“The Sky Is Falling”

Building on my last post this is a fundamental principle of thought choice.​ We are probably all familiar with the children's story "Chicken Little." When an acorn falls on his head he thinks that the sky is falling.  The whole story is built around this irrational thought.  We can learn in a small way from this story the challenges that choosing irrational thoughts in life can create.  

We need to start with the very basics.  There are only two types of thoughts.  Some people mistakenly think they are "good and bad," "right and wrong," or "positive and negative."  None of these pairs is correct. The two types of thoughts are "rational and irrational."  Rational means sensible, reasonable or logical.  Irrational then would mean not sensible, unreasonable and illogical.  It should be quite obvious which thoughts we would rather have----rational ones.  Unfortunately many people are unknowingly choosing irrational thoughts everyday.  Irrational thoughts lead to emotions that are unhealthy and unnecessary.  Let's apply this to a real life example.

Let's pretend you flunk an Algebra test and you choose the following thoughts:  "I'm so dumb;" "I'm going to flunk this class;" "I'm never going to make it into college."  These are all irrational thoughts because probably everyone has flunked a test before.  If you are even enrolled in Algebra Class you are not dumb and you cannot predict that you will flunk the class or not get into college unless you have a crystal ball!  These thoughts will lead you to feel extremely frustrated and hopeless and contribute to feelings of low self esteem, all of which are totally unnecessary!  Let's replace these irrational thoughts with rational ones like these:  "That's a bummer; I was hoping to have done better;" "I need to study harder for the next test;" "I need to talk to the teacher about tutoring:" "If I work hard it is highly likely that I will pass this class and I will get into college."  These thoughts are rational and lead to emotions such as hope and determination.  There may be a little frustration but not to the point of immobilization.  

Now don't get me wrong, I am not claiming choosing rational thoughts will lead to a life of bliss.   You can be assured that if you choose rational thoughts whatever emotions you feel are a natural part of your human experience and appropriate to have.  As you learn to accept these emotions and develop healthy ways to cope with them you will increase your emotional intelligence and be able to move forward productively in life.