Thoughts come and go and so do the emotions with it. Thoughts are never within our control and no matter how much we try to get a hang of them, they just won’t seem to stop or slow down. So instead of blocking away our thoughts and not paying heed to them, let us try and understand them deeply and look for solutions for our problems. It often happens that a thought keeps on lingering in our mind regarding an event and then this thought makes way for a bad mood throughout the day. Analysing the root cause of such thoughts and working on them will definitely provide you mental peace.

The following worksheet will help you recognize a disturbed thought that stayed with you because of an upsetting event. Once you are successful in identifying the disturbing event and the thoughts and feelings associated with that event, you are to write them down in the columns given in the worksheet. Along with this, you are to jot down an alternative coping mechanism or solution that you can think of to avoid that thought. After this process, you have to list down short-term and long-term benefits of the newly found alternative solution. This will help you stay on track and practise the alternative solution next time when a similar upsetting event arises.

Understand that while solving this worksheet, you might encounter certain triggering emotions that you might want to discuss later on with your therapist in detail along with the results of this activity. We would also like you to know that this is not an assessment that is to be undertaken but is just a check-in activity for your mental wellbeing.

If you find it difficult to complete the activity, let your therapist at Ananda know about the same.

Ananda wishes that your anxious and overwhelming train of thoughts finds an outlet that is relieving and less stressful for you. Do make use of this worksheet as and when you wish to!