That space there.

Hi, it's Sam here.

Welcome to Radio Headspace and to Tuesday.

So if you've ever meditated before, you know that working with thoughts can be quite tricky.

Some thoughts are true, and others not at all.

Some thoughts come so fast we can't process them quickly enough, and others are more repetitive and persistent.

One of the ways that mindfulness allows us to build resilience is by observing and identifying our own thought patterns.

It can be daunting to perceive something negative that isn't even true.

For example, maybe you think someone doesn't like you, or that you did a bad job on a project, and that really isn't the case.

You've built that narrative because of insecurity or worry, or any number of reasons we doubt ourselves.

Mindfulness can help us avoid distorted perceptions and prevent a lot of unnecessary suffering, and it allows us to see things more accurately.

We begin to build our awareness of thought patterns by becoming aware of cognitive distortions.

According to the American Psychological Association, cognitive distortions are defined by faulty or inaccurate thinking, perceptions, or beliefs.

Most of us have moments of faulty thinking, and others have more persistent patterns of thinking that can contribute to anxiety and depression.

I want to share some of the more common cognitive distortions so that we can name them when they occur, and then discover ways of infusing our thinking with a more realistic, balanced, and optimistic perspective.

So let's explore two cognitive distortions and ways to work with them when they arise, filtering and catastrophizing.

Filtering refers to moments when we focus too much on negative aspects of an experience, and downplay the positive aspects.

One example of this is when you give a presentation that goes really well, except for one moment of awkwardness, or one small snafu.

And later you may fixate on the small mistake, and discount the 99% of the presentation that went swimmingly.

Does this sound familiar?

One way I've helped myself in these moments is to use the word AND instead of BUT to recount what happened.

I might start by highlighting the strengths of the experience, like I was prepared, and the audience was engaged, and I mispronounced a name.

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