One of the most common reasons for anxiety and depression is unhealthy negative thinking.
These negative thinking patterns may cause you to doubt yourself and hurt your business goals. An example of a negative thinking pattern is a mental filter where you deliberately obscure the positive things in your mind and focus only on the negative things. This article will explore mental filters in more detail and how they can affect you.
What Is a Mental Filter?
A mental filter is a type of cognitive distortion in which a person is fixated on the negative experience and filters out everything else. When you interpret information using a negative mental filter, it can lead to anxiety and a feeling of hopelessness.
Most of us use mental filters in different cases. It may be in your home, work, school, or relationship. For example, when a customer gives negative feedback about your product, you overthink and forget that other customers appreciate it. Or instead of focusing on all the good things that your partner has done for you, you focused on that one time when they did something hurtful.
If left unchecked, mental filters can result in negative self-talk and low self-confidence, among others. Here are the consequences of mental filtering and tips for overcoming them.
1. Negative Self-Talk
When you filter all your positive thoughts and focus on the negative, you will likely develop a harmful self-labeling habit. Phrases like, “I am the worst” and “I will just ruin their life” are some examples of harmful self-talk. You worry that your mistakes will define you, and you will think that you’re broken or unlovable.
This is very dangerous because it lets you distance yourself from other people. Overcome it by being more accepting of the positive things around you. If you catch yourself having negative self-talk, write those feelings in a journal. Then make a table of the things you’re grateful for or what you finished today.
2. Low Self-Confidence
Mental filtering can also lower your self-confidence. As a pessimist, you become afraid that everything you do will go wrong. Therefore, you don’t let yourself relax and punish yourself if you make a mistake. You have a fear of trying and just become unmotivated to do things that are not familiar to you.
To raise your self-esteem, you need to recognize what you’re good at. Then, surround yourself with people who support and compliment you. You should also compliment yourself, even for just trying.
3. Anxiety and Depression
In the worst cases, you can develop anxiety and depression because of mental filtering. All those negative bottled-up emotions can be so overbearing that you feel that you just can’t do it anymore. You feel trapped by negative thoughts and think that there is no hope.
But know that there is always hope. Be kind to yourself and know that you are loved. There’s nothing wrong with getting help from mental health experts, so if you feel it’s too much, reach out to them. You can also talk to trustworthy family members and friends and open yourself up.
Read more: The Importance of Entrepreneurial Mental Health
Conclusion
Negative thinking is tough to break once you make it a habit, but it’s not impossible. Take a pause. Relax. Reach out to people who are supportive. Remember that there is always something good to appreciate in the world.
