A lot people are looking for psychotherapists that are trained and have experience with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). CBT teaches people to recognize and identify their thoughts in order for them to be able to see the impact that thoughts have on their feelings and behaviors. I believe that the foundation of understanding our behaviors and change our feelings is by paying attention to our thoughts and learning to separate from them so they don’t run our lives. Many spiritual teaching, focus on this specific task, of recognizing that our thoughts are not our thoughts.
One way to think of our mind is as a problem-solving machine that its sole purpose it to solve problems real problems, imaginary problems, future problems, past problems, and other people’s problems. Think about this, thanks to our mind we have been able to discover so many things like cures for diseases and travel the universe. Our minds are so effective that they feel indispensable so when we are in a situation that needs our attention, we try to think our way out, when many times we just need to sit and feel.
We live a lot of our lives trapped in our minds. CBT is a first step to learn to recognize how much our thoughts and feelings are in relationship with one and other. For this week, try to pay attention to your thoughts and check the emotional impact they have on you. If you don’t like the impact, challenge them, learn to sit with your feelings and leave the prison of the mind.
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