NARRATOR: There are times where it's really hard to slow our minds down, stop our minds from racing, and let our thoughts go. And this is more likely to happen the longer our thoughts have been going on without us being mindful of them or if our thoughts are associated with a particularly strong emotion because, as we've discussed before, our thoughts and our feelings are closely connected. And so if we're worrying because we're feeling anxious, our anxiety is likely to cause us to worry even more. And then this increased worrying feeds back into our anxiety and makes us even more anxious. 

And so if you're having trouble letting go of your thoughts or slowing down your mind, you can try taking a step back from your thoughts and looking at things from a different perspective by reframing your thoughts with what we call cognitive restructuring. And then if you're able to see things from a different perspective and change the way you're thinking, because our thoughts and our feelings are so closely connected, you'll usually notice a corresponding change in your mood. 

And so here are some questions you can ask yourself to help give yourself a different perspective and change the way you're thinking and, in turn, change the way you feel. The first set of questions are based on, how do I know my thought is true? What is the evidence or proof that my thought is true? Is there any evidence that disproves my thought? And what's the evidence that this thought may not be true or not completely true? Are there any facts I'm ignoring or have overlooked? 

Are there any small things that contradict my thought that I may be discounting as unimportant? Am I using any words or phrases that are extreme or exaggerated, such as should, must, always, never? Am I reading someone else's mind and treating that as fact? And the next set of questions are based on, are there any other possible explanations? Can I see any other way of viewing this? 

If my friend was having this thought, what would I tell them? And if they knew I was having this thought, what would they say to me? When I'm not feeling this way, do I look at this situation any differently? Five years from now, if I look back on this situation, might I look at it any differently? Am I blaming myself for something over which I don't have complete control? 

Have I had any experiences that show that this thought isn't true all of the time? Are there any strengths in me that I'm ignoring? Are there any positives to the situation that I'm ignoring? And finally, a group of questions around the theme, what can I do to help me deal with this situation? What have I learned from previous experiences that could help me now? When I felt this way in the past, what did I think about that helped me feel better? 

What's the worst that could happen? What's the most likely thing that could happen? And if the worst did happen, what could I do to help me cope with it? And once you've looked at your thoughts and asked yourself some of these questions, you'll probably come up with an alternative view that helps balance out your negative thought and leads to a new way of thinking that's kinder to yourself and more helpful to you and can improve your mood and make it easier to calm your mind and let your thoughts go. 

And the more often you do this, the more you start to train your mind to think differently in the first place. And so these negative thoughts come up less often, which is what we mean by cognitive restructuring. You're not just changing the way you think in this moment, but restructuring the way your mind works and developing a new and less negative way of thinking altogether. And please hit the Like button and subscribe to my channel for more videos like this. And to check out my online mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and stress reduction course where these videos come from for free, you'll find a link in the description.