Change your thoughts and your emotions change automatically. There will always be things in your life you cannot change, that cause you misery just thinking about them. Whether it is in your past or contemplation of the future, if you cannot take action to solve it you need to change the way you think about it. Living the life of a victim will only worsen not help depression treatment. Because your emotions start off as thoughts, you can learn how to change them, even the strongest ones. Negative thoughts are the beginning of the stress cycle. They are self-generating. Once the stress reaction starts, the depressant activity of the stress chemicals released into your body cause more upsetting thoughts. This then increases your distress which causes even more upsetting thoughts which again increases your stress and it goes on and on. Pretty soon this constant stress turns into full blown depression. Changing these negative thoughts will stop the rest of the cycle from happening. You have a choice whether to be stressed or not. You can choose to think about things you cannot change, regrets about your past, fears about your future OR you can choose to change these thoughts thereby empowering yourself to take a happier, less stressful road.
If you have a situation ask yourself “What can I do about this?” If there is clearly no solution, this is what you MUST do.
Think of the situation. Write down your thoughts. For example - When you were young your father never came home until after your bedtime and on weekends he never had time to watch you play basketball. Your thoughts are: My father was never there for me when I was little, he didn’t love me.
Look at it carefully. What attitude to this situation would you rather have? One that is positive. One you can believe. This is your replacement thought. For example – Dad worked long hours so he could provide the best for me, even though he never showed it I know he loved me.
Every time you think of your father and your childhood STOP the thought in its tracks and SUBSTITUTE it with your replacement thought. Notice your emotions. What happens to them? The stress goes, the negative emotions subside and acceptance and peace grows in its place.
Do this continuously until when thinking of the situation, it no longer causes stress. Being able to switch off your negative thoughts is vital to thinking positively. If you can’t stop your negative thinking first then all the positive thinking in the world will not help depression treatment.
Deanette Russell (http://www.bemybestme.com) has spent the last 12 years reading, researching and attending seminars on self development to deal with depression. After sharing this with others Deanette is bringing her specialty to you in the hopes of sharing the feelings of freedom she now lives with by teaching you how to get your life back.
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