Download to read offline
Uploaded byNicola Morgan
Pathways exercise.pptx
The document explains how negative intrusive thoughts become stronger pathways in our brains through repetition, making them harder to change. It emphasizes that just as negative thoughts can create strong neural pathways, practicing positive thoughts can help form new, stronger pathways over time. By choosing to focus on positive thoughts, individuals can gradually make them the easier option, reducing the influence of negative thoughts.
More Related Content
Pathways exercise.pptx
- 1. STRESS WELL by Nicola Morgan www.nicolamorgan.com 3.1 Pathways– Negative thoughts
- 2. “Negative intrusive thoughts” Sometimesa worry, fear or negative thought goes over and over in our mind
- 3. Thoughts • A thoughtis just an electrical signal in your brain • The signal follows a path between brain cells • Each time you have that thought, that path becomes stronger
- 4. How we learnthings • Your brain contains billions of nerve cells called “neurons” • When you learn something new, you grow pathways between them • This works for skills, facts, memories and thoughts
- 6. Learning a fact Parisis the capital of France © andersphoto
- 7. Learning a fact •You’ve had that thought lots of times, so the neural pathway is strong • When you learn a new fact, the pathway is weak. You make it strong with practice • A fact is just a thought – it’s a piece of knowledge or belief in your brain
- 8. Negative thoughts •But the brain learns negative and false thoughts, too • Each time we have the negative thought, that pathway gets stronger • So we are more likely to have the thought again
- 9. This is asteep hill going down Let me show you
- 10. Imagine you cometo this place in the path. You have to choose a way down.
- 11. Imagine you choosethis path the first day
- 12. Next day, youwill PROBABLY choose the same path. It will be easier. And harder to choose a different one.
- 13. Each day, thatpath will be more obvious and easier to follow.
- 14. Soon, it willbe the only path you bother to try. It will be a habit.
- 15. Imagine that thispath was a negative thought in your brain. It has become the thing you keep thinking. It’s hard to have a different thought.
- 16.
- 17. You COULD chooseanother path. It wouldn’t be easy at first. But you could. You could choose to think a POSITIVE thought.
- 18. The more youhave the positive thought, the stronger that new path would become and it would be easier each time
- 19. Soon, it wouldbe the easier path to follow and the old negative one would fade away and become weak.
- 20. The old pathwon’t completely disappear. You might have that thought again, but you’ll be able to find the positive one more easily. You did it once – you can do it again.
- 21. Keep practising thepositive thought. Soon you’ll be brilliant at it!
- 22. STRESS WELL by Nicola Morgan www.nicolamorgan.com 3.1 Pathways– Negative thoughts