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The Power of Negative Thinking
Tony Humphreys
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- English
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eBook - ePub
The Power of Negative Thinking
Tony Humphreys
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About This Book
`An immensely challenging book' The Irish Times
'A useful self-help book, written by a psychologist and designed to increase self-awareness and a much greater understanding of self' Irish Independent
An exciting guide for personal healing, growth and development, The Power of `Negative' Thinking was first published in 1996.
It has sold 30, 000 copies in its original format and has been translated into twelve foreign-language editions. It is a ground-breaking publication which successfully challenges many of the current ideas in psychology today by making some surprising but convincing claims.
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Topic
Crescita personaleSubtopic
Salute mentale e benessereContents
Cover
Title page
Chapter 1: Protecting Yourself in an Unsafe World
The world is often not a safe place to be
The wisdom of protection
Chapter 2: The Power of ‘Negative’ Thinking
There is no such thing as negative thinking
Protective thinking rather than negative thinking
Types of protective thinking
Identifying your patterns of protective thinking
Chapter 3: The Power of ‘Positive’ Thinking
There is no such thing as positive thinking
Open thinking rather than positive thinking
Types of open thinking
Praise and affirmation
Chapter 4: The Power of ‘Negative’ Attitudes
Conscious thinking and preconscious attitudes
There is no such thing as a negative attitude
Protective attitudes rather than negative attitudes
Identifying your protective attitudes
Chapter 5: The Power of ‘Negative’ Feelings
There is no such thing as a negative feeling
Protective feelings rather than negative feelings
Identifying and understanding protective feelings
Levels of protective feeling
Chapter 6: The Power of ‘Negative’ Action
There is no such thing as negative action
Protective action rather than negative action
Types of protective action
Interpersonal conflict is creative and protective
Healing and protective action
Chapter 7: The Power of Stress and Illness
The body is always right
Language, stress and illness
The body as a protector
Chapter 8: Realising Your Power
The power of the psyche
Knowing your power
Using your power to protect
Using your power to grow
Chapter 9: The Power of Safety
Safety is the key to healing
Personal safety
Interpersonal safety
Therapeutic safety
Chapter 10: Healing and Moving On
Healing and relationships
Personal healing
Interpersonal healing
Therapeutic healing
Chapter 11: Stories of Healing and Moving On
Safety and the telling of your story
The stories
Endless journey
In Between You and I
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Copyright
About the Author
About Gill & Macmillan
CHAPTER 1
PROTECTING YOURSELF IN AN UNSAFE WORLD
THE WORLD IS OFTEN NOT A SAFE PLACE TO BE
We live in a world of locks and bolts, guns, alarm systems, ‘Neighbourhood Watch’ systems, policing and insurance schemes to guard against all sorts of threats to our physical safety. It is no longer safe to walk alone on lonely country roads, remote forest paths or busy city streets. We are also aware of the risks to property. We are very alert to these threats to our physical safety and property, and we see the necessity and the creativity of developing behaviours and systems to protect ourselves. But what we are not so aware of are the multiple threats that exist to our emotional and social well-being. These emotional perils that children and adults face every day are, in many ways, an even greater threat to well-being than physical perils. Why? Because the prime need of people in our culture is to be loved, recognised, valued and accepted. Any threat to that emotional and social need poses great danger for people and so it is not surprising that, just as for physical threats, creative protections are developed to reduce or eliminate risks to emotional and social well-being. Where do these threats arise and what is their nature? They arise mainly in the following social systems:
The ways that an unsafe emotional atmosphere can develop in each of these systems are illustrated below.
Unsafe homes
The parental home is the first and most influential social system in our lives, while the second is the couple relationship. Most of us have been born into a family. As adults many of us are involved in a primary couple relationship. It is the nature of the relationships within these two systems that determines the level and intensity of the unsafety that can be experienced. Each family and couple relationship has its own unique culture and to truly understand a person’s present-day insecurity as an adult you need a detailed biographical history of that person.
Threats to the emotional well-being of family members or to partners in a couple relationship are posed by interactions that are of either a conditional or a totally neglectful nature.
FEATURES OF CONDITIONAL INTERACTIONS
In conditional interactions the unsafety that is created is due to the sad fact that you do not feel loved for yourself, and the only way you can gain love is by meeting certain conditions. What uncertainty this creates! There never can be a guarantee that you will be able to measure up and meet these conditions. Typical conditions for gaining love and recognition in families and couple relationships are: be good, be perfect, be clever, be beautiful, be like me, be the same, be kind, be the helper, be quiet. Unsafety arises with these expectations because love is withdrawn in the form of the kind of punishing behaviours listed above if you do not toe the line. When people – whether children or adults – experience these ...