Is anyone else having a hard time with this? I know that I still am a negative thinker, but I wrote 1 thought down the whole day. Does anyone have tips on how to recognize when you are having the negative thought, because they are going right over my head.

I have to agree, it is hard. Some of my negative thoughts can't be changed to positive. I am afraid of what will happen if I don't think positive. All my life I've been a negative thinker and just this last April it put me in the hospital for five days. It's not easy, but never give up

I haven't been good this session with having to write things down. It is hard I feel because it is good to journal, listen to the relaxtion tape, write more stuff, exercise... it gets to be a little overwhelming for me esp with a newborn and toddler I think if you can recognize when you feel frustrated with someone or yourself ask why? How can I handle this differently? I know for me it has been thoughts like-'I don't look good today' ; changed to ' My hair looks nice' or 'I knew that person wasn't going to help me' changed to ' I understand that they may have other things that they needed to do. I will see if they can help later' Not sure if this helps or not, but when I recognize myself not smiling or happy then I try to stop and find out why and what can I do differently

I am absolutely having trouble with this! I was cruising along fine until session three, and now I'm feeling really overwhelmed. I haven't written a single thing down yet, but I know that pretty much EVERY thought I have is negative. It just seems so overwhelming . . .should I be taking baby steps, or trying to write down every thought!?!

I have never been one for writing down my negative thoughts. I would be writing the whole day! LOL What I do is that I keep myself aware of my negative thinking and I try to make it positive. All negative can be turned into positive. Also, laughing and not being so serious helps me to get thru a lot of negative thoughts. Try it...it may also work for you.

You're right, it IS overwhelming to try to write down your negative thoughts ALL day. What I usually do is just write them down first thing in the morning, which is when I tend to have the most negative thoughts. Just set your little notebook and pencil out the night before so you can grab it when you have the first thought. I've noticed that attacking those thoughts first thing actually reduces the thoughts throughout the day. If I'm having a really negative jag later in the day I get out the notebook again and try to sum up the main neg thought. Good luck, keep trying!

Hi. I graduated to Session Four yesterday, after sticking myself on Session Three two days extra. I was afraid that I would forget what negative thoughts were, and I'd slip right back to go again. So, I made a couple of cards. This might be helpful to you, also. On my first card, I wrote:
What is a negative thought? It is anything that makes me feel bad, sad, ugly, weak, insecure, angry, alone, unloved, afraid, incapable, guilty, anxious, nervous, worried, jealous, etc.
On my second card, I wrote:
I cannot have a negative feeling without first having a negative thought. What did I just tell myself?

I don't know if this will be helpful to you, but it is helping me. I keep the cards in three places, in my office, in a book I am reading, and in my car.
Also, there are so many times when I cannot stop and write down a negative thought. I refer to my cards, which reinforces catching the negative thoughts, and then I make a check mark on my spiral notebook. At the end of day I add them up.

Pecos, congratulations on moving to session 4. I think you have a great idea in the cards to carry around. Today is my first day, and I have been writing in a notebook off and on all day today. There seems to be a general theme on what my negative thoughts are so I need to come up with a positive solution.

Good Luck To All In this Session.

LisaLisa