[BLOG POST] 12 Strategies for Building Resilience

Resilience is not a trait that you are either born with or without. It’s a set of behaviors, thoughts, and actions that can be learned and developed. When you break it down to the physical level in your brain, resilience is a neuroplastic process.  It’s really about how well your brain handles stress. 

What is Resilience?

Resilience is the process of adapting in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress,  such as family or relationship problems, serious health challenges, or workplace and financial issues. Essentially, it’s “bouncing back” from life’s difficult experiences.

Being resilient doesn’t mean that you don’t experience hard times. In fact, intense emotional pain, extreme trauma, and severe adversity are common in people who are considered resilient. The road to resilience most often involves considerable hardship. That’s how these people get resilient. Their brains build it. A resilient brain even has physical differences.

What a Resilient Brain Looks Like

According to Richard Davidson in his book, The Emotional Life of Your Brain, resilience is one dimension of your emotional style and includes greater activation in the left prefrontal cortex (PFC) of the brain. Davidson writes:

The amount of activation in the left prefrontal region of a resilient person can be thirty times that in someone who is not resilient.”

Davidson’s early research found that the abundance of signals back and forth from the PFC to the amygdala determines how quickly the brain recovers from being upset. The amygdala is your brain’s threat detector responsible for the fight-or-flight response. More activity in the left PFC shortens the period of amygdala activation. Less activation in certain zones of the PFC resulted in longer amygdala activity after an experience producing negative emotions. Basically, some people’s brains weren’t good at turning off negative emotion once it was turned on.

In later research with the help of MRIs, Davidson confirmed that the more white matter (axons connecting neurons) lying between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala, the more resilient a person was. The converse was also true. Less white matter equates with less resilience. By turning down the amygdala, the PFC is able to quiet signals associated with negative emotions. The brain can then plan and act effectively without being overly influenced by negative emotions.

Don’t despair if you aren’t currently resilient. Every brain is capable of building more connections between the brain regions.

12 Inner Strengths that Build Resilience 

In his book, Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength, and Happiness, Rick Hanson writes:

Mental Resources like determination, self-worth, and kindness are what make us resilient: able to cope with adversity and push through challenges in the pursuit of opportunities. While resilience helps us recover from loss and trauma, it offers much more than that. True resilience fosters well-being, an underlying sense of happiness, love, and peace. Remarkably, as you internalize experiences of well-being, that builds inner strengths which in turn make you more resilient. Well-being and resilience promote each other in an upward spiral.”

Hanson goes on to tell us that you can build a more resilient brain in the same way you would strengthen your muscles. You do it through lots of little efforts that add up over time. Little efforts throughout your day can result in real physical changes for a better brain. You can teach your brain to be more resilient by working on the following 12 primary inner strengths:

Compassion

Compassion can be extended to yourself and others. Not to be confused with self-pity, complacency or arrogance, self-compassion involves acknowledging your own suffering, faults, and mistakes and responding with kindness, caring, and understanding, without judgment or evaluation. It’s talking to and treating yourself as you would a friend. It’s seeing your troubles and screw-ups as part of being human.

To practice self-compassion requires finding a healthy balance between self-acceptance and working for self-improvement. Instead of criticizing yourself for making a mistake or drowning in pity when things don’t go your way, you adopt a kind, but realistic view of your experience. Kristin Neff, Ph.D., a pioneer in self-compassion research, identifies three main components of the trait:

• Self-kindness – Become aware of your negative self-talk and replace the inner critic with a kinder, gentler voice.
• Common humanity –  Acknowledge that suffering and personal failure are part of the universal experience of being human.
• Mindfulness – Observe your negative emotions without reacting to, focusing on, or suppressing them.

Research shows that self-compassion is a determining factor in whether life events become setbacks from which you don’t recover or stepping stones on the path forward.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a way of thinking. At the most basic level, it’s simply being aware of what’s happening as it’s happening. Being mindful means that you become aware of the workings of your mind, at that moment. When practicing mindfulness, you deliberately direct your awareness back into the now and focus your attention there. In essence, mindfulness is training your brain. In The Meaning Of Mindfulness, I explain the five basic factors that tend to be included in all mindfulness philosophies.

By following this pattern of thought repeatedly, over time, your brain actually physically changes. Through the process of neuroplasticity, the brain forms new connections and default neuronal pathways to support this kind of thinking, even when not consciously engaging in mindfulness. The consistent practice of mindfulness calms your brain and changes its default mode of operation.

Every brain is capable of building resilience.

