Cognitive Restructuring - Turn Unhappiness to Happiness

Cognitive Restructuring – Turn Unhappiness to Happiness

Cognitive approach to stress management is found effective based on recent research. From the stream of cognitive approach, different tools are designed for helping people live out a happy, stressful-free life even under unhappy or stressful situations. Over at Mind Tools site, you’ll find a useful tool, Cognitive Restructuring:

… for understanding and turning around negative thinking. It helps us put unhappy, negative thoughts “under the microscope”, challenging them and in many cases rescripting the negative thinking that lies behind them. In doing this, it can help us approach situations in a positive frame of mind.

The main idea is to work through a process, using a simple worksheet:

Write down the situation that triggered the negative thoughts
Identify the moods that you felt in the situation
Write down the Automatic Thoughts that you experienced when you felt the mood.
Identify the evidence that supports these Hot Thoughts.
Identify the evidence that does not support the Hot Thoughts.
Now, identify fair, balanced thoughts about the situation.
Finally, observe your mood now and think about what you are going to do

Cognitive Restructuring – From Unhappiness to a Positive Outlook – [MindTools]
Simple Worksheet – [MindTools]

Christine Ho, author of the cooking blog, Christine's Recipes, lives in Australia with her husband and her lovely daughter who is a motion designer. However her son, Leon Ho, is still based in Hong Kong. In June 2012, she officially released her first cookbook, written in both Chinese and English, called “Easy Recipes - A Selection of Simple Classics”. It quickly climbed the bestseller lists of Hong Kong's biggest bookstores. And in November 2012, she was invited to run a special cooking demo and cookbook signing session in Hong Kong.

7 Responses to “Cognitive Restructuring – Turn Unhappiness to Happiness”

Conn says:

March 7, 2006 at 4:33 pm

If we put negative thoughts “under the microscope”, isn’t there the possibility to intensify rather than changing them?

Why we must focus on our negative thoughts and not only on our positive ones?

Reply
Shannon says:

March 9, 2006 at 11:33 am

I hope this helps me. I can’t escape my negative thinking. It is ruining my family life and my work life. I want to change, but I can’t seem to break my old thinking patterns.

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Nikki says:

May 10, 2006 at 1:48 am

I’m going to try this. Hopefully it will help!! Good luck 2 the rest of you too.

Reply
Christine Tse says:

May 23, 2007 at 6:29 am

Hi

My name is Christine Tse and am really surprised to see that there are other Christine Tse is the world.

Woaw.

If any Christine Tse could reply, please.

regards

Reply
Christine Tse says:

May 23, 2007 at 6:30 am

Hi

My name is Christine Tse and am really surprised to see that there are other Christine Tse is the world.

Woaw.

If any Christine Tse could reply, please. Or even send a photograph

regards

Reply
Joe Jaegers says:

April 28, 2008 at 10:48 am

I certainly will look into this, but are there suggestions on how to have others we care about, use this tool also?

Reply
Doug says:

December 19, 2008 at 4:47 am

I am not at all sure I agree with the technique described here. In my experience, we become that which we focus on. Focus on emotional pain and that is what you will feel. Though difficult at first, focusing on happy experiences will gradually lead to a happier state.

Reply