Useful framework but the 180 seconds part is false in general. For a typical person with lots of negative thoughts it will take much longer to do the countering exercise at any given time. Once you become good at it though, then it takes no time at all —you counter instinctually and st some you just think positively from the get go. So the 180 seconds part is just the usual title clickbaiting.
Again, useful framework but main problem I have with it is for when the negative thoughts are very real and very deserved. From something small (like you left your dirty dishes in the sink for your partner to deal with) to something large (like you ran somebody and killed them while drunk driving), you screwed up and the thoughts of shame and embarrassment are appropriate. For things you can’t truly rectify (to make an extreme example, like bringing someone back to life that you killed), there is often no amount of positive countering that will overcome it. Similar for things like not liking something about your appearance that can’t be easily changed like your height. No amount of positive countering can undo the fact. It ends up looking a lot like denial, self deception, and minimization to use this framework in these cases.
Respectfully, I disagree. Take your example about drunk driving and killing someone. The pain and suffering that person will experience in the aftermath will be enormous. But you know what? Everything we experience in life is in contrast to our past experiences. It would be likely that person had never experienced such pain, shame, sorrow, and suffering before this experience.
Therefore, every experience of joy they have thereafter will be in contrast to this deep despair. As messed up as it sounds, many times extreme tragedy can lead to more joy and happiness than would be possible otherwise. Simply because they have more awareness and appreciation than they did in the past.
Your examples don't fit the use-case of the framework, which is for chronic negative thinking, for when you wake up and everything is wrong, or if you're easily triggered by one negative thought which sends you into a tunnel of negative thinking. Most people don't think of negative examples separately-- for example, losing your job is not usually related to how short you are, but most people will vaguely correlate the two, if they're in a bad state, and conclude there might be something inherently wrong with who they are.
When something has gone wrong, one can still think positively about the situation, but the framework to use in that case is to simply ask 'why' over and over again until you've found the true root of the problem. The positive aspect is that you've just been taught a lesson, and you can move on once you've learned that lesson. In the case of drunk driving and killing someone-- obviously you fucked up because you drove while drunk, but why didn't you stop yourself from driving drunk? Why were you drunk in the first place? etc.
For negative thoughts about things that can't be changed, that is simply a matter of perspective. You can put a positive (or non-negative) spin to anything.
I think they do though. The drunk-driving-death example could easily lead to chronic negative thoughts about it. How foolish you were to drive drunk. How foolish you are to be an alcoholic. How weak you are to be an alcoholic. How messed up your life will be now for a long time, if not forever. Etc.
So yes, you can spin that or change your perspective like you say, but that gets to my point: it just verges on self-delusion, minimization, and such. How do you know you aren’t lying to yourself for selfish relief? Knowing yourself enough to know when you are doing that is where the real skill is. This simple framework doesn’t help with that.
The framework in the article isn't about knowing yourself. You have to know yourself to create positive thoughts, and you have to create positive thoughts in the process of knowing yourself.
Again, useful framework but main problem I have with it is for when the negative thoughts are very real and very deserved. From something small (like you left your dirty dishes in the sink for your partner to deal with) to something large (like you ran somebody and killed them while drunk driving), you screwed up and the thoughts of shame and embarrassment are appropriate. For things you can’t truly rectify (to make an extreme example, like bringing someone back to life that you killed), there is often no amount of positive countering that will overcome it. Similar for things like not liking something about your appearance that can’t be easily changed like your height. No amount of positive countering can undo the fact. It ends up looking a lot like denial, self deception, and minimization to use this framework in these cases.