Our thoughts –including negative thoughts, are very powerful. When we use negative words in our self-talk, we reinforce negative attitudes. This produces negative chain reactions that ultimately make us feel terrible, especially when our expectations are not realized. Lazy Thinking Using over-generalizing statements and words should also be avoided. EmployingContinue Reading
From the time we are toddlers, we spend most of our lives talking to ourselves, through our thoughts. That little voice inside our head is our self-talk. It tells us how we feel about every situation and event that happens throughout our life. It becomes our best friend. It tellsContinue Reading
Many people go through life assuming that situations – people, places, things, make them feel and react in certain ways. We get trapped sometimes, thinking our feelings are caused by things that are just not in our control. If this is correct, then what causes our feelings – especially negativeContinue Reading
In our everyday experiences, sensations and perceptions are different aspects of one continual process. Sensation is the bottom-up process, a physical mechanism, by which the physical sensory system in the brain receives and represents stimuli. In addition to the five senses: vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, we also processContinue Reading
The ancient Greek philosopher Plato (428-348 BCE), believed that we perceive objects and events through our senses and with our mind. Twenty-four hundred years ago, he understood that in order to construct the outside world inside our heads, we must detect the energy from the environment surrounding us and thenContinue Reading
Almost everyone demonstrates one or more common thinking errors. This doesn’t mean you are psychotic or crazy, or that you can’t change. Once you’re able to recognize thinking errors you can begin to replace them with more helpful, honest and positive beliefs. The key to controlling the way you thinkContinue Reading
Numerous scholarly studies have been conducted regarding risks and perceptions. A survey conducted by the Oregon Research Institute became the standard on public perceptions and bias. Participants were asked to consider pairs of causes of death. For each pair, the more frequent cause and estimation ratio were indicated. These resultsContinue Reading
We all engage in negative self-talk once in a while. Learning to recognize it for what it is and replacing it with more positive and rational thinking will lead you to a more positive life. Listening to and acting on negative self-talk may have become a problem for you inContinue Reading
The characteristics of the process of thought were defined and explained by William James, the Father of Psychology, over one hundred years ago. He began by stating that “every thought is part of a personal consciousness.” However personal consciousness was one of the terms he could not define. He saidContinue Reading
Thoughts cause feelings, according to conventional psychology. This is the essential insight of modern cognitive therapy. Nearly all of the cognitive techniques that have been developed and refined over the last seven decades flow out of this simple idea that thoughts cause feelings, and that many emotions are preceded andContinue Reading