Let’s Destroy The Beliefs That Create Anxiety: The Table Of Ideas
There are often many events that create anxiety in our daily lives.an intense suffering that makes us develop a phobia of certain words, events, or people, and we cannot find the reason why it is being generated.
That is why I bring you a practical exercise with which you will be able to address those limiting ideas linked to anxiety.
I don’t know if you know it, but our ideas have different aspects that are very marked by uncertainty (how much we believe it) and on the other hand emotional intensity (how much we feel it). I would like classify ideas into three categories that I show you below and that will help us do this exercise better. These are:
An opinion makes us feel relatively safe, but unfortunately this is temporary, since it can be changed easily. For example, we may think that a t-shirt looks good on us, but if three friends tell us that it is not our style, we will surely forget this opinion. So, if we look at this is the nature of most opinions, we will realize that they fade easily and are usually based on a few references that we look at at a given moment.
Secondly we have Beliefs are formed when a foundation begins to develop on a much larger idea., which is what we will later call the legs of the table of ideas. Furthermore, we will have a strong emotion about that idea, which will make us feel totally sure of it. In some cases this can be negative, since people with strong beliefs close themselves off to new information and to get them to change their opinion it will be necessary to interrupt their pattern and get them to question it.
And finally we have the conviction; This is superior to belief, it eclipses it, because brings with it a great emotional intensity that is linked to an idea. If we look closely, when we are sure of something (having a conviction) and that idea is denied to us, we will feel anger and restlessness and we will not be willing to question our references, which is why many times, unfortunately, they become an obsession.
As we see, the problem occurs when we carry out convictions based on ideas that support it and make it a strong position. For this reason, I would like to give you a very simple exercise that will help you address this blindness that we have reached.
How to do the exercise?
The cognitive table is a very practical exercise, in the following drawing I show it to you:
As you see, In the table above we will place the conviction; For example, the idea that we are going to fail in the delivery of a university project, and below we will write the ideas that support this conviction that is generating anxiety in us. In this example I have chosen four ideas, but your table can be very modern and have five idea-legs, or be smaller and have three. I would love for you to personalize the exercise.
So, the ideas that arise are:
Well, once put I would like you to carry out an individual analysis of each one in order to understand its implications.. That’s why I’m going to show you how to do it with the first idea, so that you can apply it with each one.
You are going to take a notebook (I suggest you use it from now on for practical exercises of this type) and in it you are going to write five columns with headings in column order that will be: idea, thought, emotion, behavior and alternative thought.
As you can see, the first four columns are very simple to identify, but the fifth is the most complex, because we have to put an alternative thought that is, so to speak, a reexplanation of the idea that supports that negative conviction. Therefore, we must look for a thought (I like to call it “lever”) that will make you relax when seeing it from this angle; In this last column it is important that we try to make the explanation of the problem sensible and that we do so by understanding it.
Apply this exercise on the thoughts or ideas that make you uncomfortable, so that you can deal with them in a different way. Take your time and learn to manage these problems from another perspective. Create your table of ideas and restructure your anxieties so you can solve them.
Anxiety problems? Do I help you
If you want to reduce your anxiety and boost your emotional well-being with the professional support of a psychologist, do not hesitate to contact me. We will be able to start the sessions without leaving home and with a price appropriate to the current times.
My name is Javier Ares, I am a General Health Psychologist and one of my specialties is the treatment of anxiety. With my help you will be able to solve the complications that arise from the beliefs that you have been generating and that cause you stress.
