Shifting Your Labels

"Crazy people who are productive are geniuses. Crazy people who are rich are eccentric. Crazy people who are neither productive nor rich are just plain crazy. Geniuses and crazy people are both out in the middle of a deep ocean; geniuses swim, crazy people drown. Most of us are sitting safely on the shore. Take a chance and get your feet wet."

~ Michael J. Gelb

The following list was published in Handbook of Cognitive Therapy Techniques, by Rian McMullin. Please use it to shift your labels to the RIGHT one if you must label anything at all ;-)

A person who...	Could be called...	Or could be called...
changes one's mind a lot	wishy-washy	flexible
expresses one's opinion	egotistical	honest, assertive
is emotionally sensitive	sick, fragile	alive, caring, open
is selective in choosing a mate	afraid to commit	patient, careful, discriminating
gets depressed sometimes	neurotic	normal human being
isn't good at a game	stupid, inferior	hasn't practiced
isn't orderly	sloppy, piggish	spontaneous, carefree
pleases others	social phobic	likable
believes what others say	gullible	trusting
loves another strongly	dependent	loving
gets anxious	weak, cowardly	learned to, was taught
is nontraditional	malcontent, heretical, immoral	independent, uninhibited, free
is helped by another	manipulated	cared for
is not working hard on a task	lazy	relaxed
is sure of something	conceited	self-confident
stands up for personal rights	argumentative	gutsy
thinks before making decisions	indecisive	careful
takes risks	harebrained	brave
sticks to projects	compulsive	determined
gets excited	hysterical	exuberant

~ Rian McMullin