We have all been there. (me, many times)…..We have all experienced the dreaded negative thoughts that just pop into our head due to some trigger or other, and before we know it we feel bad, sad, unhappy or depressed.

It goes like this: Our negative automatic thoughts affect our emotions which in turn affect our behavior and before we know it we have lost control of it all three. We might start to behave in destructive ways that then affect our emotions even more seriously. It doesn’t matter which way round we do it, negative thoughts, emotions and behavior that are all working together and feeding off each other can have a very toxic affect on us, with negative thoughts leading the game.

It becomes tedious dealing with it all repeatedly. The strange thing is that it is so easy to slip into this mode, but far more difficult to get of it. Negative thoughts affect our emotional state, which in turn can affect our behavour. One influences the other, but not in a good way. Each starts working together  with the other and this is where it can all become quite toxic unless we stop, intervene and change it all.

When we don’t think negatively we don’t feel negative, and when we don’t feel negative we don’t behave negatively. It’s all much healthier.  The negative cycle is such a viscous cycle; it’s a mystery to me why we let it repeat itself so often when we know how bad it is for our total well being.

Why would we do that to ourselves? Why punish ourselves in this way? Yet  it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that anyone who has suffered from depression, anxiety, stress, panic attacks, low self esteem, social anxiety and much more,  will have experienced  negative automatic thoughts many, many times, probably too many times to count.

The unfortunate truth is that these negative automatic thoughts invade not only our mind, but our emotions and our behavior. Without these NAT”s (negative automatic thoughts) we would certainly feel much better and we’d behave better and more rationally, which is difficult when we are bombarded with negative and toxic thoughts.

Why are they toxic? Simply because they do poison us, they poison our mind, emotions and behavior. They control us, rather than us controlling them. They dictate to us what to think, how to feel and how to behave, and we as good obedient children do as those toxic thoughts tell us believing their every word. Why we would choose to believe them is a mystery to me, but we do unless taught differently.

If you think about it, it is crazy to allow ourselves and our whole being to be controlled in this way. What is worse is that we are controlled by something so bad for our mental and emotional health and well-being yet we allow it to continue indefinitely, accepting that this is how it is for us, when in fact it can be very different indeed.

How can we hope to be happy under such conditions? We can’t unless we change. If we want to take charge of our lives, our thinking and emotions and how we carry out our lives, so we’d better get back our control back NOW.

 

If you haven’t yet managed to rid yourself of these demons which plagues millions of people every day, and you would like to, you can do so. It takes learning of course, but is very worthwhile if it means you can improve your quality of life by doing so.

What more can I say????

This is exactly what the program is about!!

Good luck

Carole