Thought Distortions Part 3

My Grandparents learned very early in life to use
 caution to NOT filter positives out of their lives. Despite
serious issues including lack of food they helped create a very
supportive and up lifiting family life for themselves and their children.

Filtering. 

We take the negative details and magnify them while filtering out all positive aspects of a situation. For instance, a person may pick out a single, unpleasant detail and dwell on it exclusively so that their vision of reality becomes darkened or distorted.

Black and White Thinking or Either Or Thinking also known as Polarized Thinking

In polarized thinking, things are either - or.” We have to be perfect or we’re a failure (Excellence eludes us) — there is no middle ground. You place people or situations in “either/or” categories, with no shades of gray or allowing for the complexity of each situation. If your performance is not  perfect, you see yourself as a dumb ass failure.

Overgeneralization.

I learned in dealing with my chronic and acute health issues
that Over generalization and Jumping to Conclusions both
blocked happiness and potential abilities to better manage
the quality of my health experience.

In this style of thinking, we come to the conclusion based on a single incident or a single piece of evidence. If something bad happens only once, we expect it to happen over and over again. A person may see a single, unpleasant event as part of a never-ending pattern.

Jumping to Conclusions. 

Without individuals saying so, we know what they are feeling and why they act the way they do. In particular, we are able to determine how people are feeling toward us.

For example, a person may conclude that someone is reacting negatively toward them but doesn’t actually bother to find out if they are correct. Another example is a person may anticipate that things will turn out badly, and will feel convinced that their prediction is already an established fact.

Catastrophizing. 

We expect disaster, no matter what. This is also referred to as “awfullizing,   magnifying or minimizing.” We hear about a problem and use what if questions (e.g., “What if tragedy strikes?” “What if it happens to me?”).

For example, a person might exaggerate the importance of insignificant events (such as their mistake, or someone else’s achievement). Or they may inappropriately shrink the magnitude of significant events until they appear tiny (for example, a person’s own desirable qualities or someone else’s imperfections).

So until next time Imagine Yourself with more Resiliency for Life.

Michael Ballard 
Book Michael to speak at your next event? Inquiry@MichaelHBallard.com

ResiliencyforLife.com, https://www.udemy.com/user/michaelhballard/, https://www.youtube.com/user/MichaelHBallard and https://twitter.com/ResilientMichae

Perspective & Thought Distortions Part 2

Who do you allow to
challenge your thinking?

Thought Distortions can also include:


Always Being Right.

We are continually on trial to prove that our opinions and actions are correct. Being wrong is unthinkable and we will go to any length to demonstrate our rightness. For example, “I don’t care how badly arguing with me makes you feel, I’m going to win this argument no matter what because I’m right.” Being right often is more important than the feelings of others around a person who engages in this cognitive distortion, even loved ones.

Going to a calm place and staying there
can help us examine our thoughts.

Heaven’s Reward Fallacy. 

We expect our sacrifice and self-denial to pay off, as if someone is keeping score. We feel bitter when the reward doesn’t arrive.

So thought distortions can get in the way of our happiness, health and success in life. What do you do to keep yours to a minimum?

Until next time Imagine Yourself with more Resiliency for Life!

Michael Ballard
To contact Michael and book him for one of your events you can reach him at: ResilientMichael @ gmail.com (No spaces)
www.ResiliencyforLife.com
https://twitter.com/ResilientMichae

https://www.udemy.com/user/michaelhballard/

https://www.youtube.com/user/MichaelHBallard