Usually, when we come up against some situation, a voice is always sounding in our heads — and that's normal. Every one of us has our own inner voice; that's how our thinking works.
When we talk about the need for cognitive restructuring, there's most likely a problem with negative thinking. Negative thinking attacks us from every side.
It's like rusty chains holding us captive to our own thoughts. This keeps us from moving forward, because our reality is shaped by our thoughts.
For example. When we look at ourselves in the mirror we think: how bad I look. When we need to climb the stairs we think: how hard this is. When we're standing in line we think: what a long line. And so our day turns into one long stream of dissatisfaction. This can be changed by doing the following exercise.
For example: A is the EVENT, any event that seems negative to you. B is our THINKING, what we think about that event (most likely something negative). C is our BEHAVIOR, as a reaction to the event and the thinking. Now let's change the chain: A stays the same EVENT. D is our NEW THINKING.
We change our habitual thinking in a given situation. We're not simply telling ourselves something different — we're replacing one thought with another. By changing our inner voice, we change our reaction to incoming stimuli, which in turn governs our behavior. E is our NEW BEHAVIOR. In this way, our neural chains change. Every time you do this exercise, your neurons will form new neural connections. Soon the old neural chains (the rusty chains) will break down, and new, positive neural chains will form in their place. It is these gold chains that will come to guide our thinking.
