What repeated messages are under the current of your thoughts without your consciousness?
Trying the suggestions given in last week’s post to take notice of the things you are saying to yourself (that you may not be aware of) has hopefully given you a thought record, or a list of thoughts that happen unconsciously. Awareness of these “broken record” unconscious thoughts is the first step in reprogramming your mind away from a negative perspective. We will use this list of thoughts, so if you haven’t yet written them down, take some time now.
With your list of “broken record” thoughts, let’s identify what Core Beliefs produce those thoughts.
Think of Core Beliefs as seeds for the thoughts you recognized in your list of unconscious broken record thoughts. Some of the thoughts you wrote down may actually be the core belief. Or, several of the thoughts may reveal a belief that you have, that promote thinking the way you have been.
For example, if the following thoughts happen:
“I need to get to bed.”
“I will feel better in the morning.”
“Today is finally over.”
One belief this person likely has is that a good nights sleep will help them reset for the next day. Or that a day’s challenges can be shaken off each night.
These thoughts: “my dog will be at the door when I get home,” and “I’ll take my dog to the park this weekend” likely happen for a person who has a basic Core Belief that their dog is a reliable companion.
Look through your thoughts and identify what themes you see.
Common Core Beliefs for people who struggle with accepting themselves physically are:
People don’t like me because of how I look.
I don’t deserve to be loved.
Unless I change my body, I can’t do what I really want to do.
I am not right the way I am.
If I looked different, everything would be easier.
See if any of these encompass the hurtful thoughts you routinely have. Maybe you can tweak these example Core Beliefs to encompass what your thoughts reveal. With what central message do all of these thoughts resonate?
Now that we have identified the Core Beliefs that produce your broken record Automatic Thoughts, which may have been unconscious and not even noticed much until recently, we will use our ABCs. Challenging these Core Beliefs will be our next task.
(This is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. CBT is super helpful because it gives direct, measurable ways to change your thinking and therefore also how you feel.)
