There’s no reason to let pessimistic self-chatter dictate¹ how you view the rest of your day. The more we let our negative thoughts occupy our mind without interruption, the more interconnected they will become.

没有理由让消极思想控制你看待今后生活的态度，我们越任由消极情绪占据思想，它就越强大。

NEGATIVE THINKING COMES WITH WARNING SIGNS

消极思想都有征兆

My negative thought warning sign: I start senselessly criticizing myself. For me, it was a sign that I needed to check in with myself about how I was feeling in regards to my goals and responsibilities. After some self-reflection, I found the problem: My to-do list had been piling up, and I was avoiding some tasks that needed to either be delegated or taken head on. Cue the negative thinking.

我的消极思想的征兆是：开始无意识地批评自己。对我而言这就是一个迹象，说明我需要审视自己是如何看待目标和责任的。自我反思之后我发现了问题所在：我的任务清单太满了，我是想避开一些需要交由别人代理或亲自完成的任务，从而触发了消极思想。

That check-in allowed me to take early action. Your warning sign to negative thinking, however, might be different from mine.

这种反思使我能提前采取应对措施，然而你的消极思想征兆可能跟我不一样。

SUBTLE THOUGHTS AND BEHAVIORS TO LOOK OUT FOR

注意细微的想法和行为

●Are you a nail biter?

你喜欢咬指甲吗？

●Self insulter?

喜欢自虐？

●Impulse buyer?

是购物狂？

●Emotional eater?

还是情绪化的吃货？

In a lot of ways, these are all “self-soothing” behaviors, even if some of them can cause more problems than they solve. But they are also behaviors that we do often without noticing.

在很多时候这些都是自我安抚行为，即使其中一些可能弊大于利。但这些也经常是我们不经意间的行为。

One of these behaviors on their own might hardly be noticeable or not even considered negative. But when we pay attention to the timing² and frequency of these types of behaviors, they could be early signs of depression. When we notice these subtle signs, we can better take preventive or healing actions.

这些行为本身可能很难被人注意到或被视为消极行为，但当我们注意到此类行为的持续时间和频率时，他们可能就会成为忧郁的早期迹象，一旦我们注意到这些细微的迹象就能更好地采取预防或解决措施。

Another benefit of noticing these subtle signs: You may start to notice that they happen around certain people, at certain times of day, or even in certain places. If you are able to identify these triggers to your negative thoughts or self-soothing behaviors, you may be able to eliminate the trigger altogether.

注意到这些细微迹象的另一个好处就是：你可以开始关注这些行为在哪些人身边、一天中什么时间或甚至在什么地点发生。如果能找到触发消极情绪或自我安抚行为的东西，你就能把诱因一起清理掉。

HOW TO STOP NEGATIVE THINKING ONCE YOU SPOT IT

发现消极思想如何阻止

Well, using my previous example, you could do a check in with yourself and examine your current thoughts and expectations about how things are going. Or, you could also use a popular Dialectical Behavior Therapy technique called “Opposite Emotion Action”. The technique works as follows:

像我以前一样你可以自我反思并梳理一下目前的想法和对事情发展方向的期待，或者你也可以利用时下正流行的辩证行为疗法中的一种方法，叫作“反向情绪行为”，方法如下：

1. Identify your negative feeling

1.确定你的消极情绪

In my case, it might have been self-loathing or disappointment.

对我而言可能是自我厌恶或失望。

2. Identify an opposite emotion

2.确定相反的情绪

For me, it might have been self-love or gratitude³.

对我而言可能是自爱或感激。

3. Act as if that is how you were feeling

3.表现得好像积极情绪才是自己真实的想法

This might have caused me to think something like “I’m running really well today.” or “At least I got out of bed this morning to exercise!”

这样可能我就会想“我今天跑得真好”或者“至少我今天早上起床锻炼了！”

This technique can shift your negative thoughts to more neutral or even positive thoughts, and will certainly help prevent them from getting worse.

这个技巧能使你的消极想法变得更中立或甚至转换成积极的想法，一定能避免你的想法越来越糟。

Spotting our negative thoughts before they turn us into a ball of stress isn’t easy–but when we pay a little more attention to our automatic thoughts and behaviors, we can start to see the future and prevent negative thoughts from taking hold.

在压力堆积成山之前发现消极情绪并非易事，但当我们多花一点心思关注自己下意识的想法和行为时，我们就能看到未来，避免被消极情绪控制。