1.  The All-or-Nothing Thinking
The person who thinks this way sees everything in black-or-white terms.  Perfectionists see their work as either perfect or worthless.  The healthy person sees spectrums and variations and exceptions in nearly every area of life.

2.  Overgeneralizations
This is the tendency to draw sweeping conclusions from very little evidence.

3.  Negative Mental Filter
This person filters out any bit of information that is positive or good.  He or she doesn’t hear compliments or praise, only criticism.

4.  Disqualifying the Positive
This person hears the compliment but discounts it.  He or she explains away words of affirmation or praise.  For example, a person just given a promotion may say, “I don’t deserve this.  They are just feeling sorry for me because I’m a loser.”

5.  Jumping to Conclusions
This person exaggerates the importance of isolated events or encounters.  He may magnify his own emotions, mistakes, or imperfections.  He minimizes, however, any success he may have.  A healthy-thinking person maximizes the good points and minimizes the failures.

6.  Magnification or Minimization
This person exaggerates the importance of isolated events or encounters.  He may magnify his own emotions, mistakes, or imperfections.  He minimizes, however, any success he may have.  A healthy-thinking person maximizes the good points and minimizes the failures.

7.  Emotional Reasoning
This person sees an outcome as directly flowing from her emotions.  For example, the person may feel hopeless about passing an exam, so he doesn’t show up to take it.  The healthy person separates current feelings from future events.

8.  “Should” Statements
This person has a rigid set of internal rules about what should, must, ought to, can’t and has to be done.  The healthy person knows and expresses the fact that there are very few hard-and fast rules in life.

9.  Labeling and Mislabeling
This person is likely to give himself or another person negative labels such as stupid or idiot.  The healthy person avoids labels.

10.  Personification
This person blames himself for events over which he has no control or less control than he assumes.  For example a parent who becomes filled with guilt and self-judgment over his teenager’s experimenting with drugs.  A healthy person refuses to take responsibility or blame for someone else’s freewill choices.

Do you see yourself with any of these tendencies?  I know I saw myself in a few.  The first step to change is recognizing or identifying the problem.  Next you want to make every effort to try to change. Have you ever noticed how things change when a real negative person walks in the room?  The world is out to get him, if it’s not one thing it’s another and he is no fun to be around.  If that person makes you feel like life is doom and gloom, think about his life and the toll that those deadly, negative emotions have on him.  Deeper thought - go further and think about any negative emotions you may have and the effect they have not only on other people but what are they doing to you?

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