For many people, anxiety comes from negative thinking or concern, which can be for the circumstances, for others or for ourselves. A daily way to reshape our minds is through thought exercises that can help us see our experiences in a new light. This is more complex than just “positive thinking” and can help us steer our subconscious thoughts in more productive and helpful directions over time.
What is a thought exercise?
Thinking exercises are new ways of thinking about a certain circumstance or experience that can help us get out of a stagnant or useless way of thinking. While some thinking exercises have been studied extensively by psychological researchers, others are offered by psychologists and clinical mental health counselors because they have been useful anecdotally for specific types of patients. Thinking exercises can be suggested by your therapistif they are online or in person.
Read more: Top 5 Online Therapy Services
It is important to note that there is no one-size-fits-all thinking exercise. Feel free to try one of them out for a few weeks and see if you like the way they affect your mental health and sense of well-being. If not, you can try a different one. Thinking exercises are meant to be a method of seeing the world differently, not a medical treatment.
Benefits of thinking exercises for mental health
reformulating thoughts it is one of the building blocks of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which has been found effective in many studies.
- A thought exercise can help one stay calm during a stressful time and continue to function, avoiding a more severe reaction such as an anxiety attack.
- Thought exercises can reduce the duration and intensity of anxiety symptoms even when not combined with traditional therapy.
- when combined with a mental health appThinking exercises can provide a record of growth and changes in mental health.
- Thought exercises can make us more aware of what triggers our anxiety, allowing us to make life modifications that help us experience anxiety less frequently.
Read more: What to know about anxiety, symptoms and treatment
6 thinking exercises that will boost your mental health
The next time you feel stressed, try one of these methods.
The exercise of self-observation
Many spiritual traditions include some form of self-observation or mindfulness exercise, but it is also useful in a completely non-spiritual context. When you start to experience the symptoms you associate with anxiety, you can use this exercise to get curious and learn more about what’s going on. Here is how to do it:
1. When you feel anxious and you have the opportunity to take a couple of minutes for yourself, do it. Stay away from others so they don’t interrupt you, even for a few minutes.
two. Begin to notice how each element of your body feels. Do you feel the anxiety in your shoulders, neck, stomach or head? Are you experiencing other symptoms, such as fatigue or a headache? Don’t judge the feelings, just write them down, like you’re watching a science experiment and need to capture everything.
3. Then direct your self-observation to your thoughts. Which are the specific stressors ride a bike through your mind? Try to catalog them, instead of letting them overwhelm you. When you have noticed one, let it go, acknowledging that she has “heard” it.
Four. If you can get to a place where you focus entirely on sensations in your body and mind, you may be able to calm down, doing things like releasing muscles you’ve found to be tight or letting thoughts flow instead of holding on to them. intensely. This may take several attempts.
The act of self-observation can be a way to take your mind off the anxiety and back into your body. Of course when we are in fight or flight Likewise, anxiety makes us safe, but if we are physically safe, this can be a way to assess our body and find our baseline again.
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Keep track of thoughts
One of the ways that people better understand their anxiety symptoms is by recording their thoughts. This can be done in a traditional paper journal, but there are other options, especially when it’s not convenient to carry an extra notebook everywhere. The application thoughts journal it is a simple interface that allows you to write your mood and any details about it. It also includes other thought exercises, such as practicing gratitude and analyzing a thought.
Reviewing your thought log from time to time can help you make connections, including things like how sleep, exercise, and nutrition affect your anxiety symptoms.
Disrupt anxious thinking
anxious thought responds better to distraction for a different task. These techniques are more about what effectively distracts you and less about a technically “correct” method.
- Try tensing and relaxing different muscles in your body, focusing on muscle activity and seeing if it can help you stop having anxious thoughts.
- Breathing with an intentional count, such as four counts in and four counts out.
- Playing music, an audiobook, or a radio show can interrupt anxious thoughts and take your mind to think of something else.
- Say out loud that you are done thinking this way or verbally speaking affirmations it can help you get out of your head and hear a positive voice more clearly.
- Choosing a relaxing task that is also mentally engaging: word games on your phone, loading a dishwasher, doing yoga, or another established stretching routine can all be effective anxiety breakers.
- Counting down slowly sometimes works to interrupt the flow of anxiety.
Read more: 8 science-backed exercises to relieve stress
Use cognitive defusion exercises
cognitive defusion the exercises are all about getting an outside perspective on our thoughts, or strategies that help us step back and look more clearly at our thoughts. They are frequently used in CBT and other types of cognitive therapy.
- Use a silly voice: Some people find it helpful to detach from their thoughts by using a silly voice. silly voice to say something like “Oh, you think this is very concerning, don’t you?” or some other observation on thought.
- Leaves in a stream: Some people use the display that their thoughts are floating down the river, reaching them and then disappearing, as a way of seeing thoughts as separate from their core identity.
- Label your thoughts: Some people find it helpful to identify “that’s an anxious thought” or “this is a fearful thought” when they have the thoughts, which helps to take them out of being a reality check and treat them as separate elements that it does not have to be openly believed.
- “Thank you mind”: When our mind tells us a warning in the form of an anxious thought, offering us gratitude to our mind for trying to help us and warn us
Practice self-compassion
Anxiety sometimes presents as excessive worry that one is not good enough or has negative traits. These thoughts, when played on a loop, can be demoralizing and can make everyday activities miserable. One way to combat this negative self-talk is practice self-compassion. While it may seem strange at first, trying to see her current situation the way she would see it if a good friend was going through her can be a start. Give yourself the kind of comfort you would give a friend, instead of the harsh criticism you often give yourself.
Another exercise in self-compassion is to find and focus on a photograph of yourself from childhood. Instead of directing your thoughts to your adult self, direct them to that child. Recognize that your adult self deserves the same kind of comfort that a child deserves, as you are also still learning, albeit different things.
The worry tree
The worry tree is a tool developed for those who experience compulsive or ongoing worry to help them make a conscious decision between worrying or doing something else. It’s a flowchart chart that can be customized to the person, but it essentially starts with the question “what exactly am I worried about?” then “Can I do something about it?” and “Can I do something about it right now?” The tree guides people to let go of worries when nothing can be done, to make a clear plan if nothing can be done at the moment, and to do something if there is something useful to do with the worry at the moment. It can help prevent rumination, where we think the same anxiety-inducing thoughts over and over again without relief.
Read more: 9 ways to relieve anxiety without medication
The bottom line
The thinking exercises may feel different from our typical ways of thinking, but if you remain curious, your mind may change, experimenting with more methods of how to think positively over time. If you find that thinking exercises make your anxiety symptoms worse, you may have an ineffective thinking exercise for you, or your anxiety may respond better to treatment from a psychiatrist or counselor. Talking with a mental health professional is a good idea to get better answers about your specific situation.
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The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health care provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health goals.
