We are living in a world that is bombarding us with negative energies, whether it is the 6 o’clock news sharing the area’s crime, accidents and social scandals or the 24/7 availability of the worst events of the World Wide Web. We may not be able to control the content of the electronic media but we can elect to limit our exposure to it. I frequently urge my patients to limit their exposure to traumatic media and be on the lookout for becoming “trauma junkie.”

However, there is a much more insidious invasion of negativity that threatens our wellbeing. Human beings have been victims of this scourge since the origin of language. I am referring to the self-talk that exists in all of us. Because we are a species whose brain has developed the ability to utilize spoken language, for better or worse we have also developed that capacity to think. It is the content of thinking that this paper addresses. The ancients promoted the concept of mindfulness, addressing the importance of a day to day awareness of one’s body, feelings and mind to maintain a proper moral balance. In general, we humans do a much better job paying attention to the needs of our bodies than our mind.

How many of us consciously pay attention to the content of our thoughts?

We go about our day taking care of life’s issues often paying little attention to our thoughts. We know that we think and frequently are aware of what we are thinking about, but I doubt that any of us take an inventory of our thoughts throughout our waking hours. Imagine if we had the technology to transcribe our thoughts in real time and had them displayed on a monitor in front of us.

We would be amazed by the degree of negativity displayed.

“Can I do this?”
“They don’t like me.”
“What if I fail?”
“What a jerk.”

These are just the dramatic examples of such thinking. To make matters worse, we are rarely conscious of this negativity, or, just let these thoughts slide by without questioning their validity.

Negative thinking takes a toll. It impacts on self-concept, self-esteem and self-confidence. Through negative cognition we actually can “think ourselves” into being perennially unhappy and depressed. It is no surprise that cognitive therapy plays an important therapeutic role in the treatment of major depressive disorder (the serious depression that often requires antidepressants). Negative thinking becomes obsessive, a tendency to get stuck in one’s head ruminating over a self-perpetuating loop of troublesome thoughts. The shear preponderance of
these reverberating negative thought loops can be disruptive and interfere with meaningful tasks and activities. Simply stated, it is a waste of time but an automatic process that the individual does not know how to give up.

There has been a lot written about the power of positive thinking.  Simply stated, it is the belief that the regular repetition of positive mantras will lead to happiness and success. My concern is that this way of thinking can result in nothing more than a “house of cards.” One can lull oneself into believing in its validity only to find it all collapses the next time a painful disappointing life event comes along. I believe that a much more effective approach is to practice on identifying the presence of negative thinking. Being cognizant of negative thinking is half the battle since all too often it exists under the radar. Once recognized, the individual can determine if such thinking is valid or not. If not valid, the negative thought can be shelved as unnecessary and inaccurate. Imagine being a reporter for one of those tabloids sold at the checkout counter at the upermarket. Your mandate is to take a life story and sensationalize it as much as possible. That’s what your reader wants. Then imagine that you are hired by an objective fact oriented local newspaper that expects you to report on “the news that’s fit to print.” Overcoming negativity requires that you agree to reality test your thoughts, examine them for their validity and consciously avoid embellishment or distortion. That is why keeping a journal can be so valuable. Just putting down your thoughts and reactions on paper gives you the second chance to evaluate them without buying into them as dogma.

Once one becomes successful at discarding inappropriate negative thinking one is on the road to contentment. One is left with either neutral thinking or positive thinking. What’s wrong with neutral thinking after all? Contentment and life happiness boils down to the ability to maneuver through the good, bad and ugly of life with the least number of strings attached. The negative thinking of day-to-day life represents a whole truckload of strings.

Good luck.

If you have any questions about the content of this article or would like to set up an appointment with Delray Beach, Fl Psychiatrist, Dr David A Gross call 561-496-1281 oremail us today.