The dozen dirty tricks our mind plays on us
This video explores the various cognitive distortions that can negatively impact family wellbeing. It introduces a series of "dirty tricks" our minds play, such as seeing things from only one perspective, relying too heavily on emotions, and jumping to conclusions with little information. The video challenges viewers to recognise these mental tricks and reflect on whether they are moving closer too or further away from family harmony. Practical steps are suggested to address and counteract these unhelpful thought patterns.
A man speaks:
Whether you know it or not, our mind can pay some really big tricks on us and take us away from family wellbeing. Many of the dirty tricks that our mind plays will be familiar to you. Here they are:
The one-eyed ogre: seeing things from only one side and ignoring all the other sides.
Prisoner of feeling: using feelings as the main guide for your actions and thoughts.
Disaster forecaster: falsely believing something awful will happen with very little information to back up that idea.
Maxi me thinking: falsely believing that all the bad things that've happened to you and others are all your fault.
Lame blaming: that's using a label for yourself, or others like... I'm bad or she's a bitch, it's all her fault.
Mules rules: stubbornly insisting that your ideas about how you, other people and the world should act, are the only ones that are right.
Countless thinking: that's convincing yourself that strengths, successes and good experiences don't count.
Tragic Magic thinking: that's incorrectly believing you know exactly what is going through someone else's mind without checking it out by... asking them.
Telltale thinking: believing something despite there being little to back up your ideas.
No middle riddle thinking: that's seeing things in only two ways, like... you're either perfect, or you're a total loser.
Circus mirror thinking: that's when you look at yourself, other people, or what happens to you, and you shrink the positive or you super-size the negative.
Too fast forward: jumping to big conclusions by using small bits of information, rather than waiting to get all the results or information that you need.
Your challenge is to keep or spot the dirty trick diary, and see which particular dirty trick your mind plays on you. The second challenge is to call it for what it is and ask yourself the question... Is this dirty trick taking me closer to or further away from family wellbeing? I think you probably know the answer to the question. Now think about a different way of making sense of the situation.