From The Treasury of Proverbs and Epigrams, kindly given to me by LeggyPeggy comes these wisdoms: It may be hard to work, but it must be harder to want.Employment is natures' physician.The confidence of ability is ability. and finally, Learn the luxury of doing good. Counteracting the Negative Feeling pessimistic about the future of the… Continue reading Sunday Sayings – Focus in Isolation
"The unhappiest people in this world are the people who care the most about what everyone else thinks."Unknown Many of us want to be right! We think we are right. We try to be right. We even try to convince others that we are right. It may be because it elevates our social status, or… Continue reading Sunday Sayings – Unhappiness
Charlotte Dawson's tragic death, reminded me of a recent campaign that highlighted the issue of mental illness, primarily depression and suicide, in our community. The R U OK? Foundation is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to encouraging all people to regularly and meaningfully ask 'are you ok?' as a support to colleagues and those who may… Continue reading Are You OK?
Why do we think negatively when we know better?
Because thinking negatively, expecting “the worst,” seeing the downside of positive situations, and even downright expecting failure, all convey a kind of backwards-thinking, emotional insurance policy. It goes something like, “If I expect a tragedy, then I won’t be disappointed when it takes place.”
Our desire to want to be right is another common reason we subconsciously choose negative thinking. Sometimes, as foolish as it sounds, we would rather be right about our negative predictions than have a positive outcome prove us wrong. And since negative thinking leads to negative actions, or no action at all in many cases, by thinking negatively we create a self-fulfilling prediction for ourselves. In other words, we think negatively, predict a negative outcome, act negatively, and then receive a negative outcome that fulfills our prediction.
Something to Ponder About 