Negative thinking
See: Positive thinking
Negative thinking involves:[1][2][3]
- Filtering. Magnify the negative aspects of a situation and filtering out all the positive ones. See: Positive thinking and Optimism
- Personalizing. When something bad occurs, you automatically blame yourself.
- Catastrophizing. Believing that the worst will happen in situations.
- Overgeneralization. Believing that negative things always happen to you and positive things never happen to you.
- Ungrateful attitude. Discounting the good that happens in one's life. See also: Gratitude and Attitude and Mindset
- Magnifying. Making mountains out of molehills.
- Overly emotional. Believe that just because you feel something is true that it must be true. Ignore the facts and other plausible explanations.
- Limited thinking. Failing to have a growth mindset. Defeatist thinking by saying you can't do something when it merely will require effort, problem solving, creativity, and persistence.
- Blaming. Not taking personal responsibility for your wrong actions.
- Hasty jumping to conclusions. Engage in "mindreading" and catastrophizing.
- Saying you "should" or "must" do something when it isn't true or beating up yourself excessively for failing to do things
- Polarizing all or nothing thinking. You see events/matters in starkly good or bad terms in terms of consequences when there is middle ground or bad/good aspects of events/matters.
- Rumination is a type of repetitive negative thinking that involves focusing on mental distress, its causes, and consequences, rather than solutions. It can also be described as obsessive thinking that interferes with other mental activities.
Contents
How to eliminate negative thinking
"To eliminate negative thinking, focus on practicing mindfulness to become aware of your thoughts, actively challenge negative beliefs, replace them with more realistic positive ones, practice gratitude, and reframe problems to see situations from a different perspective; essentially, learning to observe your thoughts without judgment and consciously shift your focus towards the positive aspects of a situation."[4]
Book
See also: Bible memorization
- Dwell Differently: Overcome Negative Thinking with the Simple Practice of Memorizing God’s Truth by Natalie Abbott and Vera Schmitz. Bethany House Publishers. May 14, 2024
See also
Opposites:
Journal article
- Your Best Life: Managing Negative Thoughts—The Choice is Yours, Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, 2019 May 15;477(6):1291–1293. doi: 10.1097/CORR.0000000000000791
External links
- How to Stop Negative Thoughts by y Arlin Cuncic, MA, VeryWellMind.com
- 10 Common Negative Thinking Patterns and 5 Steps for Change
