Saturday, July 7, 2012

Reframing Negative Thoughts

I've been practicing this lately, because my therapist said that it will quiet the voices in my head. (My case worker said to stay on the meds anyway just in case.) Basically, any time you are stuck in an undesirable situation, you can flip it around and make it seem like you're having the time of your life.

Some examples:

Negative: "The neighbors are blasting mariachi music from their backyard."
Positive: "At least they're not blasting polka!"

Negative: "I hate living in this hick, podunk, white trash town. I wish I lived someplace cooler."
Positive: "Many people know what it's like to live in New York or LA. Very few people know what it's like to live in Skeeter Creek, Nebraska!"

Negative: "I hate waiting in line at the DMV."
Positive: "Finally, time to get caught up on my texting!"

Negative: "That small child is screaming his head off."
Positive: "I hate children, so therefore the fact that that child is miserable makes me happy."

Negative: "I am becoming out of touch with current youth culture, making me feel old and irrelevant."
Positive: "I've never been in touch to begin with; I've always been lame and dorky. Nothing's changed at all!"

Negative: "The neighbors are blasting polka music from their backyard."
Positive: "Rifles Unlimited is having a sale!"

1 comment:

Jessica Betts said...

Thank you so much for this post. I needed to read it.