Tired of being depressed and unhappy, I decided to seek professional help. My therapist used Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in my treatment. It’s important to know that I was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Obsessive, Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD). After many, many, months of therapy and self-searching, it finally all came together for me. I began to understand the cause of my unhappiness and depression was in my way of thinking. I was negatively interpreting things that were happening around me. I learned I had ‘trained’ myself to be negative by my negative thinking. (See Understanding Neuroplasticity) Being OCPD, I was obsessing on negative thoughts ( I would ruminate ), and that was causing my unhappiness and depression. That’s when I started my new obsessive journey to understand and practice mindful thinking. Now my life has turned around. I feel blessed because I’m living a life of contentment. I still have OCPD, but instead of being my curse, I consider it a blessing because I live being OCPD with a positive attitude. I still strive to be perfect, but I’m willing to accept ‘good enough’ because I can always go back and make an edit, when necessary. And my obsessive behavior patterns allow me to explore positively and deeply anything that catches my interest, as it did with learning ‘mindful thinking’, which resulted in the creation of this website. I learned that ‘thoughts’ create ‘emotions’. (See Thoughts Create Emotions) I learned to observe my negative thoughts, so that I can then deliberately interrupt them and choose to think positive thoughts. That has changed my life for the better. The change has been dramatic, like day and night. This is why I cannot stress strongly enough the importance of mastering mindful thinking. Just do it – for no better reason than you have decided to take control of your thoughts and honor a birth right to enjoy your life and be happy and content! Just do it for your own best-self interest.
(See The Power of Mindfulness: What You Practice Grows Stronger | Shauna Shapiro )