Dr. Lucia Matthews

Ringing Out The Old & Bringing In The New

The month of January is typically filled with articles about ways to keep our New Year's resolutions. While these motivational posts are helpful, I think early January is a bit too soon for a pep-talk. Most of us are still focused on being successful and motivated to persevere. However, I do think it productive to discuss something that often derails our good intentions- Cognitive Rigidity.

Cognitive rigidity is the tendency to think of things as either black (failure) or white (success). Cognitive rigidity is the precursor to defeat. Why? Because black or white thinking causes us to stubbornly hold onto misguided beliefs. If your New Year's resolution is to lose weight, but you truly believe that you can NEVER be skinny, then all those good intentions will eventually fall by the wayside.

In this month's edition of Vero's Voice, I write about the negative effect cognitive rigidity has on relationships. However, the concept is equally pertinent to the relationship you have with yourself, and there is only one antidote - Compromise. Learning to compromise with others or with yourself means letting go of stubborn beliefs, and this month's article offers advice on how to make compromising a bit more palatable by using the fire safety technique of STOP, DROP & ROLL.

I hope I've whetted your appetite enough to peruse my article. I promise, my next post will show you a way to successfully accomplish any resolution you make. But for now, I suggest you consider letting go of your stubbornness and start thinking in shades of gray.

http://www.verosvoice.com/images/vv_issue_36_web.pdf    (See page 9)