Page 36 - Surveyor 50.2 2015

MANAGING STRESS

Wan Hussin W.M.A.
Licensed Land Surveyor under Act 458 (Rev. 1991)
Malaysian Speaking Professional
Universiti Sains Malaysia

Stop your Cognitive
Distortions to Reduce Stress

Cognitive distortions, or in simple terms, faulty thinking patterns, can impact our
thoughts, responses, behaviours and the way we handle our daily stress. The way
we think about what is going on in our daily lives can greatly contribute to whether or
not we find events in our lives stressful or otherwise. Therapists claim that self-talk
develops from childhood and the way we were brought up, but the continuous practice
to change the habitual thought pattern may bring a big change in life.
The internal dialogue which is our self talk that runs in our minds can lead the way as to
how we interpret those daily events which in turn portray the thinking patterns and our
response to it. That leads to an explanation as to how we judge the situations that we
encounter in front of our lives as these can actually make things seem better or worse,
stressful or less stress, threatening or otherwise. Some of us tend to see things in a
more positive light, while others tend to view things more negatively.

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