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How to identify problematic thoughts, it would be easy to catch our negative thought patterns of they

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announced themselves, hey, here is an overly negative thought.

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Don't take it too seriously.

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Unfortunately, we tend to assume our thoughts reflect an impartial take on reality.

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Ideas like I'm such a disappointment seem as objective as the Earth is round.

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For this reason, we have to be smarter than our thoughts.

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Thankfully, our minds don't just produce thoughts.

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They also have the ability to notice and evaluate them.

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But which thoughts from our continuous stream of them should we give attention to?

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There are several clues that problematic thoughts may be present.

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You feel a sudden shift toward negative emotion.

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Maybe you suddenly felt dispirited or experienced a jolt of anxiety.

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Perhaps you sensed a surge of resentment.

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If we pay attention at these times, we will likely discover those that are driving the emotional shift.

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You cannot seem to shake a negative feeling.

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Being stuck in an emotional state suggests that there are patterns maintaining it.

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For example, you might notice you've been irritable all morning or have been carrying a sense of dread

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for a lot of the day.

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Most likely, there are thoughts feeding those feelings.

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They're struggling to act in line with your goals.

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Maybe you can get yourself to follow through on the plans you've made or you keep finding reason not

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to face your fears.

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For example, a student might keep putting off writing a paper driven by the thought it's not going

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to be any good.

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In contrast, the right thoughts can propel us to action.