This table will help you find the words to change your thoughts. As discussed on the Brain Works post, the mind creates certain patterns of thoughts – PositivityZone calls this a thought bias. It’s the tendency of our thoughts to be either positive or negative in nature.
This bias (or tendency) is a learned behavior. A history of more negative or more positive thoughts as literally trained the brain to be biased toward negative or positive thoughts. Therefore, undoing this learned bias requires work.
The list is easy enough to follow. It provides a list of negative-bias thoughts and and their alternative positive-bias thoughts. However, it can be quite difficult for some people to move quickly from a negative to a positive bias thought. To ease this transition, a series of Diluted bias examples are also provided. Just remember that you need to get to the positive bias column.
Find your negative bias thought in the first column and immediately read the positive bias alternative. Try your very best to use it. But if it’s just too difficult, then use the diluted bias option as for now. Bookmark this page. Then come back often until you are comfortable using the positive bias solution.
If you haven’t read it yet, you may want to read our Bias Change Technique post. It provides a step-by-step process that is used in tandem with the table below. In it, you’ll find details on the four steps needed to change your bias. These are: Awareness, Ownership, Management, and Implementation.
Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything,
— George Bernard Shaw
Change Your Thoughts Table
| Negative-bias | Diluted-bias | Positive-bias |
|---|---|---|
| I can’t/won’t tolerate… | I don’t like… | I can/will accept… |
| I will never… | I might someday… | I can gain the ability to… |
| I must have… | I feel I need to have… | I would like to have… |
| She/He must (or must not)… | I feel she/he should… | I would prefer that she/he… |
| I hate… | I dislike… | I can deal with… |