Thinking Errors That Keep You Fat (2)
Here are three more thinking errors (the first three are here) that keep us stuck from making real change in our lives. Your mind will use these distortions to make you feel bad and helpless and hopeless unless they are caught and replaced with more accurate thoughts.
The first one in this episode is jumping to conclusions. We take a single fact--positive or negative--and imagine it will continue forever. Instead of seeing the big picture, we only see one single data point and decide it will be that way for eternity.
The second one is mind reading. Mind reading is a variation on jumping to conclusions; with this thinking error we believe we actually know what another person, or group of people, is thinking--typically about us.
Discounting the positive is a real killer. Any gain or progress we have ever made does not count, it's only the negative--the things we don't have or have not acquired--that mean anything. Yes I have 3 million in savings but my neighbor has five. I have lost a 80 pounds, but until I have lost 85, I'm a loser. On and on...instead of looking at the big picture, we look at the segment that makes us feel bad.
The fallacy of fairness is another thinking error that causes nothing but problems when working on a goal. Accepting the fact that life is not fair is tough, but it is true. We need to examine what we have and what we don't (see the previous paragraph). In doing so we can focus on our strengths and make those work for us.
The episode wraps with me finding out the damage after traveling to Germany and having pie, waffles and cake along with a whole lot of jet lag and a wee bit of exercise, usually with wee ones to keep me company.