Seminar 5.2

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Seminar 5.2

• You Are What You Think

2
Do Now

• Turn to the person next to you.
• You will spend the next 4 minutes discussing what
  you wrote in your stress journal.
• Tell them what happened to stress you out and
  what you thought, felt and did.
• How did it feel to write about your problem? Did
  it calm you down at all or let out some of the
  bad feelings?

3
The Crossing Over Game

• Everybody needs to stand up and walk to the back
  of the classroom.
• Now cross to the front of the room if you
• are usually happy
• have ever been told you have an attitude
• try to give people compliments
• make fun of people
• consider yourself an optimist.

4
Attitude

• Research shows that attitude has a direct impact
  on health.
• Pessimism vs. Optimism

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Pessimism

• People react to life events in very different
  ways.
• Pessimism is a way of thinking where you always
  see the bad side of things. This makes you more
  likely to give up when things go poorly, and that
  can lead to depression.

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Optimism

• Optimism is when you always notice the good side
  of things.
• Researchers have demonstrated that optimists live
  longer, have fewer health problems, do better
  academically, in business, in political elections
  and athletic competitions.

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Pessimists

• blame other people for bad things that happen
• say that its just luck when good things happen
• think that bad things last forever and good
  things just last for a little while
• think their whole life is terrible and dont
  really notice as much when good things happen

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Optimists

• take responsibility for their mistakes
• take credit for the good things they do
• know that bad things wont last forever and
  think that good things can last longer
• even when bad things happen, they remember all
  the good things in their lives

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Scenario 1

• Positive EventYou got an A on a science test!
• How long will it last?
• The optimist would see this event as permanent.
  I am always going to perform academically.
• The pessimist would see it as temporary. Right
  now, Im doing okay.

10
Scenario 1 (contd)

• Is my whole life going to be like this?
• Optimists would think pervasively that they were
  a good student.
• Pessimists would think more specifically that I
  did well on this exam.
• Did I do that?
• The optimist would take credit for this success.
  I did well on this test because Im a good
  student and I worked hard.
• The pessimist would attribute this success to
  luck. This was just an easy exam.

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Scenario 2

• Negative EventYou got an F on a science exam!
• The optimist
• I didnt do well this time, but I will
  definitely improve for the next exam.
  (permanence)
• I didnt do well on this exam. (pervasiveness)
• This was a very difficult exam, and now I know I
  need to study more or get a tutor.
  (personalization)
• The pessimist
• I always do badly. Im a lousy student. The
  teacher didnt go over any of this stuff in
  class. She made me fail.

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How to be an optimist

• The Utility Method
• When something bad happens, you can think
  negative thoughts and beat yourself up about it,
  or you can find a better way to look at it.
• Finding a more useful way to look at a situation.
  Rather than saying Im an idiot say Maybe I
  need to try that again.

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How to be an optimist (contd)

• The Double Standard
• When bad things happen to our friends, we can be
  really good at making them feel better.
• Sometimes our teachers or parents are really good
  at making us feel better when were stressed out.
  
• When you are upset, think about what advice you
  would give to a friend who feels that way or what
  your teacher or parent would say to you. Then say
  it to yourself.
• We are usually a lot harder on ourselves.

14
How to be an optimist (contd)

• (This is a crazy made-up word!)
• De-Catastrophyzing
• If something is upsetting you, but nobodys
  getting hurt, you can remind yourself that it
  could be worse.
• The goal of this is to remind yourself that its
  not a huge crisis. Think about how in the whole
  world, our problems usually arent that big of a
  deal.

15
Lets practice!

• On the worksheet, there are scenarios of bad
  things that happened to Jim.
• On the lines, write some good advice for Jim.

16
Ticket Out

• What is something that usually stresses you out?
• How did you do you usually with it?
• Could you think about it differently now that you
  know how to be an optimist? How?