By Carol Grannick on February 23, 2010
What I’m saying is this: if you want to become more resilient, you’ll have to work hard at it. You have to teach your brain to think differently in order to become more resilient, more “irrepressible”.
But it does take hold. Even if you hit periods of difficulty during which have to work harder than usual at creating positive emotions.
Posted in Learned Optimism | Tagged Learned Optimism
By Carol Grannick on January 19, 2010
The ability to “dispute” your negative thoughts is a cornerstone of changing pessimistic thinking to optimistic. For me, and for many clients, learning to dispute is an invaluable skill.
But it is not the only technique for creating positive emotions. For those of us who “flow” more naturally toward negativity, a variety of tools are helpful [...]
Posted in Learned Optimism, Positivity for Writers | Tagged Learned Optimism, positivity
By Carol Grannick on January 7, 2010
I have a choice to think one way or the other. The positive choice energizes me to blog, write and enjoy the day inside.
That choice – and learning how to make and benefit from that choice in an ongoing way – is what The Irrepressible Writer is all about.
Posted in Emotional Life Of Writers, Learned Optimism, Positivity for Writers, Resilient Writers, The Writing Life, Uncategorized | Tagged Learned Optimism, positive emotions, positivity, writers' obstacles, writers' resilience
By Carol Grannick on December 28, 2009
In the spirit of end-of-year reminiscence and thoughtful self-assessment, I realized yesterday that my closet held beautiful, exotic clothing that I’ve collected over several decades. Clothing that is lovely to look at, but clothing I don’t wear, or am uncomfortable in when I do.
The clothes don’t belong in my closet. Not because I don’t [...]
Posted in Emotional Life Of Writers, Learned Optimism, Positivity for Writers, The Writing Life | Tagged Learned Optimism, Martin Seligman, positive attitude, writer's block
By Carol Grannick on December 25, 2009
One of the helpful aspects of The Irrepressible Writer workshops is the ability to see and hear other writers in the group learn to dispute their ‘pessimistic explanatory style‘. This post will bring part of that experience to you.
WARNING: It’s a long post (under 1000 words), but if I split it up into multiple posts, [...]
Posted in Emotional Life Of Writers, Learned Optimism, rejection | Tagged disputing thoughts, Learned Optimism, Martin Seligman
By Carol Grannick on November 23, 2009
Many years ago, the presenter in a workshop on human emotion asked us to close our eyes and imagine clouds in the sky moving with the wind, from one end of our mind’s vision to the other, then passing out of sight. As we did, he said, “Human emotion, feelings, are transient in this same way.”
If I [...]
Posted in Emotional Life Of Writers, Learned Optimism, The Writing Life | Tagged adversity, disputing thoughts, Learned Optimism
By Carol Grannick on November 5, 2009
You’re a writer – committed, consistent, hard-working. But when you hit a bump – a rejection comes; writer’s block stares you down; your critique group offers too many suggestions and you feel overwhelmed; you get a bad review; miss an opportunity or face seemingly endless periods of waiting, waiting and more waiting – you begin [...]
Posted in The Writing Life | Tagged Learned Optimism, positivity, resilient writer
