What you call “reacting differently to” negative thoughts is sort of what the article means by “suppressing”. A negative thought is often a right turn on a men

What you call “reacting differently to” negative thoughts is sort of what the article means by “suppressing”. A negative thought is often a right turn on a mental track that leads down a dark hole full of more negative thoughts. You may notice the initial one, but by choosing not to go down the hole, you have in a sense “suppressed” all the negative thoughts that were waiting there.