Anxious Thoughts

[sal]

Read a lot recently about anxious thoughts and how we feel we are going mad or are bad people.

That has always been the common pattern in my anxiety and i have had some terrible thoughts.

Have been through them and with the help of my CBT counsellor have seen the reasons behind them and at times i didnt even feel she could support those horrible thoughts i got. She was great and in no way her fault but more the doubts i had built up. I couldnt handle feeling that i had bad thoughts about my daughter and however she tried to convince me that happens i was in no way inclined to believe her.

But as time has passed even though i still get these thoughts i do realise that i have overcome so much and that thinking them doesnt mean they will happen. It has taken me a long time to realise this and when i feel like that it still gets to me but with time and self testing i now can accept that they are thoughts and not actions.





Love Sal xxxxx

[jill]

Hi Sal,

So true, changing the way with think is hard, but with alot
of hard work support and time anything is possible.

LOVE JILLXX

[minny]

Hi Sal.

Well done you!! :) What often keeps me sane is knowing we dont CHOOSE to be the way we are sometimes.

Love Minny...xx

[tara]

Hi Sal it's the thoughts that get me down too!!! But they are only thoughts not actions, keeping busy is a great way of distraction for me and pulls me out the other side, thanks sal Tara xx

[pips]

Hi Sal, :D

Yes that is so very true. You are so right they are just thoughts and just because you think them doesn't mean they will come true [No]

For example when we have our positive frame of mind. We can think good thoughts like wouldn't it be nice if i won some money on the lottery! [Yeah!] :D Or meeting your idol in the flesh and he fancies the pants of you! [Wow!] [:O] LOL

Anyway how ofen do these good thoughts come true? I wish [Sigh...] so what evidence have we got that the bad thoughts will happen?? Not much at all hey it's just our irrational side of the brain going into overdrive! [:P] [Oops!] The bad thoughts are normally just as much heightened as the good as well! It's just for some bizzare reason we choose to believe the bad rather then the good [Duh!] where as the bad are just as much a fairy tale as the good.

Hope this makes sense any how!!! LOL

The main thing to learn is the acceptance [Yes!] I find this the hardest thing to grasp :( It sounds like you are doing a fantastic job though mate. So WELL DONE ;)

Take care,

Hope all is well,

Love PIP'S XX XX[:X]

[seh1980]

Hi Sal,

I think we all get those horrible thoughts at time. It's hard to realise that just because they're there doesn't mean that you are going to act upon them. I guess we all have to learn how to deal with them and control them and it's different for each of us.

Sarah :D

[Merlinssister]

I also think it's the hidden thoughts that don't help. I mean, on the outside I am pretty confident, but I surprise even myself with my lack of self esteem sometimes. These thought patterns are so ingrained that they do take time and incredible hard work to change. I think it's a lifetime work in progress. :)

[jo-jo]

Hi Sal

Good to hear your positive thoughts hun, its so true that thoughts don't necessarily lead to actions. Hey, I'd just die if my dad knew that sometimes I've had dreams where I've beaten him up! I guess this is probably because we've had many an argument in real life but of course there's NO WAY I'd really do anything to hurt him. We all have these horrid thoughts from time to time, I think its just part and parcel of being human.

Pips, I like your thought pattern - if only thinking about winning the lottery would make it come true!

Love Jo xxx

[Meg]

Thoughts not instructions

The first thought is always fine- its the second thought that determines the outcome of whether you're going to handle this situation rationally or go into panic.



Meg

It is impossible to get out of a problem by using the same kind of thinking that it took to get into it.
- Albert Einstein.

[sal]

Thanks Meg

Never seen it like that about thoughts and not instructions, will remember that one next time they start.



Love Sal xxxxx

[tracyp584]

Just read all the messages on this topic, and its really made me think. Lets hope i can remember all these things, when bad thoughts start creeping in.

Thanks!!

tracy x x

[Caz Fab Pants]

<b id="quote">quote:</b id="quote"><table border="0" id="quote"><tr id="quote"><td class="quote" id="quote">I also think it's the hidden thoughts that don't help. I mean, on the outside I am pretty confident, but I surprise even myself with my lack of self esteem sometimes. These thought patterns are so ingrained that they do take time and incredible hard work to change. I think it's a lifetime work in progress. :)



<div align="right">Originally posted by Merlinssister - 05 October 2004 : 15:19:47</div id="right">
</td id="quote"></tr id="quote"></table id="quote">

That sums me up entirely. I am a confident person naturally but I have almost trained myself into these thought patterns and dont seem able to stop them. Therefore I now class myself as a nervous/anxious person with very little inner strength and low self esteem.

I genuinely cant imagine going a day without thinking this way, its completely automatic. Sometimes I wonder what it must be like to be normal ie book holidays, travel in someone elses car, go shopping with friends, go to a west end show, sit through a haircut without so much as a care in the world... god the list is endless.

When you figure out how to curb or quit those thoughts Sal, let me know!

Caroline
x

[sal]

Can only reiterate the post and it makes a lot of sense.

But Meg sumbed it up they are thoughs and not instructions no one could made it seem simpler.

I know we all dwell on them and me more than others and still do.

But i keep testing myself and although dont react always have that well one day i might in my head, but in time i hope to overcome them. Without these thoughts i could be me again.

And you all know how much they affect me.





Love Sal xxxxx