3 ms·
> If you’re repeatedly drawn to a thought, feeling, or belief, write it out. Be fast, be sloppy. I couldn't agree more here! A friend has wanted to start a wri
by herbertl 2y ago
> If you’re repeatedly drawn to a thought, feeling, or belief, write it out. Be fast, be sloppy.
I couldn't agree more here! A friend has wanted to start a writing/journaling habit for a long time, but didn't know what to write about. I told him, don't think to write—write to think [1].
Show up to an empty page, without knowing, is totally acceptable! So is writing things down that make you feel embarrassed, confused, etc.
When I'm journaling, I often find prompts/frameworks helpful for guiding this escape.
I really like Byron Katie's framework, which she calls The Work [2]. After you notice and draw to mind a stressful thought, answer these four questions:
Q1. Is it true?
Q2. Can you absolutely know that it’s true?
Q3. How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?
Q4. Who would you be without that thought?
Then, invert the thought. She writes, "Turn the thought around. Is the opposite as true as or truer than the original thought?"
Derek Sivers also shares some really great questions for journaling for reframing [3].
I also show up to the page
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32628196 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32628196
[2] https://thework.com/instruction-the-work-byron-katie/ https://thework.com/instruction-the-work-byron-katie/
[3] https://sive.rs/u https://sive.rs/u
- pbronez 2y agoThework.com looks like a great resource, thanks for sharing.
- asdfman123 2y agoI absolutely hate to say it but chatbots ARE actually good at therapy, or acting as a sort of interactive journal. I try to put my thoughts in as clearly and concisely as I can, and it rephrases it back to me and points out angles I hadn't thought of. Plus, I know not only does it not want to judge me, it's literally incapable of judging me unlike a human therapist. Again I hate how dumb this sounds but I was surprised.
- jrm4 2y agoI think this, along with ACTUAL therapy as practice, might be the most "your mileage may vary" thing ever. Ultimately (I'd say unlike perhaps other professions that try to fix things about you) -- therapy is 100% coaching. Which is to say, the therapist can't DO any of the meaningful work, they can only do their best to try to present you with ideas that spark you into following them.
- supriyo-biswas 2y ago> Then, invert the thought. She writes, "Turn the thought around. Is the opposite as true as or truer than the original thought?" Otherwise also related to the concept of inversion[1] and more generally, counterfactuals[2]. [1] https://fs.blog/inversion/ https://fs.blog/inversion/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterfactual_thinking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterfactual_thinking
- scns 2y ago> Derek Sivers also shares some really great questions for journaling for reframing [3]. That book is really helpful to me. Thank you for the link!