Filteringįocusing on the one cloud in a sky full of silver linings skews your perception and blinds you to the positive progress you're making. One mistake isn’t a reflection of who you are, it’s just a set of circumstances and those can change. Turning one setback into an eternal losing streak can taint your perspective and limit growth. It’s a mental habit where you shoulder all the blame, even when other factors like limited resources or team dynamics play a part. If you find yourself taking the fall for a group project gone awry as if you're the sole culprit, that's personalizing. CatastrophizingĮver make a small blunder and start imagining the worst outcome, like losing your job? That's catastrophizing for you, a thought pattern that amps up your stress and worry for no good reason. It can be categorized into different types, each with its own set of impacts. Professional help: Therapists or counselors can provide expert guidance in helping you identify and understand your negative thought patterns.īy becoming aware of the types of negative self-talk you experience, you can begin to challenge and change your damaging internal narrative. Keep a thought journal: Log your thoughts to help identify recurring patterns in your negative self-talk.Įxternal validation: Talking to someone you trust about your thoughts can help you recognize them as negative patterns rather than facts. Strategies for identifying negative self-talk include: Awareness lets you challenge your unhelpful thought patterns and start to replace them with healthier, more constructive thoughts. Identifying negative thinking patterns is crucial in beginning to shift them. How recognizing your patterns helps manage negative self-talk Identifying these thought patterns is like having a cheat sheet to intercept self-criticism and anxiety before they take over your day. To break free from negative self-talk, it helps to recognize the different forms your inner critic takes. Identifying patterns of negative thinking Peer pressure, past failures, or emotional scars from specific incidents can all play a part in causing negative self-talk. For others, the root could be societal norms and expectations. For some, these patterns might stem from childhood experience where they never felt good enough. The origins of negative self-talk are not the same for everyone. Negative self-talk can stem from many places but these 3 C’s are some of the most common.Ĭomparing: When you look at someone else's life and start feeling like your own isn’t as unique, wonderful, or enjoyable.Ĭriticizing: When you engage in self-judgment and put yourself down with harsh and unfair judgments about your self-worth.Ĭomplaining: When you focus too much on the negatives of a situation, or your life in general, without taking steps to improve it. Learning where these inner put-downs come from can help to flip the script so you can start being nicer to yourself. It can even make you wonder if you’re worthy of happiness or success (spoiler alert: you are). Negative self-talk can become a constant backdrop in your life, making you doubt your worth and capabilities. By using mindfulness tools and simple strategies, you can shift your thinking patterns so your self-criticism becomes self-empowerment.Įver catch yourself thinking, “I'm not smart enough,” or “Why bother, I'll probably fail”? These aren’t just random negative thoughts passing through. These unhelpful thoughts can trick you into believing that this skewed view of yourself is the real you, but fortunately, negative self-talk can be quieted. These feelings can isolate you from opportunities, relationships, and even happiness. In other cases it can cause stress and anxiety, and even exacerbate depression. When it becomes a daily habit, self-criticism can drain our self-esteem, or lead to tendencies to seek perfection. While being critical of ourselves occasionally is normal, too much of it can start to negatively affect our mental health. Even on our best days, that little voice in our minds can belittle us, or tell us that we’re not good enough. Negative self-talk is the internal voice that critiques, undermines, and second-guesses nearly every move we make. Struggling with negative self-talk? Discover how it affects your wellbeing and learn practical strategies to turn that inner critic into a supportive friend.
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