Label your thoughts !
Mindfulness and meditation, two very valuable practices that are encouraged here at 7 Cups, as well as psychotherapies like ACT or CBT, stress the importance of noticing our thoughts.
An interesting addition to this is Thought Labeling, which gives us valuable information about our thinking patterns.
After noticing a thought we add a "label" that tags it as Positive or Negative (there are other ways to “label”, but we focus here on the "Positivity " dimension).
We label spontaneous thoughts with a neutral attitude of just classifying things, avoiding judging. And then, we let them go.
For example, if I think "I hate this !", I add the thought "Negative". If I think "How good !", I add the thought "Positive".
"I won't be able to do it" - "Negative"
"Everything will be fine" - "Positive"
And so on…
(we can also add the label "Neutral" to some thoughts.)
We do this for a while, a few hours, an afternoon, a full day, or even every day if we wish so.
Then we reflect on the results:
- What proportion of our thoughts were "Positive" ?
- What situations trigger "Positive" or "Negative" thoughts ?
- What have you learned about yourself after this exercise ?
I invite you to try this practice for the duration you decide (could be short, like 15 minutes, or long, like an afternoon or a full day), reflect on its results and (optionally), share them in a post.
I look forward to your comments, and wish you all the best !
Marcelo.
@WelcomeToChat
Superb! Love this exercise ❤
@ouiCherie
I'm glad for that !
Thank you !
Marcelo.
@WelcomeToChat
this is a great exercise, Marcelo! I will be noticing my thoughts today and keep track of the labels I give to them. I will return to this thread tomorrow morning to let you guys know how it was for me! thanks for creating this wonderful thread
@lumieremilkyway
Thank you Lumie !
I look forward to your comments,
Marcelo.
I noticed that I had an attachment to some of the thoughts I had during the day and thus had a difficult time letting go of them. I was a little freaky about the labels I was giving, "oh I had a negative thought just now, it may ruin any positive one I may have now" or things like that. it wasn't a big one for now, but I was a little cautious with the labels (maybe it has to do something with me having issues with labels in the first place).
Reflection
- What proportion of our thoughts were "Positive"?
I had 60% positive thoughts and 20% negative and 20% neutral. now this is just a rough figure but I had very less negative thoughts as compared to the positive ones and even neutral ones.
- What situations trigger "Positive" or "Negative" thoughts?
when I am mostly alone, I usually find something to distract myself so I noticed when I was by myself with nothing to do, I was likely to have neutral thoughts. my positive thoughts were triggered by me drinking water (because I am trying to reward myself after drinking water, like listen to my favourite music and sing along), when I hug my mom, when I watched something I liked or felt was beneficial to me, and just things in general that made me feel good right after they were done. my negative thoughts were triggered by staring at the screen for too long (because the voice in my head kept on repeating, you're straining yourself, go off now), fights at home, and things that would be stressful to deal with at the moment.
- What have you learned about yourself after this exercise?
I have learned that a lot of the activities that ignited these thoughts had something about them I could regulate better. I realized that I don't have to be attached to any thought because whether it be positive or negative, holding on to either for long would block other thoughts and I don't think I would like to be hung up on just one thing and miss out on something better. thoughts come and go and holding on to any wouldn't do me much good.
@lumieremilkyway
Dear Lumie:
Thank you very much for such an interesting post !
I appreciate that you did the exercise very thoughtfully. Even if it made you struggle with conflicting thoughts arising from the exercise itself.
In return, you got an objective, even quantitative measure of how wonderful a fountain of positivity you are !
The detailed identification of your triggers may serve you well to bring even more happiness to your life, and to reduce the influence on you of unavoidable negative thoughts and situations that are part of life.
Also, your practical conclusions seem very wise to me. Thoughts, positive and negative, come and go, we are much more than those thoughts.
Let them flow like water in a stream, and appreciate them. They are the product of our amazing mind !
Again, thank you Lumie !
All the best,
Marcelo.
loved it!