How to Recognize and Avoid Common Thinking Traps - Part 2

Do you remember the last time you went down a rabbit hole with worry, tumbling down and down until it felt like all was hopeless and unfair? I do! It’s a situation we all find ourselves in from time to time. Our brains are designed to look for problems and anticipate threats. We can’t blame them for sometimes going overboard.

In part one of this two-part series on thinking traps, we talked about three unhelpful (but all too common) patterns our thoughts can fall into:

• Black-and-white thinking. You see things as one way or the other with no shades of gray.
• Jumping to conclusions. You convince yourself that something is true despite any evidence.
• Mental filter. You only look for evidence that supports your beliefs. 

You can stop struggling and find balance if you learn to catch yourself when you start forgetting about middle grounds, time-traveling and mind-reading, or acting like an over-zealous defense lawyer.

In Part 2, let’s look at three more common thinking traps that keep us hooked to the struggle:

Trap #4: Emotional reasoning

• "I feel so embarrassed. I must have made a fool of myself."
• "My hands are shaking, and my stomach is in knots. I must be totally not ready for this conversation."
• "I feel so 'blah' about this project. It’s probably not worth pursuing."

Our emotions are powerful guides. A sense of foreboding can warn us of danger, a burst of joy can reaffirm a relationship, and sadness can tell us where our spiritual priorities lie. But sometimes we end up reading too much into emotions, imbuing them with more meaning than they were supposed to convey.

For example, just because you feel embarrassed doesn’t mean you actually made a fool of yourself. We often judge ourselves more harshly than others do. Stuttering a line in the wedding toast or making a conversational faux pas with a stranger might send heat rushing to your cheeks. That automatic response reflects your body’s knee-jerk reaction and not necessarily your brain’s careful consideration of the facts. So, just because you feel embarrassed doesn’t mean you actually did something embarrassing.

Sometimes we end up reading too much into emotions, imbuing them with more meaning than they were supposed to convey.

It’s a similar story with other emotions and situations. Just because you don’t feel excited about starting a new project at work doesn’t mean it’s not a meaningful one. It’s worth listening to your...

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