How To Change Your Thoughts To Change Your Reality
In theory, so the less biased your thoughts are, the closer you will be to the truth. The problem comes when you have learned generalizations, prejudices, and black and white thinking that separate you from what is real. Thinking is like breathing, we do it without even thinking about it. But you should not believe everything you think. In fact, some say that only about 20% of our thoughts actually come true.
As humans, we have thoughts that do not correspond to the time or situation we are in. These are called irrational or distorted thoughts. These are ideas that pop into your head and prevent you from seeing what your reality really is. They usually lead you to make mistakes, and they have a huge and direct impact on your emotions.
Your interpretation of your reality, rather than the reality itself, is what makes you an emotionally stable – or unstable person. What you think about yourself and your experiences is what really underlies when problems with anxiety or depression arise.
These conditions are extremely common in the developed world. Have you thought that two people in the same situation can experience and understand it differently? This is in fact a proof that it is your own thoughts that create your reality.
If you want to change yourself, change your thoughts
The basis of many psychological theories is to try to replace irrational thoughts with other kinds of thoughts that better agree with real facts. When you learn how to change your thoughts from irrational to rational, you have found the key. People who can change their way of thinking can gain much more control over their emotions and make better decisions.
One of the most common clinical techniques for changing maladapted thoughts is to debate. This is how a psychologist can show his patient how to modify his beliefs by questioning it. It is based on rationality until the patient can come up with an alternative and better adapted way of thinking. The ultimate goal is for the patient to be able to replace or fine-tune their thoughts on their own.
Even if the circumstances are difficult, such as after losing a job or after a break-up, no one will be able to achieve improvement by over-analyzing. Rather, your margin of maneuver has more to do with gaining control over your thoughts than with gaining control over reality.
How to change your thoughts to become healthy and rational
Phenomena are not the cause of emotional and behavioral problems. These are rather caused by the beliefs that underline our interpretation of the problems. A fundamental way to change your thoughts is to distinguish between rational and irrational thoughts.
Thinking in a rational way means thinking in relative terms. It means expressing oneself in terms of desires and wills (I would prefer, I wish…) When someone has a healthy mindset, the negative emotions created by the situation will not stop them from trying to get what they want, even if they do not get it.
On the other hand, having a rigid and one-sided way of thinking is that you express obligations, needs or demands (I must, I should…)
When these things do not happen, you experience negative emotions (depression, anger, guilt, anxiety, fear) that interfere with your attempts to reach your goals. They can also trigger behavioral changes such as isolation, avoidance or escape behavior, and drug abuse.
