Rewriting for Optimal Perception
Directions: Answer the questions below to practice rewriting.
1. Write down the last event that led to a stressful state of mind at work. Be sure to detail the situation.
2. What was your emotional response to the event? What specific thoughts accompanied that emotional response?
3. Return to the thoughts above and examine them, looking for thought distortion or irrationality. Rewrite the thoughts with something more accurate or more useful.
4. How do you feel when you read the new responses?
•Worksheet Concluded
In rewriting, keep in mind that all thoughts are just thoughts. It will help you avoid the pitfall of self-criticism, especially if you are the type of person who tends to obsess over evaluating self-performance. In such a case, be extra careful to ask the right questions and not to criticize your lack of ability to perceive the situation optimally. In short, don’t beat yourself up for beating yourself up.
For instance, let us say your boss is not entirely unhappy with something you did. You find yourself thinking, “I can’t do anything right”; then you realize this is the thought distortion of all-or-nothing thinking—a realization that prompts the self-critical statement “I can’t even stop these negative, distorted thoughts!” Clearly, this will only worsen the situation, fueling your negative train of thought. Thus take care to acknowledge that a thought is just a thought and move on to correcting your perceptions.
As we have seen in this chapter, our automatic perception of a situation as threatening may be inaccurate, requiring us to rewrite our internal dialog. Because our physiology makes no distinction between perception and reality, perceiving the situation optimally is crucial to preventing a stress response that spirals out of control. We need to notice our automatic thoughts and identify the presence of any thought distortions or irrational beliefs; then we need to challenge those ideas and rewrite our self-talk with more accurate, useful information.