Tim Arrigo walks through a cognitive-restructuring exercise: write down a negative thought, then argue both sides like a prosecutor and defense attorney would, before you judge the verdict. The goal is to test your thoughts against actual evidence instead of taking them at face value.
Next time you're having negative thoughts, try this. Put down the thoughts that you're currently thinking, the story that you're telling yourself about what's happening in your life, and I want you to play the prosecutor, defense attorney, and the judge. In the prosecutor's box, I want you to put all the evidence that supports that thought, that story, and you can only use verifiable facts. You can't use opinions, interpretations. Okay, then I want you to, in the defense attorney's box, write all the are thoughts that challenge that thought, that challenge that thought, the fact that it may not be true. You can only use verifiable facts, evidence. You can't use opinions or interpretations or guesses. Then in the judge's box, I want you to write what is the judge's verdict. Is this thought accurate? Is this story accurate? Or is there another way to think about what is happening? Try today to think about what you're thinking about because oftentimes the story that you're telling yourself is the real problem.
