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The power of thoughts for something that can be seen or heard or measured thoughts have incredible power.

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Our mood for an entire day can hang on how we interpret a single disappointment.

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Thoughts can also have a profound effect on our behavior, affecting whether we feel guilty or retaliate,

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engage or withdraw, reserve or give up, no matter what you've been struggling with.

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Chances are that your thoughts have played a role either in causing your distress or in prolonging it.

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In CBT, these distressing thoughts are called negative automatic thoughts because they come with no

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effort on our part, just as our thoughts can cause us unnecessary pain if they can also help us heal,

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if we harness them to work in our favor.

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The word harness is perfect in this context because it means to control something in order to make use

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of it.

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We cannot only stop our thoughts from tearing us down, but also can use them to build ourselves up.

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Let's turn to Susan, who's having a rough day on her.

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Ranie drive home from work.

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She rear ended the car in front of her after she sorted things out with the other driver, who was not

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terribly friendly about it.

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She sat in her car and did what all of us do when something upsetting happens.

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She thought about it.

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Susan's first thought was, that's one more thing.

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I've messed up now.

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They will raise my insurance rates.

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And then the image of her friend Kathy came to mind and she wondered what she would tell Kathy.

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Susan definitely would not speak to Kathy with an internal voice she directed at herself.

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She imagine telling her friend it was raining and you were in a hurry to get home after a long day at

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work.

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You're human.

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Don't beat yourself up.

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Maybe Kathy was right.

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She thought maybe I'm doing better than I think.

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She even smiled to herself and was remembering how grumpy the man she ended had to be.

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She felt a proud of herself for having kept her composure with him.

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As they exchange insurance information.

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She saw that her positivity had caused the man to drop his afternoon.

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I guess I handled that all right, she thought to herself as she continued to drive home.

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Our thoughts often serve us well, helping us make wise decisions.

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At other times, our thinking is skewed.

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Psychologists have demonstrated many biases that are built into the human psyche, and these biases

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can be especially pronounced when we're experiencing extreme emotional states like anger or depression.

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For example, I might believe someone is trying to embarrass me when in fact their intentions are completely

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benign.

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The more often we make these kinds of thinking errors, the more likely you will experience conditions

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like severe and anxiety.

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Let's consider a plan for identifying and addressing these errors.