POSITIVE ATTITUDE AND REFRAMING

HOW YOUR BRAIN WORKS

• Every time you think a thought, your brain is activating.

• An electrochemical path of communication is occurring between cells.

• The more you think that thought, the stronger the neural pathway becomes, making it more likely that in the future, that thought you are thinking over and over again will be the thought you think over and over again!

• You have the power to create a new thought.

• You have the power to choose what thought you will focus on.

WHAT THOUGHT WILL YOU CHOOSE?

• You have the power to view and therefore experience any event as either negative or positive.

• Will you choose to view think negative, self-defeating thoughts,

• Or• Will you choose to think positive, constructive

thoughts?

COGNITIVE REFRAMING

• Human beings are “meaning makers.• Buddhist philosophy tells us that this is the source

of much of our suffering.

• The world doesn't contain intrinsic meaning. We take the facts presented from our environments and infer meanings in our minds.

• But some of us get into the habit of assigning meanings that leave us feeling powerless, lonely and unmotivated.

COGNITIVE REFRAMING

• Here is another way to understand what is meant by reframing: • Edward Nelson Explains Reframing

COGNITIVE REFRAMING

• Reframing occurs when you take a particular circumstance or event and change the meaning you have assigned to it.

• Let’s practice: Think of a specific problem you have in your life right now.

• Now, practice how you could possibly view that problem as an opportunity.

COGNITIVE REFRAMING

• Next, think of some particular weakness that you’ve seen in yourself in the past…

• Try to spin that weakness into a strength. Be reasonable. This isn’t about lying to yourself.

CHANGE YOUR THINKING

• You have the power to direct your thinking!

• You have the power to change a negative to a positive!

• Practice this often – the more you recognize your negative thinking and reframe the thought to a positive, the better you’ll be able to do it. Like anything, practice makes perfect.