind you will not be doing yourself any good and therefore your thinking style may also need to change. Easier said than done!!
What do I mean by “Thinking Style anyway? Do I mean whether you are you an optimist or pessimist? Yes, but it’s far more than that, and what is important for our program is whether or not your thinking style is automatic, conditioned and negative, or do you try to control any negative thoughts that pop up and try to see a more effective way of looking at things? There is a big difference in either case, and according to which one is you, your life will be dictated positively or negatively. Are you reactionary, or contemplative or analytical? It helps to know.
Of course it is definitely not as simple as I make it seem to be.. it isn’t simple. Often there is reason to feel negative, low and not on top of life, but also we are all capable of automatically seeing the glass half empty when there is little evidence to do so.
If you think consciously and effectively, don’t react, don’t automatically believe your thoughts, don’t allow your triggers to take over and don’t get caught up in conditioned thinking, then you will have a far greater chance of having better control over your mood, your thinking and your behavior.
Your own thinking style however might need checking so you can see for yourself what your natural and normal style is?
If you unconsciously react by allowing conditioned thinking to dictate your life, your style will need some adjustment. If you automatically believe your reactive and negative thoughts without stopping to assess them and if you allow your NAT’s to dictate your mood because you believe them without question, then your thinking style is a little flawed and could do with a spring clean.
Learning how to assess your thinking style will open up the possibility of becoming more conscious in the way you allow yourself to think and the way you allow reactive, negative and conditioned thinking to control you, rather than you learning to control it.
You can only do this if you are firstly aware of the flaws in your thinking style so you can fix it.
Also, the way you perceive yourself, others and the world around you is a clue of your thinking style, as is the kind of meanings you give to events or situations. You may interpret situations negatively or positively and according to this, so will you respond or react.
If you want to overcome depression and anxiety related problems, one of the first things you will need to do is get your thinking style in order. If you don’t then chances are you will continue to drift in the same flawed ways that aren’t any good for your well-being.
If you want to stop feeling bad, then firstly finding out what you yourself are doing to contribute to feeling bad is vital.
Once you know, you can change it and for this reason and in this program I focus on examining your thinking style and then changing it if necessary.
It’s not difficult to do. You will monitor your thinking and your reactions to situations and address them in a systematic way.
The important point of this short article is to simply point out to you the importance of this seemingly small issue and bring it to your attention in order for you to address it in the most effective way possible.
Throughout this program you will be testing your thinking style and questioning whether or not it needs to change. If it does you will have the tools here to change it.