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Emotional Reasoning |
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You reason from how you feel: "I feel like an idiot; therefore I must be one" or
"I feel hopeless, therefore I must be hopeless," or "I feel inferior, therefore I must be inferior." |
Cognitive Distortions
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In Emotional Reasoning
you assume that your emotions are logical and that they define reality. For
instance, "I feel worthless therefore I am worthless." |
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Unrealistic or twisted thoughts |
Realistic, untwisted responses |
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"I feel so stupid. I
am an idiot!" |
"Even the smartest
people make mistakes. I've done a lot of very intelligent things in my life. I
can try again."
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"I don't feel
motivated. I'm not in the mood. I just want to sit here and do nothing." |
"Action precedes
motivation. I'll feel more enthusiastic once I get started." |
Emotional
reasoning is a major factor in procrastination. Procrastination is a big factor
in being sedentary and in not starting to make healthy food choices. "I feel
like a blob so I'll start tomorrow." "I won't do it now because I'm waiting to
feel the motivation." The problem is that we've been fooling ourselves by putting the
cart before the horse. Action precedes motivation. We will feel better about
ourselves and better in general, if we don't put things off.
Feelings
aren't facts
Making
decisions based upon our emotions usually leads to less than optimal results.
Yet, many of us are in the habit of doing just that. Our emotions
mirror our thinking and beliefs, not the other way around. Untwisting our
automatic thinking usually changes the way we feel and puts us in a much more
empowered position to make wise and meaningful decisions.
Give yourself permission to question the validity of your feelings. Our feelings
are an important part of our humanity, but when we let them run our lives or
assume that they are always logical, we easily become mired in inactivity and
depression. Feelings are real, but they are not facts. Practice asking yourself,
What am I thinking that is making me feel so bad? What are the beliefs
underneath the feeling?
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Dave's Journey to Fitness