Cognitive Restructuring: A Tool For Improving Your Life

Cognitive Restructuring is a helpful tool that can be used to eliminate negative patterns of thinking. Through Cognitive Restructuring you are taught to understand where your negative thoughts come from, and how to re-script that negative thinking into more positive thoughts. Why would you want to do this? Well, the answer is quite simple. Negative thinking affects your mood, reduces the quality and quantity of work that you produce, and can also undermine the relationships that you have at home and work.

For the most part, your mood is what drives you. Have you ever had one of those days where you wake up feeling groggy, it’s cold and gray outside, and you just want to stay in bed? The more you think about how tired and miserable you feel, the worse you start feeling. You get out of bed and for some reason there is no hot water to take a shower. You stub your toe getting out of the shower. You’re hairdryer stops working, leaving half of your head wet. The milk that you put in your coffee has soured and you are left with a curdled cup of mud. How much worse is it going to get? Your mood keeps getting worse as you fight your way through traffic to work. There are too many projects to do at work. You have a deadline coming up soon and your co-workers aren’t pulling their weight. You just can’t wait for the day to be over!

You get the picture. The day seems to be rolling downhill like a snowball that keeps getting bigger and bigger- until it is completely out of control. Now take a moment and think about how your day might be if you changed your initial thought pattern (“I’m tired. I don’t want to get out of bed. This day is going to suck!”)

So How Do You Turn the Negativity Around?

Cognitive Restructuring offers some simple tools:

First of all, start by reframing your experience: It’s cold and rainy but we need the rain. I am tired but I have my nice warm bed. I am lucky to have my bed. My job is annoying but in this economy I am so lucky to have a job. The deadline is coming up – that means an end is in sight- what a relief it will be. Work at changing your thoughts to more positive ones.

Second, learn to recognize your negative thought patterns. Most of us are not even aware that we engage in negative thinking. For example, my mom used to call herself dummy when she made a mistake. I recently heard my daughter call herself stupid and I know that I have called myself names too. Think about it for a mintue- would you call your best friend dummy or stupid? Probably not. So why do you call yourself that?

We play internal messages over and over again, that run so often that we often don’t even recognize them. The key is to become aware of the messages so that you can change the negative habits. You also need to be aware of the triggers that turn the negative messages on- for example making a mistake. Once you become aware of the negative thought you can engage in the simple process of thought stopping- saying for example “no-that’s not true” when you call yourself stupid or a failure.

Third, spend a week or two with a pen and a notebook. Write down any events that trigger your negative thinking. Think about what your mood was when it happened- were you sad, angry, feeling depressed? What were the automatic thoughts playing in your mind at the time- “I am helpless, an utter failure, and will never succeed.” Next, think about the evidence that supports your thinking- is there any? What evidence do you have to the contrary? Write it down. Now write out some thoughts that seem more realistic, fair, and rational. Compare your notes and observe your mood. With continued practice and observation over a few weeks you should begin to notice a shift in your mood. 

Finally, you can try engaging in worse case scenario thinking. Dreading an upcoming event- public speaking, asking the boss for a raise, meeting with a terrible teacher at school- spend a half hour writing down every terrible thing that could possibly go wrong. Set the list aside. Go back to it a few hours or days later. Read it again and think about what the real chance is that any or all of the catastophic things on your list could happen. The chance is very slim that any of them would happen, let alone all of them.

The bottom line is that you can change the way you think if you want to. So, why not give cognitive restructuring a try? The process is simple to implement. The choice is yours!

About the Author

Lori Bell is founder of Creating Powerful Change, LLC and creator of http://www.help-me-change.com which offers tips, tools, and techniques for implementing successful change in to your life. As your Personal Change Agent, Lori will provide you with an easy to follow step by step process that allows you to tap into your hidden potential, to grow personally and professionally, and to create a life that finally feels right and works great for you! To receive other free articles and the no cost product- “Are You Ready for Success?” visit http://www.help-me-change.com now.

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