All Problems are Thought Problems

“All problems are thought problems.“ – Jody Moore

What if I told you there was a solution that would solve every problem in your life?

Brooke Castillo teaches the CTFAR model which states that thoughts create feelings which drive actions which produce results.

Credit: The Life Coach School

Tired of feeling stressed (emotion)? Change your thoughts.

Not getting yourself to do the things you need to do (action)? Change your thoughts.

Not reaching the weight you want to reach (result)? Change your thoughts.

Feeling frustrated about a diagnosis you can’t control (circumstance)? Change your thoughts.

Okay, you might be thinking, if my thoughts are the problem…how do I change my thoughts?

There is a four step process for this: notice, normalize, neutralize, and new thought.

1. Notice: notice what you’re thinking – pay attention to your thoughts and observe them with curiosity and compassion rather than judgment.
2. Normalize: why is it normal and understandable that you’re thinking this? Remove any judgment you may have.
3. Neutralize: recognize that your thoughts are just thoughts – they’re not facts and they are not objective observations of reality. They are just stories and sentences in your mind.
4. New thoughts: The next step is to play with different thoughts.

I really like the way Jody Moore describes how to play with new thoughts. She talks about unwinding the stories in your mind and pulling them apart. You can then try out some different thoughts and see how those feel.

Here is an example:

I’m not getting the result I want of losing weight. This is because of my thoughts.

I’m not taking the actions that I need to take (like eating healthier and working out more) because I’m feeling demotivated, and I’m feeling demotivated because of the thought “I’m never going to lose any weight anyway so why bother? It’s just a waste of time.”

Now that I’ve noticed this, I can go through the next three steps in the thought change process.

1. Normalize: It makes sense that I’m thinking this way. I’ve been trying to lose weight for a while and I haven’t yet. Of course I feel demotivated. It doesn’t mean I’m lazy or weak. Everyone has thoughts like these sometimes.
2. Neutralize: The idea that I’m never going to lose weight anyway is just a story I’m telling myself. It’s something my brain made up. It’s not a fact.
3. New thoughts: Maybe I could lose weight. I’ve lost weight before, and I can do it again. Other people who are in similar situations as me have lost weight. I haven’t figured out yet how to lose weight in this particular season of life, but I’m working on it.

Whatever problem you’re dealing with in your life, I can promise you that it will be helpful to take a look at your thoughts and decide if those thoughts are useful or if you would like to change them.

Contrary to what we often believe, our thoughts are not objective observations of reality.

In any given situation, there are an infinite number of different ways that we could think about it.

Let’s tell ourselves stories that will help us to get the results we want.