Realize thoughts impact feelings and behavior
You have a thought-->your brain releases chemicals-->Electrical transmission occurs--> You become aware of what you are thinking.
Notice how negative thoughts affect your body
Angry and sad thought activate your limbic
system
Anger increases muscle tension, heart rate,
dissiness
Notice how positive thoughts affect your body
Happy thought release chemicals
Happy thoughts decrease activity in the limbic
system
Happy thoughts increase muscle relaxation,
slow heart rate, slow breathing
Notice how your body reacts to all thoughts
Telling a lie triggers the stress response
Lying increases muscle tension, heart rate,
blood pressure, sweating
Think of negative thoughts as pollution to
your body
Thoughts are powerful
Thoughts affect both your mental and physical
health
Understand that automatic thoughts are not
always the truth
Thoughts are automatic
Thoughts can be a distortion of reality
Always challenge your thoughts
Talk back to your thoughts
Notice when your thoughts are negative
Write down the negative thought
Write down a more positive thought
Intentionally think the positive thought
Eliminate negative thoughts--TRAIN your thoughts to be positive
Negative thoughts that bring on depression
THOUGHT
DESCRIPTION
| Always/Never | Using always, never, no one, everyone, every time, everything |
| Focusing on the negative | Seeing only the bad in a situation |
| Fortune-Telling | Predicting the worst possible outcome to a situation |
| Mind Reading | Believing that you know what others are thinking even though they haven’t told you |
| Thinking with your feelings | Believing negative feelings without ever questioning them |
| Guilt Beating | Thinking in words like should, must, ought, or have to |
| Labeling | Attaching a negative label to yourself or to someone else |
| Personalizing | Investing innocuous events with personal meaning |
| Blaming | Blaming someone else for your own problems |