Are you a negative or positive thinker?

Kaneda_

Ive always considered myself a positive person.The past few months ive found myself thinking of things in a more negative way...not in a depressing way - just as if things in general arent going to get better.

The recession id imagine has alot of people worried ,but ive noticed alot of friends/family members have alot of negative outlooks regarding the future, or just life in general.

Can people be classified as being a negative/positive thinker? Anyone else notice this?

Am i just being a negative person posting this?

KungPao

-1

Aoifey!

My thoughts right now are - 'I'm not entirely sure where I'll be living this time next week, but sure it'll be grand'.

ascanbe

'Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.'
Antonio Gramsci.

Standard Toaster

Maybe you suffer from SAD?

OutlawPete

I read all that Anthony Robbins stuff (Awaken The Giant Within etc).

Tried pretty much all that 'positive thinking' malarkey in fact and you know what, I knew it wouldn't work.

RayM

Infuriatingly positive. Whatever about the glass being half-empty... even if it was only a quarter full, I'd somehow manage to convince myself that it's actually half-full, and that its deceptive shape just made it look as though there was less in it.

Kaneda_

OutlawPete wrote: »

I read all that Anthony Robbins stuff (Awaken The Giant Within etc).

Tried pretty much all that 'positive thinking' malarkey in fact and you know what, I knew it wouldn't work.

So if your a negative person thats it, you cant change it?

Kaneda_

Standard Toaster wrote: »

Maybe you suffer from SAD?

I dont think i do,SAD is winter depression, and its not winter.Also im not depressed, im just thinking negatively at this moment in time and the past few.But i have looked into it ,so good suggestion!

Kojak

Standard Toaster wrote: »

Maybe you suffer from SAD?

I thought that only happened in the winter?

OutlawPete

Kaneda_ wrote: »

So if your a negative person thats it, you cant change it?

As a great man once said:

"Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you're right."

My original post was trying to say that, but guess I'm no Henry Ford.

Kaneda_

OutlawPete wrote: »

As a great man once said:

"Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you're right."

My original post was trying to say that, but guess I'm no Henry Ford.

Stop thinking negatively! YOU can be a Henry Ford if you really want it.

ascanbe

Kaneda_ wrote: »

Ive always considered myself a positive person.The past few months ive found myself thinking of things in a more negative way...not in a depressing way - just as if things in general arent going to get better.

The recession id imagine has alot of people worried ,but ive noticed alot of friends/family members have alot of negative outlooks regarding the future, or just life in general.

Can people be classified as being a negative/positive thinker? Anyone else notice this?

Am i just being a negative person posting this?

Don't think negatively but don't force yourself to think 'positively'; that, in itself, is a form of negative thinking and symptomatic of an unwillingness to face reality.
No matter what situation you or those you know are facing you just have to think: how bad is it really?
This might sound trite, but, no matter what your problem, there really are, likely, many people perservering in worse spots.
If your problems are economic, you're far from alone in this country right now and don't think that they are insurmountable; either there will be significant relief forthcoming for many of those currently in serious debt in this country and a significant change in the course we are on or else this country will cease to function anyway; in which case, we'll all be in the same boat.
So fcuk worrying about debt, if that relates to you, repay what you can for the time being, while taking care of yourself and your family if applicable, and don't get swamped in worry about it.
What are they going to do? Put hundreds of thousands of people in this country in jail for failure to repay debt? Don't think so..

Laisurg

I've always been quite a negative thinker, for good reason though to be honest, to the point where i think it's actually starting to give me depression, it's really not an easy thing to change.

Standard Toaster

Kaneda_ wrote: »

I dont think i do,SAD is winter depression, and its not winter.Also im not depressed, im just thinking negatively at this moment in time and the past few.But i have looked into it ,so good suggestion!

Kojak wrote: »

I thought that only happened in the winter?

No no, can be all year.

"Seasonal affective disorder (SAD), also known as winter depression, winter blues, summer depression or summer blues, is a mood disorder with which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year experience depressive symptoms in the winter or summer,spring or autumn, repeatedly, year after year. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), SAD is not a unique mood disorder, but is "a specifier of major depression"


Maybe you just need a good ride? :pac:

Kaneda_

ascanbe wrote: »

Don't think negatively but don't force yourself to think 'positively'; that, in itself, is a form of negative thinking and symptomatic of an unwillingness to face reality.
No matter what situation you or those you know are facing you just have to think: how bad is it really?
This might sound trite, but, no matter what your problem, there really are, likely, many people perservering in worse spots.
If your problems are economic, you're far from alone in this country right now and don't think that they are insurmountable; either there will be significant relief forthcoming for many of those currently in serious debt in this country and a significant change in the course we are on or else this country will cease to function anyway; in which case, we'll all be in the same boat.
So fcuk worrying about debt, if that relates to you, repay what you can for the time being and don't get swamped in worry about it.

Great post.

Theres always someone in a worse situation than yourself - thats something that always comes to mind.Money isnt a problem for me,i have enough to get by from week to week.

I think what i was getting at is , for example- i have friends who i have known for years.Some are optimistic and always have a positive outlook on things, while some our the complete opposite.Can the mind be trained to think positively or is it something thats ingrained in your mind from birth?

