If you have made it this far, hopefully, you have already read my blogs over the past 2 weeks regarding Core Beliefs and Unhelpful Thinking Patterns. Today we’re going to focus on a few different ways to challenge this negative unhelpful thinking. Some of this may look familiar if you read my blog “A New Year a New You.” In this blog, I am going to give a few different ways to challenge this unhelpful thinking and let you decide which one(s) work best for you.

The first one is a very simple and easy way. Start by asking yourself these questions: 

1. What is the evidence to support this thought? Do I even have any?

2. Where did this thought come from? 

3. Is there evidence for the contrary? 

4. Is this thought helpful?

5. Is there another way to look at it?

The second way is below. Again, ask yourself these questions:

1. What are you worried about?

2. What evidence do you have to support the worry? Give examples of past experiences, or other evidence, to support your worry.

3. If your worry does come true what is the WORST that could happen?

4. If your worry does come true what is MOST LIKELY to happen?

5. If your worry does come true what will you do? What are your options? Problem solve, come up with a plan and a backup plan?

6. If your worry doesn’t come true what are the chances you’ll be ok in a…. week? month? year?

The third technique ‘Thoughts on Trial’ is below:

• The Thought.

• The Defense (evidence for the thought)

• The Prosecution (evidence against the thought)

• The Verdict

The final technique known as Socratic Questioning is below:

• Thought to be questioned

• What is the evidence for this thought? Against it?

• Am I basing this thought on facts, or on feelings?

• Is this thought black and white, when it is really more complicated?

• Could I be misinterpreting the evidence? Am I making assumptions?

• Would other people have different interpretations? What are they?

• Am I looking at all the evidence or just what supports my thought?

• Could my thought be an exaggeration?

• Am I having this thought out of habit, or do the facts support it?

• Did someone pass this thought/belief on to me? If so, are they a reliable source?

• Is my thought a likely outcome or is it the worst case that could happen?

I highly recommend you practice all of these several times and see which one works best for you or best for certain situations. This will take practice, but when you get the hang of it and continue to use it no matter how far after the incident, you are creating new habits, new neural pathways in your brain. You are making room for new ‘automatic’ processes which are more productive and helpful. You also improve your self-esteem and confidence in your ability to handle difficult situations. You become more resilient every time you use it. Hope you find this helpful and cheers to better living!

If you want to learn more about challenging negative thoughts contact me at Colleen@scatteredpotential.com, subscribe to my blog or my newsletter by filling out the form below. Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.