Snowballs in my mind

Negativity breeds negativity.  It is, then, logical to believe that negative thoughts are the breeders of other thoughts just like them (or even more damaging).  I think of it as a snowball effect.  Remember the old cartoons where the snow started as a teeny tiny ball, but as it rolled down hill, it picks up speed and momentum.  Soon, it would be on the bottom, having picked up people, cows, maybe even houses (OR it would have gone in one door of the house and out the other!) on the way.  THAT is how I perceive negative thoughts to work in my head.  It "snowballs" from one thing to a ton of things that support the original, negative and dysfunctional ideation.  It takes a lot of effort to stop the avalanche and the further it gets down the hill, the more powerful it becomes and the more difficult it seems to be to stop.  I'm still working on it, but I wish I could just take up skiing and go with the flow instead of having to STOP the avalanche and pulls its a$$ back up the mountain.  Grrr...