Mind is the most potent tool every individual has. If used in the right direction, it can take you to greater heights. One must always be mindful and act in a disciplined manner. Being positive invites positive energies while being negative brings in negativity. The choice is entirely on the person, their preferences and attitude. Despite knowing all the pros and cons, we still unintentionally think negatively. This article highlights a few thought patterns that are extremely harmful and must be corrected immediately.
Everything is black and white –
We need to understand that we don’t live in a binary world; not everything is on the extremes, not everything is black and white, there are plenty of shades of grey in between. An extreme mindset can lead to enormous frustration and self-hate. It doesn’t matter until things go well, but it may lead to a devastating impact when an adverse situation arises. People with this mindset often believe that it’s a total failure if their performance falls short of excellence.
Overthinking the negative –
One more thing we all are guilty of! Sometimes when something wrong or harmful happens, we start dwelling on it for a long time. We start imagining the worst situations that it can lead to, no matter how far-fetched they are. It leads us down a spiral of negativity and, over time, even anxiety and depression. It is crucial to take things positively, try quick fixes and most importantly, take lessons from your failure as it acts as a guiding force for future endeavours.
Jumping to conclusions –
When things don’t go as per our expectations, we start jumping to conclusions rather than going in-depth and understanding the problem. It creates massive demotivation and freezes your mind. It can also spoil relationships in both professional and personal space. Instead of jumping to conclusions, try to find out the facts and why that particular situation occurred; think if you can do something about it or minimize the damage. Conclude when you have answers to these questions.
Feeble mentality –
“Why not me?” “Why them?” “How are they any better than me?” “Why am I not successful even though we all did the same thing?”
If you ask yourself these questions, then you have a feeble mentality. But it is not limited to just these questions; it’s way broader than these. Here are a few examples:
- You want every single thing to be done your way every single time. And if that doesn’t happen, you get upset or angry.
- Chronic pessimism- you drown yourself with negative and hateful thoughts.
- Lack of self-respect and lack of faith in your abilities.
- You don’t ever want to go out of your way to help someone out, but you would curse people for not doing that to you.
Instead of living in an endless circle of insecurities, try to reverse the qualities, and you will see yourself on the winning track.
– By Vrutika Dawda, Director, IdeateLabs