Predicting the future is the underlying theme of both Anxiety and Optimism.
Anxiety is a fearful, negative prediction of the future and Optimism is a hopeful, positive prediction of the future. Both are predictions – with the opposite perspective.
How can we moderate and modify the negative, fearful predictions:
- Break down fearful thoughts into smaller parts.
- Think carefully about each “part” of the thought and identify the negative fear.
- Think through the fear and identify what you can do to minimize the fear, or dispel the fear because it is unfounded.
- Think through every fearful part of the negative thought; challenging each part to find a solution for the fear or to dispel the part/s as unfounded or highly unlikely.