1 the power of initiative: how to take control of your mental health presented by cigna employee...
Post on 19-Dec-2015
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TRANSCRIPT
1
The Power of Initiative:
How to Take Control of Your Mental Health
Presented by
CIGNA Employee Assistance Program
2
Seminar Goals
Understand that we have the ability to choose how we respond.
Identify roadblocks that may be getting in our way.
Discover how to “re-frame” self-defeating thoughts.
Identify our priorities
3
What is Initiative?
Taking responsibility for making things happen in our lives.
Operating in a proactive manner.
Realizing that we have the ability to choose how we respond to a situation.
Reacting based on our values rather than feelings or impulses.
4
Choosing to Take Control
We may not be able to control the events or the people around us.
We cannot control what kind of family we grew up in or what happened to us as a child.
We can choose our responses to current and future events.
5
What Road Blocks May Be in Your Way?
Fear
Unrealistic goals
Negative beliefs about yourself
Assuming that happiness just means disappointment is around the corner
Rebellion or revenge
A lack of direction
Relying on others to take care of you
6
Negative Thoughts and Irrational Beliefs
Holding pre-conceived notions
Thinking in absolute terms
Making a mountain out of molehill /molehill out of mountain
Playing the blame game
Being a negative magnet
Drawing emotional conclusions
Living under a dark cloud
7
Fighting Back Against Negative Thoughts
Consider the evidence
Find other explanations
Give yourself credit
Don’t make hasty judgments
Surround yourself with positive people
Use your imagination
Smile until you mean it
Be realistic
8
Practicing Proactive Thinking
Negative Thought:
1. There is nothing I can do
2. That’s just the way I am
3. He makes me so mad
Balanced Alternative:
1.
2.
3.
9
Eliminate Should, Ought, Must, Have To from Your Vocabulary
What happens if you use words such as these instead?
I choose to…
I want to…
I prefer
I am going to…
10
Your Statement Of Purpose
Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.
-Carl Jung
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Other Suggestions to Help With Initiative
Set realistic goals
Break things down into reasonable steps
Do not wait to “feel” motivated
Let go of your fear of failure
Visualize your end result
Do not live for external rewards only
Use affirmations
12
Change is Possible
People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something that one finds. It is something that one creates.
-Thomas Szasz