Hockey, Happiness, and Automatic Negative Thoughts

I am a pretty positive person generally speaking. I typically find the good in everything.

But I am a sports fan who was raised on Chicago teams – Bears, Cubs, Blackhawks, and Bulls. That means that I have learned to embrace victory and complain about defeat. Chicago sports fans are not casual about their teams. Wins and losses are personal as we plan our days around game times.

I missed that passion when we moved to Las Vegas almost twenty years ago as there were no local professional teams to support on their way to championships. We got by watching the Cubs or Bears when the games were aired sporadically on local networks. Then a miracle happened – Las Vegas gained the Golden Knights hockey team and my passion for professional sports ignited again. 

The Knights won games, won our hearts, and nearly won the Stanley Cup the first season of their existence. The wild ride was exhilarating and created a fanbase that likely includes you if you are from Las Vegas. The past few years have been a great deal more of the same – four years of unprecedented records of achievement that have been met enthusiastically by Knights’ fans! Positive thoughts and vibes came easily as we slapped stickers on our cars and wore our VGK logos with pride. It felt fantastic!

This year, season five, I have heard something different yet familiar joining the public discourse – an increased frequency of complaints. A team that had gained positive predisposition at every turn suddenly faced criticism over losses, shutouts, a lack of scoring, and goaltending that was not the “Fleury caliber” to which we had become accustomed. Our shift from consistent optimism to negative thoughts crept in as the unfamiliar feeling of frustration increased. 

·      “My grandmother could have stopped that shot.”

·      “They cannot seem to win on the road.”

·      “We have no offense.”

·      “We have no defense!”

Yes, we have heard them all, especially if you look online. Negative thoughts started crowding out the positive.

It is remarkable how easily we can move to automatic negative thoughts. In my sport fan analogy, they creep in the moment the thrill of victory fades and the reality that we cannot always be the victor sets in. In everyday life, it’s easy to take the negative thoughts and convert them into unhealthy beliefs. “Always” and “never thinking” / “all or nothing” thinking, predicting negative outcomes, blaming, labeling, and thinking with negative feelings – they all create automatic thoughts of doom and gloom that increase the release of chemicals in our brains that promote feeling bad and ruin our days. Letting automatic negative thoughts control our thinking produces hopelessness, sadness, and feelings of helplessness.

So, what can we do to keep the negative thought from bringing us down?

First, we need to identify them and the unpleasant brain chemicals they release to bring us down. Don’t believe every thought that you have as if it were true. If a thought hurts you, holding onto it will only dampen your spirit and ruin your day.

Once you identify these kinds of thoughts, know that you can retrain them. Rewrite the thought as a positive (“The defense had a bad night but the offense looked a little better.” Or “I tried my best and learned something new tonight,” rather than “I can’t do anything right.”) Challenging our automatic negative thinking provides the opportunity to be hopeful and positive, increases your brain’s positive chemistry, and empowers us to control our choices, moods, and behaviors.

Pray for God’s help in overcoming automatic negative thinking and enjoy His intentions for your life!

Diane Vogelzang, LCPC Intern