Do you have anything in your life that you do “automatically”? I get up every morning and “automatically” walk to the kitchen to start my coffee maker. It’s like my body is programmed to do it. Did you know that our brains have thoughts that are automatic? These thoughts are shaped and formed throughout our life, based upon our core values and experiences. To put it into perspective — let’s say you always struggled with math as a student. You may have formed an automatic thought that goes something like this: “I’m terrible at math. I can’t do it. I’ll never be any good at it.” Do you hear the negativity and the self shame in those words? Often times, automatic thoughts are unfavorable and untrue, especially toward ourselves. This is how ruts in the road of life and our mental health are formed. Over and over we drive the same route of criticizing ourselves and not giving credit where it’s due in our lives. Depression, anxiety and a host of many other mental and emotional issues are deep-seeded in negative automatic thoughts. Over and over we repeat the adverse mantras until we believe them as gospel truth. So how do we combat this toxic speak in our minds? Begin by intentionally catching yourself when you start to fall into the pit of pessimism. Let’s go back to our math example from the beginning. When the thought “I’m terrible at math” pops into your mind, immediately ask yourself if there is evidence to prove that you are, in fact, terrible at math. Can you do basic addition and subtraction? Yes?? I’d say you aren’t “terrible” then. The next thing you can do is reframe the way you think about math and your skillset involved. You might say something like “I do struggle in math, but with practice I could get better.” Another more positive thought would be “Oh, well. I’m not good at math but I am excellent at writing research papers!” See how changing the mindset to a more positive and encouraging one is less critical and self-destructive? I know that math is a trivial example, but think of the possibilities if you applied these same principles to any negative thought you might have. My daddy used to always say “Positive brings positive, negative brings negative!” I think he was onto something there. You see, our experiences shape our thoughts, which shape our feelings, which shape our behaviors. If we can reset the automatic thoughts that we have about ourselves, the people we interact with and the world around us, we can grow to become the best versions of ourselves. ♥♥♥
Crossroads Mental Health Services 