To a great extent, its our thoughts, critiques, anticipations, anxieties and worries about our distressed feelings and emotional discomforts that we address with CBT. I call this level of issues meta-anxieties because they are anxieties about our anxieties.
All of this focuses us on dealing with the negativity in our lives. Far too often, however, psychotherapists terminate therapy when the presenting problems have been addressed. This misses many opportunities for using psychotherapy methods for installing and strengthening mental positivity, which can markedly enhance our course through life.
When we focus on installing and strengthening positivity we can markedly enhance our lives, and boost our abilities to deal with problems which are already present, as well as preventing the development of new problems. So in this editorial I invite you to consider how you can use your self-healing skills proactively. And as you develop your skills and confidence in doing so, you will also develop meta-positive beliefs and anticipations and confidence about your abilities and proficiency in building and strengthening the positivities in your life.