How has understanding that your thoughts drive your consquences (emotions and reactions) helped you grow as a person?

2015-07-13T15:37:51-04:00

Robert Ringer states "To employ Aristotelian logic, since thoughts have consequences, we can reasonably conclude that thoughts are actions." he also says "You’ve undoubtedly heard the expression, “Think before you act.” I say, “Think before you think.” Thinking is action, and actions have consequences.

Response by CSM Charles Hayden made Jul 13 at 2015 3:43 PM

2015-07-13T15:43:14-04:00

SFC Stephen King, Are you also saying think before you speak? That has always been my problem.

Response by MAJ Jack Horn, LPC, NCC, CCMHC, CCTP, CCTP-II, CCFP, CDBT made Jul 13 at 2015 3:48 PM

2015-07-13T15:48:22-04:00

This is the underlying premise behind the Army's MRT program and the entire discipline of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. 2,000 years ago, the Greek Stoic philosopher Epictetus said, "It's not the thing itself that causes a man distress, but what he thinks about it." 3,500 years ago, Solomon wrote in Proverbs, "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." These are not new concepts and they are very well established in modern psychotherapy. They are true and incredibly powerful, once a person realizes that he or she can control to a large extent their emotional and behavioral consequences by learning to mentally reframe how they think of the situation. It also becomes possible for one to work backward from the emotion and forward from the event to identify a maladaptive thought that is causing trouble. It is wonderful to use in building relationships with a spouse, children, or work mates when one can clearly see that the emotional response is either out of line or out of proportion to the activating event and help the other person work things out in a better way. This is really good stuff and is worthwhile for everyone to learn to apply. I guess it's obvious that I teach this stuff, huh? lol.