I just realized how we silly we sound. I guess you had to be there or at least understand negative and positive.
Well, you know it works and I know it works. Anyone who doesn't understand has only to ask. Otherwise I sound like an idiot with rocks in his pockets. Well that got a smile on my face.
And like putting the negatives in a box. They are heavy and will sink to the bottom, leaving only room on top for the positives. You would have to dig into the box to reach a negative.
If you find yourself digging, stop, tell yourself, "I don't dig!" hypothetically speaking of course.
Here is another one of the ways I have been eliminating Negative thoughts. Maybe it will be helpful to others.
For each of my "Negative Thoughts" I imagine it in size and on a rock. Some are on pebbles but the bigger the thought, the bigger the rock. I have to carry these rocks with me daily. It's a burden when the weight is overwhelming.
For each of my "Positive Thoughts" I imagine it in size and on styrofoam. Some are styrofoam packing peanuts, but the better the positive thought, the bigger the styrofoam up to 6 inch balls.
Can you see how carrying the negative thoughts is a burden? Can you see how much lighter the biggest load of positives is easier to carry with you each day?
There are different kinds of memory and they are stored in different places. In fact events aren't stored as they happened but as pieces that are coded so they can be put together to form an episode. This reduces storage space and makes retrieval faster. But it also allows for a search for events that are similar and some of these similarities are going to cause anxiety. Changing negatives to positives makes more positive coding and more apt to be found when a search is done. It makes for a tighter field of possibilities closer related and less likely to cause panic. A negative pathway is still coded and that code will still use facts coded to similar positive facts but it takes a negative thought to use that negative coded pathway. No negative thoughts, no negative path and no panic attack. If there is one there will be fewer facts coded to it to use so it will be weak. Over time the code can be lost if not used. You still remember parts of it because the facts are tied to other codes. But without the code and a negative thought to activate it the facts are just facts and mean nothing until put together by another code and if all you have left is positive codes because you have been changing all your negative thoughts to positive then the memory will be just facts and harmless. EG no panic because positive thought can not cause fight or flight. A complicated process for such a simple thing.
So think positive and over time you will lose the ability to panic. Think negative and you will keep the negative/panic codes in place. Choice is yours.
To make this non technical Memory is like storing things in a box. If you have a negative in the box and keep putting positives in it the first thing you get when you open the box is a positive and another positive. You can still get a negative but you have to work pretty hard to get it. This is CBT. This is changing thought patterns.
I like your analogy about the corner. I'll give this a try. I remember Davit telling me try to bury it deep in memory and with me constantly keep digging it up isn't working.
I know I can live a life full of panic...just have to stop myself from going the wrong way.
I logged into site and responded to you, then went to my email and this is from Davit, He is unable to log into site and asked me to respond. This is what he wrote:
Burying negative thought is just challenging them and replacing them with something positive. But it has to be done repetitively so it is harder to get to the negative.
it is all about memory. It is about having so many positives in memory that the negatives are buried.
I don't know which post it is on, but I had a problem with anxious thoughts for several days and it was overwhelming. Davit talked about the Genies. I could picture the bad genie but not the good genie. Anyhow, I got fed up with those thoughts intruding on my life and basically sent them to the corner of my mind hypothetically speaking. Like bad children to the corner they went. Those thoughts are still in the corner. Every now and then one tries to get out, and I find a replacement thought for it or send it back to the corner of my mind. I also use stop the thought and redirect myself to something positive. Hope this helps
I've come along way since last year when I started with this battle. Some days are better and some moments are awesome, mainly because I'm busy enough to worry about my anxiety.
But I've realized that the problem is within myself. I can deal with feeling anxious, now I just say to myself okay lets feel anxious and deal with it. But what bothers me is that I am the one that always brings it back. My attacks are always self induced and symptoms have always been brought on because I think about them, kind of somatic.
Any advice on how I can turn off these thoughts. and let them as Davit always told me. BURY THEM. How do I bury them so I forget about them. Kind of like move on from them? I don't want to dig them up anymore. for example, when Im driving alone in the car, I think about them and then boom I get panicky and anxious.
I want to leave it alone now and don't think about it anymore....kind of like letting it go?
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