Most people consider that to think is an involuntary action. They might also think that they have no control over their thoughts. But this concept is wrong. Thoughts are both voluntary and involuntary. For example, when you think about your daily routine or you think about a specific problem to find its solution, you are doing this with your will. Your thinking is restricted to a specific point.
But when you are sitting free and different strange thoughts come into your mind, then this is involuntary. Thoughts may be good or bad, depending on the recent incidents that come into your life. It’s normal to have negative or bad thoughts, but if you are having them continuously, then it means that you have fallen prey to Cognitive Distortion.
A cognitive distortion is a habit of thinking negatively. You will always think about the negative aspects of every incident. This developed gradually, and after that, it could lead you to a lot of stress and anxiety. If you are facing this, you should know about how to change Cognitive Distortion. Here are some ways to deal with negative thinking.
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Identification
The first and basic step to solve any problem is to identify it. The same is in the case of Cognitive Distortion. You have to find out what are the negative thoughts in your daily life. You could do so by writing all the troublesome thoughts and making a list of them. This would help you to find the area of cognitive distortion.
Examining the Evidence
The next step is to examine your thoughts. As your thoughts are evidence of your cognitive distortion, so it’s called examining the evidence. It would help you to understand the basis of your problem. It would also help you to know either your thoughts are stone-cold facts or reflect the situation.
Grey Shade Thinking
Grey shade thinking means you should never think just white or black about any incident. In simple words, you should not think just positively or negatively about any incident, this would lead to cognitive distortion. Instead, you should mix up the positive and negative aspects of the incident.
As grey is intermediate between white and black, similarly, grey shade thinking is intermediate between negative and positive thinking. This would prevent you from negative thoughts. Identifying, examining, and then grey shade thinking processes may become difficult for you to perform.
Using Double Standard Method
The double standard method could help you to get out of cognitive distortion. It’s all about self-recognition. You might also call it an alternative to self-talk. You may have noticed, you don’t think about yourself in the same manner as you think about your friends or talk with them. You are a bit harder on yourself.
This could lead to cognitive distortion. So, use the double standard method. Stand in front of a mirror and talk to yourself in the same manner as you are talking with your best friend or someone closer to you. This would help you in self-recognition and self-respect.
Using the Survey Method
It’s clear from the name that you could take surveys to solve your cognitive distortion. Taking the opinions of different people and friends around you will help you to change your thoughts. For example, if you are thinking about a fight between two friends, you should not assume the final result by yourself. Take a survey and ask about the opinions of your friends.
This would help you to know about the thoughts of many close friends and you will realize that fighting between friends is a normal thing and it will soon end. This will help you to stay away from negative thoughts.
Using the Semantic Method
This method is all about words, their meanings, and their interpretations. The use of some strict words like “must” or “should” will automatically bind your life to some unwritten rules. You should use some lighter words instead of these strict words. Using some appreciation words would be greater than these words.
All these methods could help you to solve cognitive distortion. At times, employees also face such issues, and this hampers their productivity. These issues can arise due to a change in the organization’s dynamics or any other thing. To sort this thing out, you can take the assistance of a professional consultancy agency, such as Unitive Consulting. They will help you throughout the transition phase, which will minimize the chances of such issues.
