Unhelpful Thinking Styles:
- All or nothing thinking
- Mental filter that notices failures but not successes
- Jumping to conclusions (mind reading or fortune telling)
- Emotional Reasoning (I feel embarassed therefore I must be an idiot)
- Labeling (I’m a complete loser)
- Overgeneralizing (seeing a pattern based on a single event)
- Disqualifying the positive (That doesn’t count).
- Catastrophizing or magnifying the problem
- Using ‘should’ or ‘must’ to things/people we have no control over
- Personalization (Blaming yourself for something that wasn’t your fault).
Self-talk is something that goes on inside of us whether we are aware of it or not. The Critic, can be a formidable force that monopolizes our self-talk by attaching itself to one or more of the ten Unhelpful Thinking Styles listed above. Using mindfulness we can choose to let go of the Critic, and to train it to be a helpful thinker that supports us to align with our true purpose, whole, inspired, and open to life.
Resources for Understanding the Critic:
Two-You Work: How to Work With The Self in Conflict, by: Dr. Bea Mackay
Everything Is Workable, by: Diane Musho Hamilton