Learning

You change your brain through learning. Learning is a neuroplastic process. Any lasting change of mood, outlook or behavior requires learning. Science shows that only about a third of your attributes are innate in your DNA. The other two-thirds are learned.

Hanson tells us that one effective way to teach our brains to be happier, more optimistic, confident, and resilient is by having and internalizing small experiences of safety, satisfaction, and connection throughout your day. He calls this “taking in the good“. You do this through a process he calls HEAL.

1. Have a good experience.
2. Enrich it.
3. Absorb it.
4. Link positive and negative.

Grit

Hanson defines grit as “dogged, tough resourcefulness. It’s what remains after all else has been worn down”.  On his website, he says:

Much of our success in life comes down to our ability to identify the things we’re passionate about, pursue them with consistency, and keep going when things get tough. Anyone can be passionate and productive for a few days, or when things are easy. But to keep going day after day when the weather gets rough? That’s when we need grit.”

He describes grit as being based on several things:

• Agency is the sense of being a cause rather than an effect. It’s the opposite of helplessness.
• Determination is the steadfast fortitude you draw on to cope with, endure, and survive challenging events.
• Resolve is focused effort and passion towards a goal.
• Patience is the ability to delay gratification and distress tolerance.
• Persistence is sustained efforts over time.

Gratitude

Because of a negativity bias, your brain always notices, focuses on, and hangs on to what is less than ideal or potential problems. This tendency to notice and never forget the bad is just your brain doing its job, protecting you. Your brain has a good reason for its natural negativity. Your ancestors were more likely to live long enough to pass on their genes by remembering where they were chased by a predator than a prime napping spot. For this reason, there could be a tremendous amount of good in your life, but your brain doesn’t even notice it. In order to counteract this tendency, you have to intentionally look for, put emphasis on, and internalize the good that is in your life.

One way to do this is through gratitude. A wealth of research has proven significant benefits of gratitude for mental and physical health. Studies show that the practice of gratitude can increase happiness levels by an average of 25 percent and overall health by, for example, increasing the quantity and quality of sleep. Beneficial outcomes can be achieved by such simple practices as praying, writing in a gratitude journal, placing a thankful phone call, making a mental gratitude list, or writing a thank-you letter to someone.

Confidence

Confidence is developed throughout childhood and adulthood from interactions with parents, siblings, bosses, partners, friends, and enemies. If things go pretty well, you acquire a sense of worth, being cared about, and the ability to handle life. However, if a person experiences too much disapproval and rejection without accompanying encouragement and support, they can become insecure and self-critical.

No matter what has happened in the past, you can develop your confidence by training your brain to look for opportunities to support and encourage yourself. You can do this by looking for wins, accomplishments, and strengths with which to support and encourage yourself. This also requires that you become aware of your inner dialogue. Notice when it’s critical, shaming, discouraging, or judgemental. Reframe and work with your thoughts to help you.

Calm

Unfortunately, the modern world pushes many of us into a chronic state of fight-or-flight where our sympathetic nervous sytems (SNS) are frequently or continuously activated.  It’s normal to experience fear, anger, helplessness, and overwhelm from time to time. However, the cumulative damage of chronically over stimulating the SNS leads to many physical and mental health problems.

The counter to the SNS is the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). It’s often called the rest and digest system. You can think of the SNS as your gas pedal and the PNS as the brake. In his book, Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom, Hanson suggests that you want to strive to exist predominantly in a baseline state PNS arousal of calm peacefulness with mild SNS activations for enthusiasm, vitality, wholesome passions, and occasional spikes to deal with demanding situations.

Hanson advises us to look for ways that we are overestimating threats, which activate the SNS, and underestimating our resources to deal with them. Then, you can utilize other practices to calm your brain and body.

Motivation

Resilience involves the continuing pursuit of goals even in the face of challenges. Motivation keeps a person moving forward. Motivation involves your brain’s reward circuit and dopamine. Dopamine gives the brain an energetic, pleasurable feeling and is responsible for reward-seeking behavior. It’s the primary neurotransmitter behind any addiction.

Your brain has a fundamental motivation circuit based on dopamine activity. Everybody has natural variations in the amount of dopamine produced. There are many ways to naturally increase dopamine. You can also strengthen this circuit by increasing the association between rewards and what you are trying to motivate yourself towards. You do this by noting your accomplishments — even the small ones — with rewards and really paying attention to and internalizing them.

