Hi Tito,
A couple of things that have really helped me in Week 3 is Lucinda's definition of what a negative thought is. She explains it as an irrational, not fact-based nor realistic thought. This has helped me to weed out a lot of my own thoughts. It has helped me to cut out judgmental thoughts about other people and myself. This doesn't mean that having a thought that isn't positive or cheerful is automatically negative. It is normal to feel frustration, sadness or anger when the situation realistically contributes to these feelings- that is the question to ask yourself. Furthermore, to dwell on these feelings is not healthy or productive, even when they are legitimately understandable.
The second thing that has helped me is to use the visualization of a stop sign whenever that judgment or irritability sneeks in. There are also physical symptoms that sometimes accompany these feelings for me, my breathing starts to pick up pace, my shoulders start to tense and these have helped me to recognize that I need to see that darned stop sign (!), take a few d-e-e-p breaths...and redirect my thoughts. I even find myself saying the words "negative thought" to myself out loud when with my partner if I start say something or even when he does...lol. He has been very supportive of this process and is actually picking up some great skills himself.
I want to encourage you to keep coming back to this forum as I need to do the same. I have always found the encouragement and answers that I've needed here and I hope that I've been able to provide some encouragement to you! God bless
Wow! This is an eye opener. I have to learn to move on. I am learning so much about myself and my behaviors with this program. I am so thankful I have this. I will move on to the other sessions. I was a bit hesitant with this forum thinking if this was going to help me but in fact it does.