The Power Of Thoughts

If you think a certain unhealthy way long enough, you can become very sick. If you behave a certain way, consistent with your unhealthy thinking, long enough, you can become very, very sick. Allow me to explain.

In my 30 years in the Mental Health field I have worked with tens of thousands of clients---the large majority of them were not much different than most people. They didn’t have some genetic defect that made them depressed or anxious. They did, however, have unhealthy or irrational thoughts which they believed were true. These thoughts were reinforced over time by their choices and the behavior patterns they developed.

Here is an example. As a young boy, John Doe had a stepfather who was very critical and a big brother who picked on him. Consequently, he grew up thinking he wasn’t a good boy and that others were better than him. When he went to school, he was reluctant to reach out to peers for fear of being criticized or picked on and others recognizing he wasn’t as “good” as them. His thought that he wasn’t a good boy expanded to include the thought he wasn’t very smart. When the teacher would present new material that was initially difficult for everyone to understand, he assumed he was the only one struggling because he wasn’t as smart as his classmates. As a result, instead of working to learn the new material like all of the other students, he didn’t try very hard to complete his homework and fell behind and did not learn much of the material the teacher was teaching the class. You can see where this is going, can’t you? 

After several years of thinking and behaving this way, John had many problems---poor grades, few friends, depression and anxiety. The tragedy is he has no idea his thoughts were his own choosing and what he thought of himself was literally a figment of his imagination. Unfortunately, through years of dysfunctional behavior, triggered by the irrational thoughts, the image of himself he conjured up years earlier came true. 

Hold on---all is not lost. John can start to clean out old files filled with irrational thoughts and replace them with rational ones. He will need to add healthy behavior patterns to his new rational thoughts, which will start to change who he has become and how the world interacts with him. It will take consistent effort over several weeks and months, but change will happen. 

I challenge you to examine how you have chosen to see yourself in the past and how behavior patterns you developed over the years have been maladaptive. You are not any different than you neighbors, your classmates, or your co-workers. There is no genetic defect, but rather a pattern of unhealthy thinking plus unhealthy behavior that has landed you where you are today. Decide now to make a change and stick with it over the next several weeks and months and before you know it you will begin to see a new person, who is much healthier and happier, emerging.