Changing Negative Thinking Patterns

Conversation Starters

Dr. Cloud says up to 90% of the thoughts you have today are the same ones you had yesterday. You're running the same software on repeat — and most of it was installed by people and experiences you never chose. If you could update one line of code in your mental programming, which thought pattern would you rewrite?

A woman described her husband as Godzilla — controlling, dangerous, so powerful she was terrified to speak her mind. When Dr. Cloud finally met him, he was the mouseiest, most agreeable man imaginable. She'd been married to a map, not a person. Where in your life might you be reacting to a picture from your past instead of the person actually standing in front of you?

A man pulled into a gas station in a new town and asked the old attendant, "What are the people like around here?" The wise man replied, "What were they like in the last place you lived?" — because what you see says more about your mental map than it does about the territory. What map are you carrying from the last place — and is it accurate for where you are now?