Mind

Happy Thursday!

Ways to work on your mind!

Keep a thought journal

A thought journal is a great way to keep track of your negative thoughts. At the top of a notebook, write the following headings: thought, situation, and feelings evoked.

Over a seven day period record negative thoughts as you notice them, the situations where they arise and how they make you feel.

For example, if your work colleagues invite you out to lunch one day, what’s the first thought that goes through your mind? It may be one of these:

They’re just asking to be nice

I have nothing interesting to talk about

If they get to know me, they'll realize how damaged I am… etc.

Becoming aware of these thought patterns is often the first step to changing them!

Test your core beliefs

Identify one of the situations in your journal. For consistency, let’s use the work colleague lunch example.

Write a list of predictions. Be very specific. Ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen?

I go to lunch with my colleagues, and they don't find me interesting, and they don't ask me out for another lunch.

Now, make a contract with yourself to test the negative belief. Try going out to lunch and see what happens. You’ll probably find your belief was biased and not an accurate reflection of what your colleagues actually think.

If this occurrence did not pan out as terribly as expected, what else might you be able to try that you have held back from?

Label your thoughts

Once you’ve practiced step one and two, you’ll become more aware of those negative self-beliefs that infiltrate your mind. Rather than taking a judgmental approach:

“There I go again, thinking these stupid thoughts.”

Take a non-judgmental stance. Label the thoughts, so you reduce its power and the impact it has on your thinking. "I’m having a thought about how stupid I am.”

Accept that for whatever reason, due to your history and your life experiences, those are the thoughts you have been led to believe about yourself that are not true. They are not facts. They are simply the stories you are used to telling yourself.

Reference: Adi Jaffe, 6 Easy Ways to Cultivate Positive Thinking, Psychology Today