TOXIC THINKING
Posted on November 15, 2017 by Sydney Ceruto, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
This is when we chronically think the worst is going to happen and we develop an ingrained pattern of negative, self destructive thinking.
Toxic thinking is a protective strategy that unnecessarily activates the body’s survival response. Though well-meaning, essentially, it’s an ineffective way of dealing with painful feelings, such as not feeling “good enough,” deserving enough” or “having enough” in relation to others, all of which are a natural part of dealing with life or relationship issues, and other stress situations.
Because I utilize advances in brain science and cutting edge psychology to help my clients re-frame and re-wire negative thought processes, I thought it incumbent to write an article on exactly how our mind generates thoughts and chronic toxic rumination.
So, when it comes to understanding the human brain researchers say it’s all a matter of connections. Billions of neurons talk to each other to create the reason, memory and emotions that make each of us distinct. The physical circuitry of our brains contain 100 trillion connecting synapses called the connectdom.
New techniques, including advances brain scans, are helping to reveal the hidden anatomy of brain wiring and giving scientists a new understanding of how thoughts, memories and emotions are formed.
On a more basic level, thoughts emerge as the spontaneous coalesced activity of neurons. The brain is always internally active, regardless of what sensory information is arriving from the environment.
The problem here is … that most of us have been conditioned, by cultural beliefs, mores, myths and traditions, among other things, to “think” in ways that make us seriously mistrust, disdain or look down our noses at our “emotion self” (body self, body-mind etc.). This means our “wounded-ego self” instead of a “conscious self” in charge of our otherwise amazing capabilities (personal power) for imagination, reflective thinking, choice-making — and when our wounded-ego self is in charge, depending on what triggers us, we’re walking around avoiding or shunning the messages our bodies send us about our moment by moment experiences in varying degrees. We’ve misinterpret our body’s signals because we look at our emotions or others through the eyes of fear.
Your thoughts reflect your beliefs. They are your own unique responses to the events or persons in your life. Your choices reflect your thoughts. Your thoughts, by the level of chemical “feel-good” feelings they produce, communicate what you want to your subconscious, and your emotional responses communicate what you really, really want. Therefore, your actions are the best indicators of your thoughts, wants and beliefs.
Accepting the role of captain of your life thus necessitates conscious work to produce conscious change. It means identifying toxic thinking patterns as they surface and replacing them with life enriching ones.
This can mean integrating the old with the new or exploring parts of your self you may have disowned when you were a child.
To take the helm as captain of your life means you learn and know how:
▪ To calm your mind (logic) and body (emotions) so that they may work cooperatively as one team – rather than adversaries.
▪ To integrate new meanings and beliefs about yourself and life so you may rewrite your life story in ways that allow you to see and feel your value as separate from your experiences or actions.
Change processes invite you to participate actively and consciously in making new sense of your life and experiences in ways that produce optimal emotional states within you. It’s up to you to take the reins of re-writing, creating your self-concept and life story.
