The unkind thoughts you have about yourself don’t have to be due to something really bad.
They could simply be that you don’t like the way you look in your new outfit, or you are disappointed in yourself for oversleeping. It could also be that you didn’t call your mother when you said you would, or that you ate the last cookie in the cookie jar. All it takes is one negative thought to fuel the negative thinking-feeling-behaving loop.
This loop of bad thoughts leading to bad feelings leading to bad behaviors is a continuous loop of “doom and gloom” unless you do something to change it. The catch is you can’t do anything to change it until you become aware that it is happening. Remember, neither feelings nor behaviors occur by accident, even when it may seem as though they do.
• Every feeling has a source: a single thought.
• Every behavior has a source: the feeling that was preceded by a thought.
When you don’t know what you are thinking it is impossible to change anything. If you want to change the way you feel you have to become aware of your thoughts. It is a must.
German-born theoretical physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was correct when he said “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Likewise, we can’t change our other-dependent esteem with the same thinking we used to create it.
The way you think about yourself is dependent upon the way you esteem yourself, and the way you esteem yourself is dependent upon the way you think about yourself.
