I have read a lot about people struggling with there thought pattern and how they struggle to stay positive, so I thought I would post a small section from my book to maybe help people.
I do understand how hard it can be as I went through it also, but the more we try and change are thinking the easier it gets, the positive come so weak and with no force at first, but in time they come and eventually overtake the negative and become stronger. I hope you get something out of the post below
Take care
Paul
SCARY THOUGHTS
This is another symptom that comes up quite often; so let me try to give you an explanation.
"Why do I seem to have so many thoughts a day and why are my thoughts so scary?” you may ask. Well don’t worry you are not ‘losing it’ or going insane, this is just another off-shoot of anxiety.
The reason you seem to have your attention on yourself all day and it feels like there are many thoughts running through your mind is twofold.
1. It is all the confusion about how you feel. Your mind spends all day looking for answers and trying to find a way out of this hell. Some people may even stay up all night, reflecting on the whole day and trying to figure everything out.
Eventually, thinking just becomes automatic, it becomes a habit. All day, every day, these thoughts seem to enter your head before you even think about them. Look at it this way, when people meditate, they stop thinking for hours on end, until it becomes a habit and they can go all day without a worrying thought, which is why they feel so refreshed. Not you, your thoughts just carry on and on and when your mind is tired, like it is now, it grabs hold of every thought pulling them in and making them stick.
2. Why are some thoughts so bad? When you are in an anxious state, emotions seem to be tenfold, everything magnifies and a little problem becomes massive. Something that you could dismiss when you were healthy, can stick around all day.
These are just some of the scary thoughts on anxiety that I have come across. I call them the ‘what ifs’!
What if no one can cure me?
What if it’s not anxiety, but a different mental problem?
What if my old self is lost forever?
What if there is something else wrong with me, brain tumour etc?
What if I lose control?
What if I can't breathe?
What if I have to live like this for the rest of my life?
What if this feeling never goes away?
What if it’s just me that feels like this?
What if I'll never be able to enjoy the things I used to?
What if I have an attack and pass out?
What if I cannot be the person I used to be?
You may have said one or two of the above to yourself or recognise a fear you have. Well, I did too; it was always ‘yes, but what if?’ Well, all of these ‘what ifs?’ usually amount to nothing. They prove to be just an overactive mind playing its tricks on you. Thoughts seem to come uninvited and always seem to hold such force when we are anxious. Also, a lack of understanding of anxiety can bring these fears. Like me, you may have gone for a long time without anyone explaining to you why you feel like you do and you may not even have been told that it is anxiety. Can you see why these fears can build up in people? A lack of understanding of their condition, coupled with the habit of always thinking the worst compounds their fears. Add this to a tired mind that has lost a lot of its resilience, and you have a whole host of ‘what ifs?’.
Some people worry to the extent that they believe everything they feel is life threatening. A headache becomes a brain tumour, a stomach ache can become cancer and so on, and no matter how many times their doctor tells them there is nothing wrong with them, they are never quite convinced.
If this is you, then realise these thoughts of illness are mostly figments of your imagination, mainly created by your anxious state. Everything becomes magnified when we are anxious. Let these thoughts go, don’t react to them and see them as just that, thoughts that carry no weight whatsoever, no mat
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just enjoy it