Intimacy

Different degrees of intimacy are present in all relationships. Intimacy requires a balance between being vulnerable and a sense of boundaries and asserting yourself. Intimacy also requires the ability to empathize with others. Hanson writes:

Empathy is the foundation of the sense that ‘I am not alone, others are with me, we are in this together, we share a common humanity.”

You can develop and grow your empathy.

Courage

You may think you need courage to do the big things in life. However, it’s often the little, everyday interactions with others that need us to be courageous. Open, authentic communication requires that we take some risk. Oftentimes, it takes courage to be truthful and assert yourself in any relationship. This doesn’t mean that you need to forcefully make demands. It means to skillfully express yourself with good intentions while keeping an eye on the results you wish to achieve.

Aspire

To aspire is an inherent part of being alive. In his book, Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength, and Happiness, Hanson says:

To live is to lean into the future. We’re always stretching toward one thing or another: the next person, the next task, the next sight or sound, the next breath.”

In this life, it’s important to meet your need for satisfaction by reaching for results that have meaning to you — whatever those may be.  If you don’t have any idea, Hanson suggests that you look back to what you dreamed about and were interested in when you were young. Think about what you hoped for before the world taught you “to be sensible” and “avoid risks.” (That’s how I started writing. Life had made me “forget” my childhood dreams of being a writer. Two books and hundreds of articles later, I am a writer!)

Hanson cautions us that it is important to aspire without attachment. That means to work towards a goal, but to manage your expectations and be fundamentally at peace with whatever happens. I know — easier said than done,  but it is possible. It requires a growth mindset and being OK with failure.

Resilience is not a trait that you are born with or without. You can build it.

Generosity

Generosity is a positive cycle. It fills you up and strengthens you mentally and emotionally while connecting you with others which gives you even more to offer. The essence of generosity is altruism, which is giving without expecting anything in return. Humans evolved to be generous. It’s in our DNA. The generosity of one individual — sharing food, protecting from danger, increased the chances of survival for others.

Generosity doesn’t have to be material and often is not. Many times throughout a day you may be generous with your time, attention, patience, forgiveness, or encouragement. However, this does not mean to give because you are pressured or manipulated into it or to the point it is detrimental to you.

Source: The Best Brain Possible

[Abstract] Self-efficacy and Reach Performance in Individuals With Mild Motor Impairment Due to Stroke

Abstract

Background: Persistent deficits in arm function are common after stroke. An improved understanding of the factors that contribute to the performance of skilled arm movements is needed. One such factor may be self-efficacy (SE).

Objective: To determine the level of SE for skilled, goal-directed reach actions in individuals with mild motor impairment after stroke and whether SE for reach performance correlated with actual reach performance.

Methods: A total of 20 individuals with chronic stroke (months poststroke: mean 58.1 ± 38.8) and mild motor impairment (upper-extremity Fugl-Meyer [FM] motor score: mean 53.2, range 39 to 66) and 6 age-matched controls reached to targets presented in 2 directions (ipsilateral, contralateral). Prior to each block (24 reach trials), individuals rated their confidence on reaching to targets accurately and quickly on a scale that ranged from 0 (not very confident) to 10 (very confident).

Results: Overall reach performance was slower and less accurate in the more-affected arm compared with both the less-affected arm and controls. SE for both reach speed and reach accuracy was lower for the more-affected arm compared with the less-affected arm. For reaches with the more-affected arm, SE for reach speed and age significantly predicted movement time to ipsilateral targets (R² = 0.352), whereas SE for reach accuracy and FM motor score significantly predicted end point error to contralateral targets (R² = 0.291).

Conclusions: SE relates to measures of reach control and may serve as a target for interventions to improve proximal arm control after stroke.

via Self-efficacy and Reach Performance in Individuals With Mild Motor Impairment Due to Stroke – Jill Campbell Stewart, Rebecca Lewthwaite, Janelle Rocktashel, Carolee J. Winstein, 2019

[WEB SITE] Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Benefits & Techniques

In today’s society, doctors and psychiatrists are quick to prescribe psychotropic drugs that often come with dangerous side effects for any disorder that stems from thought patterns. But what if I told you there was a better, safer way to manage and treat stress and brain disorders? Enter cognitive behavioral therapy.

According to the National Association of Cognitive Behavioral Therapists, cognitive behavioral therapy (often just called CBT) is a popular form of psychotherapy that emphasizes the importance of underlying thoughts in determining how we feel and act. Considered to be one of the most successful forms of psychotherapy to come around in decades, cognitive behavioral therapy has become the focus of hundreds of research studies. (1)

CBT therapists work with patients to help them uncover, investigate and change their own thought patterns and reactions, since these are really what cause our perceptions and determine our behaviors. Using CBT therapists offers patients valuable perspective, which helps improve their quality of life and manage stress better than patients simply “problem-solving” tough situations on their own.

