Challenging your thoughts!
Hey all!
Challenging your thoughts can be one of the most helpful and strongest tools to have in your coping skill/mental health toolbox!!
Challenging your thoughts is taking an irrational thought you may have/had, and rationalizing it and challenging whatever negative things it is saying!
For example, if I were to have the thought "I am not good enough" I would do my best to immediately recognize that that is an extreme and irrational thought. I would challenge it with other thoughts like "others tell me i am good enough / I do my best every day / my best is enough / I hold too high of expectations for myself / I need to be kind to myself"
Even if you don't believe it, that's okay! It can be hard to believe things like that when your brain has always been telling you negative things about yourself! You have to try to get into the rational part of you, the "what the heck that is not true" part of you!!
Another great way to help practice this is when you aren't even necessarily in a bad moment. If you're feeling neutral or good, you can take a journal and write down a negative thought you have had, and write down other thoughts to challenge it!
Make sure y'all are taking care of yourselves!!
QOTFT: What is one positive thing y'all will do for yourselves this week??
(question of the forum thread cx )
@AmethystUnicorn
This is a wonderful thread. You briefly mentioned a very important point we often forget - You don't have to believe it. At least, not yet. With time, you will believe it but even if you don't really believe it, challenge your negative thoughts.
This week I am going to start my gratitude jar as something positive for me. I finallly have a jar!
What about you? 
@stuckintime92 Yes! It's very important to continue to challenge your thoughts even if you don't believe the affirmations yet :)
And a gratitude jar sounds wonderful! As for what i'll do for myself, I'm going to make it a goal to write in my therapy notebook more often! :D
@AmethystUnicorn Thanks for your insightful post. You have encouraged me, even if just for today, to seriously challenge my negative thinking. I am a Christian, and your post helped me remember a verse I have used to remind myself about one of the things God says is best for my mind to dwell on in Philippians 4:8, ""Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely, and dwell on the fine, good things...". Thank you for your inspiration to reach one of my goals: I want to want to get well.
@estompe55 I'm so glad that I have encouraged you! :D
It's important to focus on the positive and I'm glad that you remembered a verse that is helpful to you!!
What is one positive thing I will do this week? I
@asheroo92 Writing down your mental health toolbox (or anything for that matter) is very good :D
Seeing it written down can be very helpful rather than trying to remember it all in your head! I'm glad you've started using your journal daily as well! Journaling is good for the mind 
@AmethystUnicorn thanks! I use the bullet journal system and I track a few things like habits and mood so it helps to hold me accountable for things I need to be doing. And helps me stay organised.
yea its really hard for me because i have bad intrusive thoughts which cause me to panic and then i get depressed i have a very stick mind =/
@Nate905 I'm sorry about that! It can be hard to stay positive when your mind is in a depressed state, though it is definitely possible!
I know that you can do it!!
@Nate905
awh, *sending hugs and positive vibes* you totally got this, lovely! I believe in you :3 Give it a try.
@AmethystUnicorn
One thing I am doing this week is working on building my self esteem back. I have been knocked down a lot lately and it is starting to make me turn away from others who are trying to help me. Hope everyone has a wonderful night or day ( depending on where you live ).
@pamharley003 Building your self-esteem is wonderful!
I hope all goes well with it, and remember to challenge your negative thoughts!
Great thread post.
What I try is "Turning the mind" like DBT teaches. Glad you mentioned about the Toolbox. There is a tread here that might help folks.
@DanaMH
That's awesome and interesting to me! I'll be sure to check it out. 
thanks for sharing it!
@Zammn
Glad you find them interesting and I do hope they help you out also.
@AmethystUnicorn
I quite agree with you! Thoughts are quite hard to avoid and ignore because of course, a person can't really ignore their mind but they sure can cope with it! Positivity brings joy and happiness in life ^-^
Hmm, positive thing. I think I might go to the park and sit under the tree! It's always nice and calm there.
I loaf this post! Thank youu!
I can't challenge my thoughts because I feel like I have to be self-aware to improve on my flaws and that requires being brutally honest with myself. I am an idiot, I am a loser, I am a failure and I'm going to die alone. I can't lie to myself or I'm just setting myself up for more heartbreak and disappointment.
