The battle against depression and mood disorders is never over.  You may knock depression down, but it’s rare to knock it completely out.  Everyone experiences negative thoughts when they are tired or in a state of overload.  If those negative thoughts spiral out of control, it’s not long before cognitive distortions poke up their ugly head.  

The price of a positive mind is eternal vigilance.  When the critical internal voice starts repeating its negative palaver, it’s time to take positive action and stop it in its tracks.

That doesn’t mean you have to sit around with a sense of doom and gloom because you might become depressed at some time in the future.  What it means is you need to turn on your mental radar so you can detect and destroy cognitive distortions before they become a significant problem.

When negative thoughts start their assault, you need a plan that can stop them dead in their tracks, and you are holding that plan in your hands.  Whenever you need to regain the high ground in the battle of the mind, you simply repeat the seven steps outlined in this book.

Realize you have a problem, reestablish command and control, recognize your cognitive distortions, reject your cognitive distortions, renew your mind, reprogram you mind with a positive operating system, and radically shift your focus to the most powerful force in the universe, God’s love.

Repeat these seven steps as often as necessary to stay on top of the negative and depressing thoughts that try to take control of your mind.  These steps show you what to say and do when depression pays an unwelcome visit.  You don’t need to panic when negative thoughts start to thunder in the corridors of your mind.  Just follow these seven steps and send your depressing thoughts on their way.

Negative thinking doesn’t go away on its own, and you are the only one who can make it leave. No one else can do it for you.  If you want to get better and stay better, you need to go all the way in the treatment of your problem.  Recognizing and rejecting your cognitive distortions isn’t enough.  You must advance to the next level and develop a whole new way of thinking and feeling. 

The goal of this book is to take you to the next level.  Although it’s important to recognize and reject your twisted and distorted thoughts, it’s even more important to learn how to transform your life by putting powerful positive thoughts into your mind.  You need to have a positive operating system up and running all the time, and you need power.  After you have the insight and knowledge to deal with your problem, you need the power to make the trip to a positive destination.  The most powerful force in the universe is God’s love, and it has more than enough power to take you from where you are to where you want to be.  You aren’t in this battle alone.  God is on your side, and He will give you the power to have a consistently positive mind.

You decide whether negative thinking and depression will control your life.  You can make your life as positive as you want it to be.  If you faithfully follow these steps, your life will become better each day, and you will discover there is no limit to how good your life can become. 

Remember, if you want to have a mind free from depression, nobody can stop you.

Excerpt from :

Zero Tolerance To Negative Thinking : Good-by Depression - Hello Positive Mind

David J Abbott M.D.