Recover we

I am about to save you years of therapy with these little flashcards. They are a series of common Cognitive Distortions many people have adopted unconsciously. These distortion’s become the lenses through which we see and understand; the way we have perceived the world and our place in it. It’s like wearing glasses that skew your ability to see clearly, without you even knowing you’re wearing them.

These can change your life. Just correcting one can help. Further – it will allow you to see more clearly the other distorted beliefs that have framed your life.

I recommend reading through them once. Slowly. Thoughtfully.

Your guts will jump at some more than others. Then I’d go back over them a second time. It may be encouraging to see that you don’t have ALL of them. But you will notice there are a few that demand some deconstruction and fresh reasoning.

When I think about how I used to Catastrophize, struggle to maintain Shoulds, wrestle with The Fallacy of Fairness, or think I knew what other people were thinking, I know I’ve come a long way.

I wasted SO MUCH MENTAL ENERGY projecting my worry of the worst case scenario, checking off my list of should’s created from what I thought I knew other people were thinking, therefore expecting… Oh! And the unfairness of it all. Surely it was enough to throw me into despair.

I’m not perfect. Not at all. But I notice them now. I am aware when I am falling into the old distortions. I’ll admit sometimes it’s not until I have the anxiety and dread in my body from the sense of having failed someone or something. I have had seasons of peace within myself long enough to recognize when I’ve gone off the rails, when I’m not in alignment. Somewhere a cognition has gone wrong.

While reading through these today for this post, Emotional Reasoning, Personalizing, and Underestimating my Ability to Cope stirred my guts as skewed views that need to be addressed.

It’s a lifelong process darlings. It doesn’t all happen at once.

Progress not perfection.

One day at a time.

One thought at a time.