When it comes to changing unhelpful thoughts, an important technique that you will use is called “metacognition”. It simply means, “thinking about thinking”. Most of the time, our thoughts happen “automatically” and we do not even notice that they are happening. However, we all possess the amazing ability to “observe” our thoughts when we want to do so. For example, if I ask you right now, “What are your thoughts?”, you will be able to answer something like, “I am thinking about how crappy the images on this website are / I am worried about my house rent / I am thinking about what to make for dinner / etc”. When you do this, you are observing your thoughts. You are in effect practicing metacogntion.
In our day-to-day life, there are thousands of thoughts that flow in our minds, so in some ways, it’s a good thing that we do not always observe them. If you did, that would probably take all your time and consume all your energy. However, it is possible to develop the ability to “loosely” observe your thoughts, so that it is not exhausting, yet let you detect when unhelpful thoughts occur in your mind.
I do not like the word “metacognition” as it sounds a bit complicated. Instead of it, I will use the words “thought awareness”, as that is what we are really what we are aiming to do, i.e. being aware of our thoughts.
As we go along on this website, we will revisit the concept of thought awareness. For now, just think of it as being an important component of Happy Thinking.