Irrational Thoughts

Irrational thoughts occasionally occur in the minds of all people. Intelligence does not make someone immune to irrational thought. These thoughts typically clutter our minds with feelings of resentment and distaste. Sometimes they are based on internal defense mechanisms we develop to mitigate personal anger in an attempt to avoid facing the truth about ourselves or our immediate circumstances. If someone imposes stringent expectations related to a stressful issue on themselves or their close companions, irrational thought is likely to set in, and all parties involved will probably experience needless emotional grief.

Passionate perceptions of an event made by someone in distress can seem crazy from a third party perspective. This craziness is simply the sum of stress and irrational thought. These thoughts allow the distressed party to remain the victim while avoiding all situational responsibility. One must learn to break this momentary negative thought process in order to achieve continuous stability in their life and in their relationships.

Here are 10 irrational thoughts that rational people often fall victim to at one point or another:

1. Mistakes are never acceptable. If I make one, it means that I am incompetent.
   
2. When somebody disagrees with me, it is a personal attack against me.
   
3. To be content in life, I must be liked by all people.
   
4. My true value as an individual depends on what others think of me.
   
5. If I am not involved in an intimate relationship, I am completely alone.
   
6. There is no grey area. Success is black and failure is white.
   
7. Nothing ever turns out the way you want it to.
   
8. If the outcome was not perfect, it was a complete failure.
   
9. I am in absolute control of my life. If something bad happens, it is my fault.
   
10. The past always repeats itself. If it was true then, it must be true now.
    

Your life will be more productive if you learn to avoid this type of negative thinking as hard as that may be. I know I still struggle with some of these thoughts and have to counteract them with positive self talk.