Fighting the Lies in Your Head

First things first, I want you to know you’re not alone and you’re not crazy. We’re gonna start by identifying what lies you believe and then look at an easy (I say easy but it will take practice-the method is simple) way to fight back with the truth.

Cognitive Distortions– these are thought patterns that sometimes exist in our heads, they aren’t real and we don’t always recognize them. However, if we can recognize these in our own lives, we can start to fight them.

1. filtering: focusing solely on the negative and discounting the positive

2. polarized thinking: only seeing in “black and white,” also known as all-or-nothing

3. overgeneralization: assuming all experiences and people are the same based on one negative experience

4. jumping to conclusions: making assumptions and making conclusions without solid evidence

5. catastrophizing: similar to exaggerating, or making something out to be the absolute worst, this can also be minimizing positives

6. personalization: thinking that everything you do impacts everything around you, an example is showing up late for a meeting and believing you ruined or derailed the meeting

7. blaming: this can be blaming other people or ourselves for things outside of our control and allowing this to get in the way of actually doing something about a situation

8. “should:” this is exactly how it sounds, using the word should implies that you’re never doing enough, it puts pressure on you to do something you might not be up to doing and makes you feel guilty when you don’t get it done, this can be swapped out for “I will ___ when ____.”

9. emotional reasoning: thinking if you feel a certain way it must be true, but our emotions don’t always indicate truth

10. always being right: this is the belief that you have to be right and that being wrong is unacceptable, it sounds odd having it put like this, but in the moment it feels totally real

25 CBT Techniques and Worksheets for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

So now that you’re aware of some of the types of lies that might pop in your head, let’s talk about what to do about them.

Call them out or write them down. Identify what they are and make it a concise statement. Now make a list of all the reasons that thought is correct and true. Find evidence to support your thought. Once you have evidence for, find evidence against that thought. This can take some getting used to, and sometimes it can be helpful to have someone go through these lists with you.

Fight them with truths you know. This can be a mantra, a song, a bible verse, anything that you know that reminds you of who you are. Hang things on your walls that are true about you. Heck, take a stack of post its and write compliments to yourself and put them on your mirror. Write notes for when you’re in your car. Going somewhere new can bring out these lies, fight them before you even show up.

Find someone who will do it with you. Tell someone what lies you keep believing and that you want to change them. Have them help you come up with truths about you to use when you’re believing lies. This step of boldness can make a huge difference, even if it is scary.

https://go.lysaterkeurst.com/fight-the-lies-of-the-enemy/

Fight the Lies with the Truth