A technique you can use to replace a negative thought with a positive one is called Thought Stopping. Here’s the way it works:
- You walk into a party and a negative thought starts to form in your mind: “I don’t know these people. No one will talk to me, and I’ll be miserable all evening.”
- To stop that thought, imagine a door. The door can be made of anything you choose—carved mahogany, two-foot-thick steel, marble, a velvet curtain…anything you feel will be most effective in keeping the self-defeating thoughts securely banished from your desire and willingness to create a positive attitude.
- Now that you’ve stopped the negative thought from coming in, you are free to choose a more positive thought/interpretation: “I don’t know many people here, so of course they are not going to just come up to me. After all, I am not going up to them. I’ll find someone here I know and sit with that person until I feel more comfortable.
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