10. Cognitive distortions

Light and Shadow: the podcast

This is the second of the “little learnings” we’ll be using for interrupting the cycle at the thought level. While logical fallacies talk about argument and evaluation in terms of interpersonal debate, cognitive distortions really speak to our mind’s misinterpretation of events, information, situations, or people being presented to us. Even more often, cognitive distortions can affect the way we see ourselves. If we accidentally distort the way we see things, we may act in ways that aren’t aligned with what’s healthiest for us or others. The goal is to uncover the truth about our own thinking patterns, so we can move toward a better reality because we see one is possible. In the next episode, we’ll get right into thought reappraisals and how to reframe our thoughts to be more geared toward reality and accuracy. From there, we can potentially reverse the downward spiraling of our lives by interrupting our behavior at the thought level. By lodging in new thoughts, we can allowing for a new feelings, body sensations, behaviors, and, essentially, an entire upward spiral to take hold.