Here's some stuff that came up reviewing My Experiences this morning...
All or Nothing - regarding the party last night, I invited a people from different groups that my wife interacts with. Because only people from one of those groups showed up, I had these brief thoughts of failure. I attributed this to all or nothing thinking (if all groups not represented, then I failed) and countered this thought with my wife's comments that it was a good party and the fact that everyone there had a great time.
Jumping to Conclusions - I kept wondering if some people didn't show because I offended them in some way. I would start feeling anxious at this thought and try to figure out what I did and how I could remedy it. I really have no evidence of such an offense which is how I countered this thought.
Magnification - back to thinking about the people who didn't show up, I had a tendency to magnify the importance of those no-shows. Because my wife had a great time, and got to spend time with some friends she hadn't seen in a while, the fact that some people didn't show really wasn't that big of a deal.
Should Statements - Ate too much, didn't have all the people I invited showing up. I should have eaten less, I should have followed through better on the invitations. Actually, one day of over eating is not bad, and perhaps I would have slept better had I not eaten so much, but so what? We had a great time, the food was great, and the company was great. A better follow up on the invites? Maybe things would have been different, maybe they would have been worse. The fact is we had a great time with who showed up. Good enough.
So, this is how I started my day. Battling some residual thoughts from last night. Reviewing my experiences provides a somewhat structured way to address thoughts like these and mitigate them.
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