We can correct that belief to we will be just as effective in facing the threats that we face if we plan a course of action to deal with them and try to be optimistic. In fact we may be more effective if we come across to others as optimistic and we may have more energy to do what we should do if we are not burdened by pessimism. With the above correction, not only do we reduce our motivation to be pessimistic, we also create motivation to be optimistic. An interesting question is whether these painful thoughts have corresponding emotions. Certainly there are thoughts associated with these emotions.
Pessimistic thoughts can lead to the emotion of fear.
The belief one is being taken advantage of can lead to anger and so on. In order to deal with painful emotions we can take three approaches. One is to take some time to concentrate one's effort on not feeling the emotion. Another approach is to diagnose the thoughts leading to the emotions and altering them and the third is to displace the emotions with positive emotions. All rights reserved.