Taylor Bates and Kristin Craver

NEGATIVE THOUGHTS

Negative Thoughts (Toxic Thoughts)• “Toxic thoughts are thoughts that trigger negative emotions, which produce biochemicals that cause the body stress” (Leaf 19). • “Negative thoughts are defined as pessimistic or downbeat that generally lead to depression.”

Truths about these thoughts

• They are stored in your mind and even in body cells. • All thoughts, negative and positive, go through the same cycle. • 75% to 95% of the illnesses that plague us today are a direct result of our thought life. • Researchers have shown, some 95% of our thoughts are repetitive, and 80% negative• Average person has over 30,000 thoughts a day

Thought Cycle

Causes• Hedonic treadmill• Pressure• Traumas • Ingrained patterns

The Dirty Dozen • Twelve areas of toxic thoughts:• Toxic Thoughts• Toxic Emotions• Toxic Words• Toxic Choices• Toxic Dreams• Toxic Seeds• Toxic Faith• Toxic Love• Toxic Touch• Toxic Seriousness• Toxic Health• Toxic Schedules

How Do these Negative Thoughts affect us?

• Physically and mentally

Physical• Body lowers immune defenses• Eating disorders• Hypertension• Cardiovascular disease• Digestive disorders• Infections• Migraines• Stroke• Artery disease• Diabetes• Cancer • Asthma/ Allergies • Skin problems

Heart Problems

• Not a direct effect of negative thoughts• When you think negatively, you tend to stress more, leading to eating more as well as smoking. • Leads to hypertension and heart disease• Some Heart Problems:• Hypertension-• Angina• Coronary artery disease• Strokes or cerebrovascular insufficiency• Aneurysm

Immunodeficiency

• Resentment, bitterness, lack of forgiveness and self-hatred can trigger immune system disorders.• Toxic thoughts and emotions prevent your immune system from doing it’s job.• Your body produces blood proteins called cytokines • Interfere with the body’s natural healing process.• Autoimmune response• Day to day stress confuses your immune system

Digestive System

• You should never eat when you are angry Some digestive disorders:• Constipation• Diarrhea• Nausea and vomiting• Cramping• Ulcers• Leaky Gut Syndrome• Irritable bowel syndrome

Mental

• Negative perceptions about self• Repressed anger• Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness• Irritability • Anxiety/panic attacks• Fatigue/exhaustion • Environmental surroundings (others around you)• Limiting possibilities • Becomes easier to think negatively • Stress

Stress

• Stress is the direct result of toxic thinking.•When under extreme amounts of stress, chemicals flood your body and create physical effects caused by intense feelings. • Once your body is truly in stress mode and the cortisol is flowing, dendrites start shrinking and even “falling off.”• Threatens your body’s natural chemical balance.

Depression

How to overcome these thoughts•Meditation• Smiling • Positive environment •Don’t Blame the victim •Use positive language• Cognitive therapy • Accept change• Psychoanalysis

Meditation • There are many methods, but they all have a conscious attempt to focus attention in a non-analytical ways.• It sounds easy: sit still and focus awareness only on your breathing or on a word or image, and let no other words, ideas, or images arise in consciousness. • But it is extraordinarily difficult. • The goal of meditation is to change automatic thought processes. • When meditation is done correctly everyday for several months can help you reduce substantially the frequency of fearful, negative, and grasping thoughts thereby improving your affective style.

“When a man knows the solitude of silence, and feels the joy of quietness, he is then free from fear and sin.”

~Buddha

Psychoanalysis• a method of studying the mind and treating mental and emotional disorders based on revealing and investigating the role of the unconscious mind• Founded by Sigmund Freud• Clients meet with a psychoanalyst several times a week for many years.• Some techniques commonly used:• Free association- encourage clients to say anything that comes

to mind• Dream analysis- clients describe their dreams in detail, and

the psychoanalyst interprets the latent content, or the hidden meaning• Interpretation- psychoanalyst’s uncover the hidden meanings

in the client’s free associations, dreams, feelings, memories, and behavior

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) • Created by Aaron Beck• One of the most effective treatments for anxiety and depression• The huge concept is training the client to catch their thoughts, write them down, name the distortions, and then find alternative and more accurate ways of thinking. •When done well, it is as effective as Prozac.• Therapists try to change client’s way of thinking.

Mike Tyson Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSFYqqUvU_E

Changing Negative Talk to Positive Talk

Negative Talk Positive Talk

I’ve never done it before.

It’s an opportunity to learn something.

It’s too complicated. I’ll tackle it from a different angle.

I don’t have the resources.

Necessity is the mother of intervention

There’s not enough time.

Let’s re-evaluate some priorities.

There’s no way it will work.

I can learn to make it work.

It’s too radical a change. Let’s take a chance.

Positive thinking vs. Negative thinking

What does it mean to be happy?• It is a mental or emotional state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy• The Happiness Formula (H=S+C+V)• S= set point • C= conditions• V= voluntary activities

According to….• “ Set your heart on doing good. Do it over and over again, and you will be

filled with joy. A fool is happy until his mischief turns against hi. And a good man may suffer until his goodness flowers.

~Buddha

• “Happiness requires changing yourself and changing the world. It requires pursuing your own goals and fitting with others.”

~Haidt

• “ No one can live happily who has regard to himself alone and transforms everything into a question of his own utility; you must live for your neighbor, if you would live for yourself.”

~Seneca

• “ Do not seek to have events happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they do happen, and your life will go well.”

~Epictetus

Positive Thinking

• The point of wanting to overcome negative thoughts is to have an overall better quality of life and know the meaning of life all the while maintaining mental bliss.

• More Optimistic• Expecting good things in life can make good things

happen to your body.

Health Benefits• Increased life span/ helps you age gracefully• Keeps your heart healthy• Lower rates of depression• Lowers blood pressure• Increases pain tolerance• Lower levels of distress• Better relationships• Greater resistance to the common cold• Better psychological and physical well-being• Reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease• Better coping skills during hardships and times of stress

Buddha • “What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: our life is the creation of our mind.” (Haidt 23)

Work Cited • "Effects of Negative Thinking." The Benefits of Positive Thinking. Web. 2 Apr. 2014.

• Dealing with a Negative Thought. How to deal with negative thoughts. www.cb1.com. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.

• Haidt, Jonathan. The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom. New York: Basic Books, 2006. Print.

• “How to Free Yourself of Negative Thoughts.” YouTube. youtube.com. 5 August 2012.

• Jonathan. "Can Positive Thinking Really Improve Your Life?." Advanced Life Skills. advancedlifeskills.com. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.

• Lawson, Karen. "How Do Thoughts & Emotions Impact Health?." University of Minnesota: Driven to Discover. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.

• Lippi, G, and GC Guidi. "The Power of Negative Thinking." The American Journal of Emergency Medicine. 26.3 (2008): 373-4. Print.

• Martorano, Joseph T, and John P. Kildahl. Beyond Negative Thinking: Breaking the Cycle of Depressing and Anxious Thoughts. New York: Insight Books, 1989. Print.

• Seligman, Martin E. P. Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment. New York: Free Press, 2002. Print.

• The Negative Spin Cycle. Customizing My Daily Emotional Spin Cycle. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.

• Types of negative emotions, feelings, and thoughts. Negative Emotion List. amojolife.wordpress.com. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.

• Uy, Michelle, and Nasir Nasrallah. "10 Tips to Overcome Negative Thoughts: Positive Thinking Made Easy." Tiny Buddha Web. 4 Apr. 2014.

• “What Is The Subconscious Mind?.” Calm Down Mind. Calmdownmind.com. Web. 2 Apr. 2014.