@tluper6491 I get what you are saying and agree completely with you that being honest with ourselves is always best. It sounds like you are struggling with some difficult stuff in your life and Im glad you found your way to 7 Cups and hope you will stay connected.
I hope its ok for me to be tranparent, honest and take a moment to share my struggle with debilitating depression to the point of having to literally quit everything. I have been left with nothing else to focus on but my own thougths and found I had to figure out what I truly believed about myself; in other words what is really true about me.
To do that I've had to go to my source for truth. I've worked on the 7 Cups self guided materials for depression and loniness which began to make me realize I didnt compeltely know the truth about what I beleived about me. I reasoned that if I want to understand the truth about something, I must go to the maker or creator of that something. To learn the truth about what is best for my car to perform optimally, I go to the owners manual written by the maker of my specific vehicle.
So to learn the truth about myself and how I should think and live; how I can perform optimally in my thougths and life; I went to what I believe to be "The Owners Manual", written about me and for me by my Creator; for me that is Gods Word. Its there that I learned that what I believe to be true about myself can be distorted by my negative experiences and what other people say/have said to me and that I can begin to "break down" and become ill and not perform well when I believe lies about who I really am. I was able to begin to challenge my negative thoughts about myself as I studied the "Owners Manual" and learned that the truth about me is I am important and valuable because I am made in His Image and Likeness (Genesis 1:27). The truth about me is I was important enouguth to be thought of before I was even born and He took the time to create me on purpose, with purpose (Psalm139: 13-16). The truth is I am a masterpiece and I am made to do good things (Ephesias 6:10).
There is so much more about who I really am in my Owners Manual, so when I struggle daily with negative thoughts, I go to my source of truth and work on challenging and changing them so my "self" can perform as optimally as I was made to perform. Im also continuing to work through the self guided materials and paths laid out on the 7 Cups site that seem to support what I've found out about the truth about who I am.
I dont know what your source of truth about who you are is - but I truly hope you stay connected to 7 Cups and work through the tools they have available to help you change what you believe about you. I hope you can figure out what you believe your "source of truth" about you is and continue to learn the truth about you and challenge your negative thoughts as see that honestly...you are valuable, you are important, you matter, you are stronger than you know and you can choose wisely.
@AmethystUnicorn I have been challenging my depressing thoughts a lot, and I don't believe them, but they still keep coming into my head anyway. It can get upsetting and annoying at times.
@resourcefulPond1641 Yes, I know what you mean. I saw on another thread that it can be helpful to have a "positive jar." Im going to make one this week with strips of my favorite colors of paper and decorate it with photos, images, strips of cloth and colors that make me feel positive. From what I remember, thei idea is that when I have a negative thought I take time to stop and accept the negative thought for that moment (mindfulness), then immediately write down a positive thought that challenges the negative one and put it in the jar. Eventually I will have a jar full of positive thoughts I can go to when I am challenged with negative thoughts. I wish I was tech saavy enough to make an app for my phone that I could use for that same premise for when Im not home. Anyway - hope this idea is of some help for you (and me) as we continue on our path and work to change our thought life so we can be nice to ourselves....after all...we are SO worht it!!!!. 
When I look back over my life, I can see where I've missed out on some opportunities. Maybe you could say the same thing. If so, I want to encourage you, don't live in regret. Don't let lost opportunities make you feel disappointed and discouraged. Have you ever used one of those GPS devices in your car? You try the location to where you want to go, and the GPS calculates the best route. Even if you're driving along and get distracted and completely miss the street where the GPS instructed you to turn, that doesn't mean you'll never reach you destination. That GPS will instantly recalculate the route based on your present location.
Nature works in a similar way. It's constantly giving us direction, speaking to our hearts and leading us by peace in our spirits. Even when we miss its instructions, and we all do from time to time, it will recalculate our route and get us back where we need to be. But, you'll never reach your destination if you're constantly trying to look back over your shoulder to see where you should've turned in the first place. You have to forget about what you've missed so you can focus on what lies ahead. Today, it doesn't matter if you've made some wrong choices or if you have got off track. Nature knows right where you are and it has a new route ready for you. It wants to restore those opportunities that once seemed lost forever. It may not always it as the way you think; but if you'll stay open, it will get you back on track and bless you beyond your wildest dream.
Have a nice day! <3 :)
@SweetMochaccino Thank you! That really spoke to me. It's a helpful way of looking at things.