Something that might surprise you about CBT: A core principle is that external situations, interactions with other people and negative events are not responsible for our poor moods and problem in most cases. Instead, CBT therapists actually view the opposite as being true. It’s, in fact, our own reactions to events, the things we tell ourselves about the events — which are within our control — that wind up affecting our quality of life.

This is  great news — because it means we have the power to change. Through cognitive behavioral therapy, we can learn to change the way we think, which changes the way we feel, which in turn changes the way we view and handle tough situations when they arise. We can become better at intercepting disruptive thoughts that make us anxious, isolated, depressed, prone to emotionally eating and unwilling to change negative habits.

When we can accurately and calmly look at situations without distorting reality or adding additional judgments or fears, we’re better able to know how to react appropriately in a way that makes us feel happiest in the long run.

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Proven Benefits of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

A 2012 meta-analysis published in the Journal of Cognitive Therapy and Researchidentified 269 studies that supported the use of CBT for the following problems: (2)

• substance abuse disorders
• schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders
• depression and dysthymia
• manic depression/bipolar disorder
• anxiety disorders
• somatoform disorders
• eating disorders
• sleep disorders, including insomnia
• personality disorders
• anger and aggression
• criminal behaviors
• general stress and distress due to general medical conditions
• chronic fatigue syndrome
• muscle pains and tension
• pregnancy complications and female hormonal conditions

Researchers found the strongest support for CBT in treating anxiety disorders, somatoform disorders, bulimia, anger control problems and general stress. After reviewing 11 review studies comparing improvement rates between CBT and other therapy treatments, they found that CBT showed higher response rates than the comparison treatments in seven of the 11 reviews (more than 60 percent). Only one of 11 reviews reported that CBT had lower response rates than comparison treatments, leading researchers to believe that CBT is one of the most effective therapy treatments there is.

Here are some of the major ways cognitive behavioral therapy benefits patients from different walks of life:

1. Lowers Symptoms of Depression

Cognitive behavioral therapy is one of the best-known, empirically supported treatments for depression. Studies show that CBT helps patients overcome symptoms of depression like hopelessness, anger and low motivation, and lowers their risk for relapses in the future.

CBT is believed to work so well for relieving depression because it produces changes in cognition (thoughts) that fuel vicious cycles of negative feelings and rumination. Research published in the journal Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Mood Disordersfound that CBT is so protective against acute episodes of depression that it can be used along with, or in place of, antidepressant medications. CBT has also shown promise as an approach for helping handle postpartum depression and as an adjunct to medication treatment for bipolar patients. (3)

2. Reduces Anxiety

According to work published in Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, there’s strong evidence regarding CBT treatment for anxiety-related disorders, including panic disorders, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Overall, CBT demonstrates both efficacy in randomized controlled trials and effectiveness in naturalistic settings between patients with anxiety and therapists. (4)

Researchers have found that CBT works well as a natural remedy for anxiety because it includes various combinations of the following techniques: psycho-education about the nature of fear and anxiety, self-monitoring of symptoms, somatic exercises, cognitive restructuring (for example disconfirmation), image and in vivo exposure to feared stimuli (exposure therapy), weaning from ineffective safety signals, and relapse prevention.

3. Helps Treat Eating Disorders

The Journal of Psychiatric Clinics of North America reports that eating disorders provide one of the strongest indications for cognitive behavioral therapy. CBT has been found to help address the underlying psychopathology of eating disorders and question the over-evaluation of shape and weight. It can also interfere with the maintenance of unhealthy body weights, improve impulse control to help stop binge eating or purging, reduce feelings of isolation, and help patients become more comfortable around “trigger foods” or situations using exposure therapy. (5)

Cognitive therapy has become the treatment of choice for treating bulimia nervosa and “eating disorders not otherwise specified” (EDNOS), the two most common eating disorder diagnoses. There’s also evidence that it can be helpful in treating around 60 percent of patients with anorexia, considered to be one of the hardest mental illnesses to treat and prevent from returning.

