Do you find yourself caught up in pessimistic negative thinking?
Psychologist Dr. Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania identified three components which can affect the way we think as a pessimist or optimist and ultimately affect our overall well-being.
If you think you are a pessimist and would like to make a change, ask yourself about these three P's:
Permanence
Do you look at negative events as lasting forever? When something bad happens, are you able to see it as temporary or do you say things to yourself like, "I will never be able to learn to do this". Seeing events as permanent contributes to negative feelings and makes it much more difficult to deal with obstacles and stressors.
Pervasiveness
When one thing happens that is negative does it cloud everything else around you? Suppose you got a negative review on a performance evaluation at work and you start to think that you are a failure expect to be fired. Pessimists tend to take one negative event and generalize it to themselves and to others.
Personalization
While taking responsibility for mistakes is important, often pessimists blame themselves for things that were truly not within their control. This leads to negative self talk and self esteem as well as depression.
To stop negative thinking ask yourself how you define negative events in your life? Do you see them as permanent or temporary, pervasive or isolated and do you blame yourself for things not in your control? If so, identify those thoughts and challenge yourself to look at the events from a big picture perspective with optimism and hope. For more information or to see if counseling or coaching may be right for you go to my website www.maximize-wellness to learn more and click contact me.
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