Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Challenge your thoughts. Real or imagined?

What are you thinking right now? Stop. Look. Listen. That thought you just had, was it real? Or was it imagined?

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I teach clients on a regular basis to challenge their thoughts.

What are you thinking right now? Stop. Look. Listen. That thought you just had, was it real? Or was it imagined? Fabricated? Created? Based on nothing but worry and anxiety?

If it is based on something that is real then we can do something about it; we can make a plan of action. We can set goals and change whatever it is that is real - we can do something about it.

But we can't do something about a thought that exists in your head that is a worry, an anxiety and isn't real.

We need to be careful about the stories we create in our heads

The only thing that can be done about that, and the healthiest thing to do with it, is to let it go. We need to be careful about the stories we create in our heads.

These can become so real that we feed them with our anxiety, our stress, our worries and we invest just as much in this thought (imagined) that we make it real and we pay the price for that.

We all do this. I think its part of human nature to do this but the quicker you can challenge yourself on this and change your behaviour around it, the sooner you can let it go and move on.

A good homework exercise

A good homework exercise: sit down with pen and paper and have a clear out of your thoughts. Write it all down and then next to it write an 'R' for 'real' (we can do something about that) and write an 'I' if it's been made up in your head.

That needs to be let go of. This is for good mental health.

Have a look inside your head and see what thoughts you are allowing to occupy your headspace.

Good luck.