DEALING WITH UNHELPFUL THOUGHTS

WE ALL have thousands of thoughts a day — words, sentences and even images that just pop into our heads.

Often we do not even realise we are thinking them. Yet they provide an immensely powerful narrative, constantly playing in our brains and profoundly affecting the way we view the world around us.

They become our ‘default’ setting for the way we see the world: a powerful ally if our thoughts are accurate and positive, but another story if they are negative and critical.

It’s important to recognise that thoughts are not facts. They are simply things we say in our heads. Once we notice an unhelpful thought we can change how we respond to help us feel and act differently. When one is identified, try the following:

DO A REALITY CHECK. Imagine you ate much more than planned one Friday night then started thinking: ‘I’ve ruined my week!’ Ask yourself, is this really true? In the context of the whole week you may have only eaten too much on one day out of the past seven. Tell yourself you may well be annoyed about this, but in fact you otherwise had a decent week.

OBSERVE AND ACCEPT. Identify the thought as though you are observing from afar. You might tell yourself: ‘My mind often tells me that when I don’t do things the way I planned.’ Use this knowledge to commit to a positive course of action. For instance, you could say to yourself: ‘Just because I have this negative thought doesn’t mean I should give up and eat more. Thoughts are not facts. I can still carry on with my fitness and health goals the way I planned.’

PLAY THE TAPE FORWARD. This enables you to see the longer-term impact that one unhelpful thought can have. For instance, if you continue to believe you’ve ruined your week, you might be tempted to stop tracking your SmartPoints, not contact your WW Coach or skip your Workshop. Resolve instead to ask for extra help from family, friends or the WW community via the app.