Smiley G

Kaneda_ wrote: »

I dont think i do,SAD is winter depression, and its not winter.Also im not depressed, im just thinking negatively at this moment in time and the past few.But i have looked into it ,so good suggestion!

SAD... due to lack of sunshine... this is Ireland......:cool:

Some people make the plane, I make the parachute.

ascanbe

Laisurg wrote: »

I've always been quite a negative thinker, for good reason though to be honest, to the point where i think it's actually starting to give me depression, it's really not an easy thing to change.

It isn't easy; but you can change it.
If you want to change it for yourself and get to a point where you realise that your own perception of self and care for yourself are the most important things you control and aren't subject to the will of anyone else.
Talk to someone professional, if you feel it's got to that point.
There's probably good advice to be had in some threads or from the moderators in the Personal Issues forum on boards.

yesno1234

Extremely positive, but why did you start such a sh*t thread?

DEFTLEFTHAND

Naturally negative but trying to change , life's too short for negativity

ascanbe

Kaneda_ wrote: »

Great post.

Theres always someone in a worse situation than yourself - thats something that always comes to mind.Money isnt a problem for me,i have enough to get by from week to week.

I think what i was getting at is , for example- i have friends who i have known for years.Some are optimistic and always have a positive outlook on things, while some our the complete opposite.Can the mind be trained to think positively or is it something thats ingrained in your mind from birth?

The mind is definitely a mutable/pliable thing; if someone is truly willing to look at themselves honestly, stop placing blame on themselves for things not of their making/things they feel that are of their making they wish to change or anything, in other words and engage in truly positive, productive and realistic thinking concerned with minute-to-minute, step- by -step improvement of their situation, then change will occur.
Concentrating on the process is, i believe, more important than worrying about the outcome.

K-9

Kaneda_ wrote: »

Great post.

Theres always someone in a worse situation than yourself - thats something that always comes to mind.Money isnt a problem for me,i have enough to get by from week to week.

I think what i was getting at is , for example- i have friends who i have known for years.Some are optimistic and always have a positive outlook on things, while some our the complete opposite.Can the mind be trained to think positively or is it something thats ingrained in your mind from birth?

I'd say upbringing and people around you affect it.

Stuff like the secret is a joke, like just reading a book and hoping good things happen will work!

Tea_Bag

I study Applied Physics in college. Crazy ****. No matter what you think, the glass is always full, but 99% empty at the same time.

\nerdgasm

stovelid

Positive but with a decent soupcon of paranoia/worry

Dave!

I'm extremely cynical. Generally quite happy and positive though.

Kevin Duffy

I'm a well-informed optimist.

g'em

If you want to be sad, think about yesterday; if you want to be anxious, think about tomorrow and if you want to be happy think about right now. It's such a simple concept (some would argue it's a gross oversimplification) but it's hard to argue against it when you break it down to its bare bones. It may not matter whether you're a positive or a negative thinker at the end of the day...

If you think about what 'positive' and 'negative' thoughts actually are, they're generally reactions to things that either have happened in the past or may or may not happen in the future.

There's a brilliant article that was published in Science late last year called A Wandering Mind is an Unhappy Mind and it's all about how we, as humans, spend so much time thinking about everything except the here and now - the more our mind wanders, the more we have a tendency towards unhappiness. It's an "emotional cost" for our highly developed cognitive functioning.

The researchers developed an iPhone app that contacted users at random times of the day and asked them what they were doing and how they felt doing it. At the time of publication the database contained "a quarter of a million samples from about 5000 people from 83 different countries [ranging] in age from 18 to 88". They found that

..people’s minds wandered frequently, regardless of what they were doing. Mind wandering occurred in 46.9% of the samples and in at least 30% of the samples taken during every activity except making love.

Makes sense, you're not thinking about much else when you're getting the ride so it's a happy place for you emotionally.

They also found that generally people's minds wandered to pleasant thoughts than unpleasant ones, and neutral thoughts were found more often than negative ones but less than positive ones but

people were no happier when thinking about pleasant topics than about their current activity and were considerably unhappier when thinking about neutral topics or unpleasant topics than about their current activity.

So the key to happiness? Stop thinking about stuff all the time. Sounds so easy in theory and haven't Buddhists been putting that into practice for thousand of years now.

But it's a common theme in self-help books - they all, in some way, come back to living in the present. You can't change what happened in the past so why worry about it, you can't predict or control the future so why worry about it either? All you can really do is think about right now and enjoy it.

Now, if anyone can let me know how to actually do that I'd be most appreciative

beks101

Would love to say positive but I'm a serious over-thinker with a chronically wandering mind, which seems to lend itself to negative thoughts. I find it improves with proper sleep and healthy lifestyle though. Sex helps too.

Truley

Definitely a melancholic personality and a negative thinker but I truly believe that it's in my nature and over the years I've learned to embrace that side of me. I'm not a depressed person by any stretch, but if I allowed myself I think it would be very easy to become overly introverted and anxious. My hobbies help me keep balanced and focused so I don't spend too much time inside my own head, things like knitting, gardening, cycling, yoga, surfing etc. Also lots of sleep and socializing. I used to try put on a facade of being a really happy-go-lucky, bubbly person but it's all an act really and people can see right through it. I'm never going to be seen as a 'chirpy' person but I am happy, well liked and friendly.