Thought Check-In

01 The situation

Just the facts, briefly — what a camera would have recorded. No interpretation yet.

02 Emotion and body

Emotions are information. So is your body, and it usually noticed first.

03 The automatic thought

The sentence your mind actually said, in its own words. Write it as a quote, even if it sounds harsh or unreasonable.

04 Name the thinking trap

Most automatic thoughts are shaped by one of a handful of familiar patterns. Find the closest match — accuracy matters more than having a perfect label.

• Should statements — measuring yourself against a rule nobody agreed to.
• All-or-nothing — only two options exist, and one of them is failure.
• Catastrophizing — the worst case, treated as settled.
• Mind reading — assuming you know what someone thinks.
• Emotional reasoning — it feels true, so it is true.
• Labeling — one event becomes a permanent identity.
• Discounting the positive — the evidence that does not fit gets thrown out.
• Overgeneralizing — one instance becomes always or never.

05 Test it against evidence

Not “think positive” — think accurately. Both columns usually have something in them.

06 The disciplined reframe

A version you could defend out loud: more balanced, more honest, and more useful. It does not have to feel good yet.

07 One next helpful action

Small, specific, and something you could do today. A step that fits your values, not one that waits for the feeling to change first.