Anxiety can arise from negative thoughts and worries about situations, others, or yourself. One of the daily ways to reshape our mind is to do thought exercises that may help us see our experiences in a new light. This is more complex than just “positive thinking” and can steer your subconscious in a more productive and beneficial direction over time.
Ready to give it a try? Here’s what you should know:
What is thinking practice?
A thought exercise is a new way to think about a particular situation or experience that helps you get out of a stuck or unhelpful way of thinking. Some thought exercises have been extensively studied by psychologists, while others are offered by psychologists and clinical mental health counselors because they are anecdotally helpful to certain types of patients. Whether online or in person, your therapist may suggest thinking exercises.
read more: 5 best online therapy services
It is important to keep in mind that there is no one-size-fits-all thinking exercise. Try one of them for a few weeks and see how it affects your mental health and well-being. Thinking exercises are meant to help you see the world differently, not as a cure.
Benefits of Thinking Exercises for Mental Health
Thought reframing is one component of cognitive-behavioral therapy and has been shown to be effective in many studies.
- Trustworthy thinking exercises can help you stay calm and functioning during stressful moments, and can stave off more serious reactions like anxiety attacks.
- Thinking exercises can reduce the duration and intensity of anxiety symptoms. Do not combine with conventional therapy.
- when combined with mental health appthought exercises can provide a log of changes in one’s growth and mental health.
- Thought practice allows us to be more mindful of our anxiety triggers and change our lives. experience anxiety albeit infrequently.
read more: What You Need to Know About Anxiety, Symptoms and Treatment
6 Thinking Exercises That Improve Mental Health
Try one of these methods the next time you feel stressed.
self-observation practice
Many spiritual traditions include some form of self-observation or mindfulness exercise, which can also be helpful in completely non-spiritual situations. You can use to be curious and learn more about what you’re experiencing.
1. When you’re feeling anxious and have the opportunity to take a few minutes to yourself, do so. Stay away from other people so they don’t get in your way, even for a few minutes.
2. Start paying attention to how every element of your body feels. Feeling anxious in your shoulders, neck, stomach, head? Do you have other symptoms, such as fatigue or headaches? Don’t judge your emotions like you’re observing a science experiment and need to know everything please
3. Then turn your self-observation to your thoughts.What is a specific stressor Let your heart circulate? Instead of being overwhelmed by them, try to catalog them. Once you are aware, acknowledge and let go of what you “heard”.
Four. If you can get to a place where you can fully focus on your physical and mental sensations, you will be able to relax by releasing muscles that you have found to be tense, by letting your thoughts go rather than clenching them. you may notice. This may take several tries.
The act of self-observation is a way of freeing the mind from anxiety and returning to the body. Anxiety keeps us safe when we’re in fight-or-flight mode, but if we’re physically safe, this can be a way to assess our bodies and find our baseline again.
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keep a record of thoughts
One way people can better understand their anxiety symptoms is to record their thoughts. This can be done with a traditional paper journal, but there are other options, especially if it’s inconvenient to carry extra notes everywhere. You can write it down. It also includes other thought exercises, such as gratitude exercises and thought analysis.
Reviewing your thought log from time to time can help draw out connections, such as how sleep, exercise, and nutrition affect anxiety symptoms.
interrupt anxious thoughts
Anxious thoughts respond best when distracted by another task. These techniques are about effective distraction, not the technically “right” way to do it.
- Try tensing and relaxing different muscles in your body to focus on muscle activity and see if it helps you stop worrying thoughts.
- breathing Intentionally count like 4 count in and 4 count out.
- Playing music, listening to audiobooks or radio shows can interrupt anxious thoughts and distract you.
- Saying it out loud or verbally affirming that you’re done thinking this way helps you get out of your head and hear positive voices more clearly.
- Choosing a mentally engaging healing task, such as playing a word game on your phone, turning on the dishwasher, doing a yoga flow, or doing a series of other stretches, can all help reduce anxiety. It may be interrupted.
- Sometimes doing the back-calculation slowly can break the tide of anxiety.
read more: 8 Science-Backed Exercises for Stress Relief
Use Cognitive Diffusion Exercises
Cognitive confusion exercises are strategies that help us put our thoughts into perspective from the outside, or help us detach our own thoughts and see them more clearly. Frequently used in therapy.
- Use a silly voice: Some people find it helpful to step away from their own thoughts by using a silly voice and saying something like, “Oh, this is very worrying, isn’t it?” or other observations about thought.
- Leaves in a Stream: Seeing your thoughts as separate from your core identity, using the visualization of your thoughts flowing down a river, coming and going. Some people use it as a method.
- Label Your Thoughts: Some people find it helpful to identify “that’s a disturbing thought” or “this is a scary thought.” You don’t have to believe it outright.
- “Thank you heart”: When our hearts give us warnings in the form of anxious thoughts, we are grateful to them for trying to help us and warn us. You can express your gratitude in your heart.
practice self-compassion
Anxiety can manifest itself as excessive worrying about yourself not being good enough or having negative traits. A way to combat this negative self-talk is to practice self-compassion. It may seem strange at first, but you can start by trying to understand your current situation in the same way that a good friend is going through it. Instead of the harsh criticism you often give yourself, give the comfort you would give to a friend.
Another self-compassion exercise is to find a picture of yourself as a child and focus on it. Instead of directing your thoughts toward your adult self, direct your thoughts toward that child. Recognize that you, as an adult, deserve the same comforts as your children.
worry tree
The Worry Tree is a tool developed for people experiencing obsessive or persistent worry to help them make conscious decisions about whether to worry or do something else. It’s a flow chart graphic that you can customize to fit, but it basically starts with asking, “What am I worried about?” Then “Can I do something about it?” and “Can I do something about it now?” Guide people to do something if it helps. It helps you avoid ruminating, thinking the same anxiety-inducing thoughts over and over again without relief.
read more: 9 Ways to Relieve Anxiety Without Drugs
Conclusion
Thinking exercises may feel different from our typical way of thinking, but if you stay curious, you will experience more ways to think positively over time and your mind will become more open. If you find that thinking exercises make your anxiety symptoms worse, you may be doing ineffective thinking exercises or your anxiety responds well to treatment by a psychiatrist or counselor. There is a possibility. Talking to a mental health professional is a good idea to get better answers about your particular situation.
Other Mental Health Advice
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute health or medical advice. If you have any questions about your medical condition or health purposes, always consult a physician or other qualified Talk to your health care provider.
