Mood Gym
I'm working out at Mood Gym. It's an online cognitive behavioural therapy website, which I stumbled across while searching on Wikipedia for the answer as to why I am not a flawless and amazing human being in every way.
(Wikipedia thinks it is because I have unrealistic expectations. Oh, Wikipedia, trying to make me feel better!)
Anyway. Mood Gym. Just worked through the first module. It discusses how negative thinking can colour both your reaction to an incident, and shape your behaviour afterwards. Shocking, I know! Thing is, it's the kind of lesson that bears repeating for a lot of people. Including me.
I hope their copywriters got paid. They have managed to create a sense of playfulness and lightheartedness without cheapening the subject overmuch or coming off as TOO cheesy.
The part that inspired me to post? They just had an example of a negative thought chain, which I summarise here:
Person X goes for job interview, stuffs it up royally. Their thoughts: "This is the end of my career prospects..." They feel distraught. Then they buy a crowbar.
That gave me a good laugh.
(And to those who might say "But Wendy, how can you laugh at that, some people do turn to a life of crime when their prospects seem non-existent and it is a terrible thing!" - YES, THANK YOU. I shall curb my amusement at this hypothetical situation henceforth! Clearly comedy should only be used for things like people slipping over on banana skins, and not for helping people to discuss difficult situations and deep-seated issues.)
(What, me? Have a bee in my shoulder? A chip on my bonnet? Heavens no! Where do you get these ideas.)
