Healthy Reactions

Reactions

Asking questions about a detour naturally leads to answers.

• What caused the need for a detour?
• Why did the plan not work out?
• What went wrong?

For example, if you did not stick to your nutrition plan, you might ask yourself, “Why did I not eat better this past week?”

Answers might be:

• A busy schedule
• Had an argument with a family member
• Went to an unexpected birthday party

When you hit detours on the path to your goal, a healthy reaction sees them clearly and figures out how to go around them.

Better Reactions

• Your outlook is the sum of your thoughts and reactions to the events of your life
• You may often feel frustrated and discouraged if you tend to see problems as permanent
• If you see problems as temporary, your outlook will be more positive because you are likely to believe that you can change things

Inner Dialog

• We constantly talk to ourselves about the world around us
• Sometimes our thoughts are positive
• Sometimes they are negative
• If we become aware of negative thoughts, we can change them and how they make us feel

Positive Events

This session talks about reacting to negative events. How you react to positive events in your life can also affect how you feel.

• Just as with negative events, we often have learned ways of reacting to positive events
• However, the pessimistic way of thinking about positive events is different than for negative events
• Pessimistic people often think that the positive things in life have temporary, specific causes
• Pessimists are more likely to be discouraged and to give up on their goals
• They cannot really enjoy good or positive things because they believe those things will not last or were just a fluke in the first place

Resources

Session Worksheets

My Explanation Change

• My Explanation Change Worksheet.pdf
• My Explanation Change Worksheet.docx

Video Credits

Jenn Ernsberger