Your task is quite simple. At different times during the day, simply stop and ask yourself: What am I thinking right now?
- Stop yourself at intervals and consider the content of your thoughts and the way you feel, and how one thing – the thought – leads to the other – the feeling. If it helps, put reminder notes where you will see them at different times of the day.
- Approach the exercise as though you were a researcher, trying to reach an objective assessment of your thoughts and feelings. Identify the predominant themes. Are they positive, negative, or a balance of the two? Pay particular attention to the habitual thoughts that give rise to any negative feelings.
- Observe how you talk to yourself during the day. What is the overall tone of your self-talk, and what messages do you send yourself?
- Through this exercise, try to become more aware of the assumptions, interpretations, and beliefs you have about yourself and the world around you – especially any recurring patterns and the feelings that they create.