Cognitive Restructuring Part 3

Learn how to restructure your thoughts. Let's rework those thoughts that are unhelpful to your life! Learn how the process to change your thought patterns to improve your mood, perspective, relationships, self-image, and MORE!

Transcript

Welcome to Cognitive Restructuring Part 3.

My name is Sarah Nielsen.

I am an LPC licensed practicing counselor and registered yoga teacher of 200 hours,

RYT 200.

I've been a therapist for about 17 years now.

I do specialize in eating disorders,

DBT,

Which is dialectical behavioral therapy.

I specialize in cognitive therapy,

And I've got some others,

You know,

But that's more in Part 1.

I am licensed in Kansas,

Missouri,

And Alabama.

I reside in Alabama.

I am also a teacher of intuitive eating.

Please follow me.

You can learn more about that as well.

So we are talking about the three-step process to restructure your thoughts.

One,

Observation period.

I highly recommend you take a simple observation period to do nothing but observe the thoughts.

That is more expanded on in Part 2.

Then,

Pardon me,

This is the actual breakdown of the steps,

And that is more in-depth in Part 1 and Part 2.

We're moving to more of kind of a written log in Part 3.

So you identify the thought,

You place a label on the thought,

You generate a new thought.

So if you were to create a table that had three boxes,

Okay?

Step 1,

Identify the thought.

That's where you write down the thought.

So we use some examples like,

I am so stupid.

I hate my body.

Nobody likes me.

So in box number one,

You would write those thoughts.

In box number two,

You would write a label.

That was a discouraging thought.

That was an untrue thought.

That was an unhelpful thought.

I'm gonna reinforce this again in this part as well.

Notice that I didn't say,

I am thinking so.

I am thinking so.

I am gathering distance because it will help me better manage the thought,

Okay?

So I have the thought,

I hate my body.

I write that down.

Then under that,

I write,

That was discouraging.

Then under that,

I write the new thought.

I accept my body.

I love my body.

I am a worthwhile human being.

Remember,

It does not have to be a direct challenge.

I highly recommend that you do the written process for a week or two before just doing it in your mind.

There is more power in the written word.

Your brain is going to absorb it and take it in at a higher rate if it sees it in black and white written word on a page.

It will be more effective.

And really drill in,

This takes diligence and consistency.

The level that you were having to work at it now,

You will not have to continue to work at,

Okay?

So that is my three-step process.

I want to end with some various questions that you can use in a moment to challenge unwanted thoughts.

So please pause this and write any down.

If you're having an undesired thought,

You may ask yourself,

What is my evidence for and against this thought?

How likely is this to happen?

How probable is this?

Has it happened before?

You can pick any one of these questions.

You do not have to ask yourself all of these questions.

Am I drawing negative conclusions?

How do I find out if they are true?

Are there any other views?

What other belief could I have about this situation?

If I was being positive,

How might I perceive this?

What is the best thing that can happen?

What are my advantages and disadvantages of thinking this way?

Is there anything good I can pull from this?

Here's one I like a lot.

It really puts it in perspective.

Will this matter in a year?

Or you can use a five-year.

Or you can use whatever time period you want.

Does thinking this way help?

Does it support my goals?

What can I learn in the future?

What can I do to help solve the issue?

Those are some great questions when you have thoughts that are undesirable.

I want to address a few last things.

These are some common questions that I get.

I've addressed some of them along the way,

But I want to just go back over them.

Will I believe the new thoughts?

Probably not,

But you will with time.

Okay,

So say them.

Say them anyways.

When,

How often do I do this?

As often as you can catch an undesired thought,

Do the process.

Begin in writing,

And then after that you can transfer to in your mind work.

How often do I do this?

As often as possible.

The more you catch them,

The less they will come.

Does that make sense?

I'm trying to think of a good example.

It's like with anything.

The more you're able to exercise it and do it and practice,

The better you will be.

It's like a sport.

The more you practice,

Say tennis,

The better you will be at it,

Right?

The more you practice this,

The better you will be at it.

So I'm going to give you an additional encouraged assignment.

So this is the other thing that I recommend people do.

So once you've gone through your observation period and you have identified your top hits,

So to speak,

Remember those are the ones that come most often.

I want you to pick one of those or two of those,

And I want you to create daily affirmations out of them,

Okay?

So if my common top hit is,

I hate my body,

My replacement is,

I accept my body.

So I'm going to use that statement whenever I hate my body comes up,

Instantly,

I accept my body.

I hate my body.

I accept my body,

Okay?

And then my additional recommendation is that you utilize it as an affirmation.

So whether I'm having those thoughts or not in the morning,

In the midday,

In the evening,

And nighttime,

At least four times a day,

I'm going to say to myself,

I accept my body.

I accept my body.

I accept my body.

Ideally,

You're going to say them out loud.

I hope to build a course on affirmations,

And so that will come in more detail in the future,

But for now,

Identify one of your top hits,

Create an affirmation about it,

And say that several times a day,

In addition to when you're replacing the thought.

Let me add one more thing,

Although I am getting more into the affirmation territory.

I recommend you add a because.

I accept my body because.

Because I'm a worthwhile human being.

So a because reinforces the affirmation.

Highly recommend it.

I hope you guys enjoyed this course,

Cognitive Restructuring,

Three parts.

I hope you have been able to listen to part one and part two,

And I am going to build a course,

A brief overview on intuitive eating.

I hope you come back and listen to that course.

It will be an introduction.

I do teach intuitive eating online.

If you're more interested,

Please check out julymoonyoga.

Offeringtree.

Com but please listen to the ones on here that are available to you,

And I really appreciate your guys' time.

I hope this was helpful.

Thank you so much.

Reviews

Excellent & practical advice on cognitive restructuring. Thank you!
👏👏👏👏👏

This was very helpfull. Simple explanation.
However... I am having the thought that this is boring, that it will take too much time, that I'll never believe the new thoughts, that I've tried this in the past and always failed, that this takes too much time, that I'll do it for few days and get bored of it and drop it..
The list goes on.

Those thoughts are not helpful. They are not helping me develop a new skill.

If there are so many people all over the world who have decidicated their lives to teach this skill, why won't it work for me? It will never work unless I try and do my very best to practice diligently for at least 2 weeks before making my decission?
It's true, I've tried it in the past, got bored and dropped it, so there is a probability to do so again. But then again, I will not know, unless I try.

Well homework done.