Delusional Positivity

[Abstract]

Not sure how else to word it! Not entirely sure what happens with this. Have always been a person to look at the good possibly often because I don't want to deal with the alternative if that is what is happening.

Just used an analogy elsewhere of sitting on the track and the train is heading my way. I have a tendency to have moments of seeing the train and then find myself telling myself it is going to go past me, that it isnt really a train, that I have imagined it, that all will be fine, look at that mountain over there instead. Its been really extreme in the past and I even used to block out awareness of negative things happening at all.

Not entirely a cognitive distortion but it is distorted thinking. I wish there was a better way of dealing with this than making myself note and analyse the negative all the time. Weirdo, I know. ?

 

[Phoenix(not)]

It's not weird. Has the term "Teflon Mind" ever been suggested to you? It sounds like what you're describing It's a useful skill to master and means "biffing that thought" but in a Mindful way. Pervasive thoughts can be very troubling (they are for me) but when they happen, I recognise it and biff it immediately. My psychologist told me about this technique and I have found it useful. I'm a big fan of Mindfulness.

 

[Tinyflame]

Actually @Abstract , it's also part of the working definition of a defense mechanism, specifically denial. And you aren't a weirdo. Defense mechanisms can be healthy or unhealthy; unhealthy if they cause more problems than they're attempting to bear.

Then again, as a child, I recall reading and remembering (and say to myself, sometimes) the Optimist poem by someone anonymous:
The optimist fell 10 stories and at each window bar, he called out to his friends, "All right so far!" ? :rolleyes:

Tbh though, the Pessimist poem followed, 3 pages of, 'nothing to eat but food, nothing to breath but air', etc etc. So I suppose, it's fear, habit, personality, and many things. Good to try to remember some fear at least is False Evidence Appearing Real.

ETA, if it's unlikely risk of a train, it's one thing; if it is likely a train, it's another. If you're tied to the track and it's very likely the latter, it needs something else still. :hug:

 

[ILoveLife]

I think it's as important to learn to sit with uncomfortable thoughts or emotions as it is with the positive ones.
We tend to be a bit extremist about this, though, we're either all positive or all negative charge so it's good to find a balance in the middle ground.

I agree that mindfulness is a good approach for it. It helps to acknowledge thoughts and emotions as fleeting and not permanent (the delusion here is that it might be permanent, so we avoid it to protect ourselves - defense mechanims as @Junebug said )

If you like to think of trains there's a good exercise for that: Your mind as a train station, each thought as a train, you catch the one you need at the moment (positive or negative) not the one you want (delusional). It was really helpful for me to deal with actual delusions, t find the actual reasonable thought to "get into". Neuroplasticity did the rest, tbf.

When we learn to sit with our emotions, they become less intense too. With irrational thoughts, they can even stop making sense, since our intelligence disputes them.

 

[EveHarrington]

It’s not necessarily about noting the negative, it’s about noting reality.

 

[grit]

What is your feeling?

 

[TTC18]

Not sure how else to word it! Not entirely sure what happens with this. Have always been a person to look at the good possibly often because I don't want to deal with the alternative if that is what is happening.

Just used an analogy elsewhere of sitting on the track and the train is heading my way. I have a tendency to have moments of seeing the train and then find myself telling myself it is going to go past me, that it isnt really a train, that I have imagined it, that all will be fine, look at that mountain over there instead. Its been really extreme in the past and I even used to block out awareness of negative things happening at all.

Not entirely a cognitive distortion but it is distorted thinking. I wish there was a better way of dealing with this than making myself note and analyse the negative all the time. Weirdo, I know. ?

I do this! and the opposite extreme as well.

 

[Mach123]

Thanks so much, this is devastating lol. Is that a real train, or the trauma train? Is there a difference? Oh I see, it's a train and I'm driving it.