4. Reduces Addictive Behaviors and Substance Abuse

Research has shown that CBT is effective for helping treat cannabis and other drug dependencies, such as opioid and alcohol dependence, plus helping people quit smoking cigarettes and gambling. Studies published in the Oxford Journal of Public Health involving treatments for smoking cessation have found that coping skills learned during CBT sessions were highly effective in reducing relapses in nicotine quitters and seem to be superior to other therapeutic approaches. (6) There’s also stronger support for CBT’s behavioral approaches (helping to stop impulses) in the treatment of problematic gambling addictions compared to control treatments. (7)

5. Helps Improve Self-Esteem and Confidence

Even if you don’t suffer from any serious mental problems at all, CBT can help you replace destructive, negative thoughts that lead to low self-esteem with positive affirmations and expectations. This can help open new ways to handle stress, improve relationships and increase motivation to try new things. The Psychology Tools website provides great resources for using CBT worksheets on your own to work on developing affirmative communication skills, healthy relationships and helpful stress-reducing techniques. (8)

Facts About Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

• CBT was originally created to help people suffering from depression, but today it’s used to improve and manage various types of mental disorders and symptoms, including: anxiety, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, addictions and eating disorders. (9)
• CBT techniques are also beneficial for just about everyone else, including people with no form of mental illness but who have chronic stress, poor moods and habits they’d like to work on.
• The term cognitive behavioral therapy is considered a general term for a classification of therapeutic approaches that have similarities, including: rational emotive behavior therapy, rational behavior therapy, rational living therapy, cognitive therapy and dialectical behavior therapy.
• To date, more than 332 medical studies and 16 quantitative reviews have examined the effects of CBT. Interestingly, more than 80 percent of these studies were conducted after 2004. (10)
• Studies have found that in people who have completed CBT programs and then undergone brain scans, CBT is actually capable of positively changing physical structures in the brain. (11)
• CBT can work quickly, helping patients feel better and experience lessened symptoms within a short period of time (several months, for example). While many forms of therapy can take many months or even years to become very helpful, the average number of CBT sessions clients receive is only 16.
• CBT often involves the patient completing “homework” assignments on their own between therapy sessions, which is one of the reasons benefits can be experienced so quickly.
• In addition to homework being done by the patients while they’re alone, cognitive behavioral therapists also use instructions, questioning and “exposure therapy” during sessions. CBT is very interactive and collaborative. The therapist’s role is to listen, teach and encourage, while the patient’s role is to be open and expressive.
• One of the biggest advantages for patients is that CBT can be continued even after formal sessions with a therapist are over. Eventually, formal therapy ends, but at this point the clients can continue to work on exploring CBT concepts, using techniques they’ve learned, journaling and reading to help prolong benefits and manage symptoms.

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How Cognitive Behavior Therapy Works

CBT works by pinpointing thoughts that continuously rise up, using them as signals for positive action and replacing them with healthier, more empowering alternatives.

The heart of CBT is learning self-coping skills, giving patients the ability to manage their own reactions/responses to situations more skillfully, change the thoughts they tell themselves, and practice “rational self-counseling.” While it definitely helps for the CBT therapist/counselor and patient to build trust and have a good relationship, the power really lies in the patient’s hands. How willing a patient is to explore his or her own thoughts, stay open-minded, complete homework assignments and practice patience during the CBT process all determine how beneficial CBT will be for them.

Some of the characteristics that make cognitive behavioral therapy unique and effective include:

• Rational approach: CBT theory and techniques are based on rational thinking, meaning they aim to identify and use facts. The “inductive method” of CBT encourages patients to examine their own perceptions and beliefs to see if they are in fact realistic. In CBT, there is an underlying assumption that most emotional and behavioral reactions are learned. Many times with a CBT therapists’s help, patients learn that their long-held assumptions and hypotheses are at least partially incorrect, which causes them unnecessary worrying and suffering. (12)
• Law of entropy and impermanence: CBT rests on scientific assumptions, including the law of entropy, which is essentially the fact that “if you don’t use it, you lose it.” We always have the power to change how we feel because our feelings are rooted in our brains’ chemical interactions, which are constantly evolving. If we break cycles of thought patterns, our brains will adjust for the better. MRI scans show the human brain creates and sustains neural synapses (connections) between frequent thoughts and emotions, so if you practice positive thinking your brain will actually make it easier to feel happier in the future.
• Accepting unpleasant or painful emotions: Many CBT therapists can help patients learn how to stay calm and clear-headed even when they’re faced with undesirable situations. Learning to accept difficult thoughts or emotions as being “simply part of life” is important, because this can help stop a vicious cycle from forming. Often we get upset about our tough feelings and add on even more suffering. Instead of adding self-blame, anger, frustration, sadness or disappointment to already-tough feelings, CBT teaches patients to calmly accept a problem without judgment in order to not make it even worse.
• Questioning and expressing: Cognitive behavioral therapists usually ask patients many questions in order to help them gain a new perspective, see the situation more clearly and realistically, and help them undercover how they really feel.
• Specific agendas and techniques: CBT is usually done in a series of sessions that each have a specific goal, concept or technique to work with. Unlike some other forms of therapy, sessions are not simply for the therapist and patient to talk openly without an agenda in mind. CBT therapists teach their clients how to better handle difficult thoughts and feelings by practicing specific techniques during sessions that can later be applied to life when they’re most needed.

