Four Mental Hygiene Tips for 2020

Description: All of us tend to our physical hygiene. It is important that we do. Little attention, however, is given to mental hygiene. In this episode Ted Witzig Jr. urges the listener to employ four simple mental hygiene tips in the new year.

Content contained in this episode:

• Like a lens we see the world through, our thought life is the first filter of our reality. Critical it is then, that we think well.
• By process of spiritual growth, God wishes to transform our thinking – thinking that becomes more like his. Romans 12:1-2
• Four cognitive distortions that need to be guarded against:
  • “All or nothing thinking.” This is the tendency to process our world in one of two buckets – perfection or failure.
    • “My day was either all bad or all good.”
    • “My project was either perfect or terrible.”
    • “Our relationship is either perfect or dysfunctional.”
  • “Mind reading”-This is the tendency to project thoughts and motives onto other people.
    • “He’s thinking I’m stupid.”
    • “She said ‘yes’ but really meant ‘no’.”
  • “Emotional reasoning”-This is the tendency to interpret reality by your feelings.
    • “Because I feel unloved, I am unloved.”
    • “Because I feel disconnected, people don’t love me.”
  • “Catastrophizing”-This is the tendency to fear the worst.
    • “What if I fail?”
    • “What if she gets sick?”
    • “What if they don’t like me?”

Listen on Spotify   –   Listen on Apple Podcast

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Helpful Resources:

Learning to Tell Myself the Truth    
Author: William Backus, Ph.D.
This 220-page workbook helps readers to understand their negative self-talk and learn to use scriptural truths to think in a healthy, Christ-like manner. It includes specific chapters on dealing with depression, anxiety, anger, and perfectionism.

 

Healthy-Self-Talk

Truth-Talk

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