Adding a positive emotional response to a thought?

I´ve noticed that even when I am not depressed, I tend to only or foremostly see, more specifically feel, the negative aspects of things as soon as I start to think about them for too long.

Even though I know my worrying is mostly based on What Ifs, assumptions and worst case scenarios, I respond to whatever I am worrying about at the time as if it was true. I then try to calm myself by laying an emphasis on the positive aspects, or by reminding myself of the fact that my negative thoughts usually do not have a basis. But even as I do this, I cannot get the negative emotional response to them out of my system. While the thought of it being positive or at least not negative registers, the feeling that should be attached to this knowledge does not.

Anyone similiar?

If so, do you know of any ways to not necessarily stop the negative feelings but at least balance them out by adding positive ones? How would I go about the "feeling" aspect of it?

Or, as an alternative, how can I stop or at least reduce racing thoughts and over-thinking?

If you do have any input, please treat me as if I had no brain and go into detail. When it comes to feelings and thought patterns I am very slow on the uptake.

-Camelidae

Hm, if I understand correctly I have similar with doing things like going to the shop (amongst other things, but as an example), with that I'll think out different outcomes of what will happen, I think it could be related to not liking the unknown or things happening that I can't predict, who will be on the till, etc. I mean it's not like I need an hour to be able to go to the shop or anything as debilitating as that, it just goes through my head naturally, but yeah I can relate to the negative overbearing positive thing and it remaining.

Sorry I can't really offer any advice though, it's something I've not delved into properly yet, and one of the reasons I'd like to get a dx so I can understand/deal with these things better, by trying to talk it over with someone without having to explain the suspected Asperger's part first or whatever.

^ That´s not quite it. I cannot really describe it though. Only now found the thread again.

ummm. I'm a bit confused on what you mean but I'll take a stab and let me know how close I am.

I usually expect the absolute worse to happen. I prepare for the worse, and expect the worse, hope for the best. I'm gonna get shot on my way to my AA meeting. I didn't get shot, happy days, gonna be a good night.

This way if I expect 0 to happen, and 1-10000000000 happen, I'm grateful for that, even just 1. Then if 0 happens I was expecting it and I cant bend myself out of shape over it. "Well, I cant be surprised someone ate my cereal.."

If I expect 10 to happen, but I get 5 happening, I'm not prepared, I let myself down, I feel like a failure, and it's a negative situation for me, not a neutral or positive.

If I expect 1 to happen, but I get a 10 happening, I get 9 better than I expected, things worked out quite well compared to how I expected them to. Cant complain about that. I can only be grateful that things turned out alot better than they could have.

Lets say I go into a biology test expecting to get a 100. I get a 91. Ive just now ruined my own day on my own, by setting an almost unrealistic expectation. Lets say I go into that test expect to get a 70. I get a 91. I did 21 points better than expected, awesome, good day. I did better than I expected. woot woot.


edit: Oh, are you saying that you think about your future negatively, and that puts your present self in a bad mood?

The only thing I can think of for you to do, is take a long hard thought about it, and learn to accept that the future hasn't happened yet, so there's no point in it affecting you right now. Let it affect you then. You can think about it, but keep the emotions out until it actually happens. You never now, it may unfold 100x better than your expecting, and you just wasted minutes, hours or days worrying about it.

what i meant was that if i think abouz something positive i dont have a positive feeling thinking about it. if i think abut somethinh negative i totally get that. i was wondering if there was a way to attach a positive feeling to the positive thought,

Camelidae wrote:what i meant was that if i think abouz something positive i dont have a positive feeling thinking about it. if i think abut somethinh negative i totally get that. i was wondering if there was a way to attach a positive feeling to the positive thought,

experience some positive stuff you can relate to it. Go help someone, do something fun and memorable, go dance in the middle of crowded area and just go all out ham. I dunno something like that though.

I assume your like that because you don't have, or don't think there was, much positive in your past?

zausel wrote:experience some positive stuff

That is sort of the problem.

zausel wrote:I assume your like that because you don't have, or don't think there was, much positive in your past?

No. I think my past was ok. There were good things, there were bad things.

Camelidae wrote:

zausel wrote:experience some positive stuff

That is sort of the problem.

zausel wrote:I assume your like that because you don't have, or don't think there was, much positive in your past?

No. I think my past was ok. There were good things, there were bad things.

hmmm, I haven't a clue then. I have the opposite problem. I relate everything, good or bad to the positive experiences in the situation, not the negative. What I've been told is to play the record all the way through. Try that or reverse the record all the way through. It might help.

Then again I'm not sure if I fully understand though.

^ Now I´m confused.

Camelidae wrote:^ Now I´m confused.

example: I think of when I drank, I had fun, then I stop there. So in my mind nothing bad ever happens when I drink. Playing the record fully means I think of how much fun I had, but I keep going to the point where I was throwing up in a toilet. I had fun, then I got got sloppy drunk(falling everywhere, slurring) then I was throwing up. This way I remember why I don't drink anymore and don't trick myself into thinking I'll just have fun and nothing but positive times.

I guess you would need to do a reversal of this. Play it through til you get to the good parts. That way you start to relate thoughts and events to good things.

Am I getting any closer?