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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy vs. Other Types of Psychotherapy 

CBT is a type of psychotherapy, which means it involves open talking between patient and therapist. You might have heard of several other forms of psychotherapy in the past and are wondering what makes CBT stand apart. Many times there is some overlap between different forms of psychotherapy. A therapist might use techniques from various psychotherapy approaches to help patients best reach their goals and improve (for example, to help someone with a phobia, CBT might be coupled with exposure therapy).

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, here is how CBT differs from other popular forms of therapy: (13)

• CBT vs. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): DBT and CBT are probably the most similar therapeutic approaches, however DBT relies more heavily on validation or accepting uncomfortable thoughts, feelings and behaviors. DBT therapists help patients find balance between acceptance and change by using tools like mindfulness guided meditation.
• CBT vs. Exposure Therapy: Exposure therapy is a type of cognitive behavioral therapy that’s often used to help treat eating disorders, phobias and obsessive-compulsive disorder. It teaches patients to practice using calming techniques and small series of “exposures” to triggers (things that are most feared) in order to become less anxious about the outcome.
• CBT vs. Interpersonal Therapy: Interpersonal therapy focuses on the relationships a patient has with his or her family, friends, co-workers, media and community to help evaluate social interactions and recognize negative patterns (such as isolation, blame, jealousy or aggression). CBT can be used with interpersonal therapy to help reveal underlying beliefs and thoughts driving negative behavior toward others.

Ways to Practice Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Techniques on Your Own

• Identify your current obstacles: The first step is to identify what’s really causing you stress, unhappiness and unease. Maybe you’re feeling resentful toward someone, fearful of failure or worried about being rejected socially in some way. You might find that you have persistent anxiety, symptoms of depression or are struggling to forgive someone for a past event. Once you can recognize this and become more aware of your primary obstacle, then you have the power to start work on overcoming it.
• Try “thought recording”: You can use a journal or even record your own voice on a tape recorder to help you identify recurring destructive thoughts you frequently tell yourself. Ask yourself questions to dig deeper and form connections you weren’t previously aware of. Then reread your entries as if you were not yourself, but a good friend. What advice would you give yourself? What beliefs of yours can you notice aren’t very accurate, only making matters worse and not overall helpful?
• Form patterns and recognize your triggers: Think about what types of situations make you most likely to feel anxious, upset, critical or sad. Start to form patterns of behaving in certain ways or experiencing certain things (for example, maybe drinking too much alcohol or gossiping behind someone’s back) and how they leave you feeling, so you can start breaking the cycle.
• Notice how things are always changing: Feelings come and go constantly (called impermanence), so knowing that fear, anger or other strongly unplesant emotions are only temporary can help you stay calm in the moment.
• “Put yourself in their shoes”: It’s important to try and view situations as rationally, clearly and realistically as possible. It helps to consider other people’s perspectives, question your assumptions, and see if there’s something important you might be missing or ignoring.
• Thank yourself and be patient: Even though CBT works quickly for many people, it’s an ongoing process that’s essentially lifelong. There’s always ways to improve, feel happier, and treat others and yourself better, so practice being patient. Remind yourself there is no finish line. Give yourself credit for putting effort into facing your problems directly, and try to view “slip-ups” as inevitable parts of the journey and learning process.

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Final Thoughts on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

• CBT techniques are also beneficial for just about everyone else, including people with no form of mental illness but who have chronic stress, poor moods and habits they’d like to work on.
• Some of the major ways cognitive behavioral therapy benefits patients from different walks of life includes lowering symptoms of depressions, reducing anxiety, treating eating disorders, reduces addictive behaviors and substance abuse, and helps improve self-esteem and confidence.
• You can practice cognitive behavioral therapy by identifying your current obstacles, trying thought recording, forming patterns and recognizing your triggers, noticing how things are always changing, putting yourself in others’ shoes, and thanking yourself and being patient.

Source: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Benefits & Techniques – Dr. Axe