Self-Defeating Thoughts

Barbara Moses of BBM Human Resource Consultants, Inc. says how we think about our actions and the events that occur in our work will affect our success.  In Be Still My Self-Defeating Thoughts she warns against the ills of:

• All-or-nothing thinking,
• Overgeneralizing,
• Ignoring the positive (my personal favorite thought trap!),
• Jumping to Conclusions,
• Catastrophizing,
• Shoulds, and
• Blaming

She gives several helpful points and concludes that it's wise to:

"Check out your perceptions. Get data to support your interpretation of events. If you can't find support for it, then rethink it."

Check out the whole article here and then go here for an index of other great articles to encourage you on the journey!

Comments

[MMG]

The first thoughts that came to me as I read this short excerpt (and the longer article too) were that much of these self-defeating thoughts mirror thought patterns taught in fundamentalist churches and in cults (all-or-nothing thinking, generalizing, shoulds, blaming, etc.) I say this as one who has left the fundamentalist religion I grew up in (some might call it a cult), and have sought information to help me make sense of my experience and to learn to think for myself. I am not disrespecting anyone's religious beliefs, but agree with Barbara Moses that it is important to stop and reframe our thoughts often, and perhaps explore where such self-defeating thoughts stem from. Many of mine were shaped by the religion of my youth and trying to make sense of what I was taught as a child. As an adult, I can re-examine and challenge those self-defeating beliefs and let them go.

[MMG]

Ok, so I forgot to mention that I liked this post and it is really pertinent in our day and age. I also felt I should offer some evidence to my claim that cults mirror some of this self-defeating thinking. Check out the following website, "Ways to evaluate a group's control over personal freedom" looking especially at points 3 and 4 (thought control and emotional control within cults) http://www.caic.org.au/general/mindcon1.htm