It’s a thought error.

I learned the term “thought error” from my teacher at The Life Coach School. Thought errors are also known as cognitive distortions, which are automatic, often unrealistic ways of thinking that can rapidly affect our mood and create or keep us stuck in cycles of anxiety, sadness, or other difficult emotions. Thought errors and cognitive distortions include all-or-nothing thinking, catastrophizing, jumping to conclusions, and personalizing, among others. 

A thought loop is when we keep repeating the thought error over and over again. It’s also known as ruminating (which is related to a cow chewing its cud, chewing on something over and over again). And we know our thoughts create our feelings, so whatever thought is looping, the feeling will likely persist and get stronger as well. 

Usually it’s the feeling of fear—or some form of it (worry, anxiety)— that drives us to loop our thoughts. And it makes sense because our brains have evolved to keep us alive and safe, so it’s usually looking for threats in the world. Most of the time, the threats are created in our minds.

I was very familiar with thought errors and thought loops. I ruminated and made up stories about facts. It’s easy to make up stories about facts:

We’re used to telling ourselves stories about facts. We make facts mean something about us, usually that we’re not good enough or we’ll never have what we want. 

A helpful way to remind us that we are thinking thoughts and that they are OPTIONAL is to add these phrases to our thoughts:

Then we can find some space between our thoughts and what we think is fact. Sometimes this can create some peace or ease for us. We can discover that we are NOT our thoughts. We can start to become aware of our thoughts and then start CHOOSING THEM on purpose to serve us.

Your turn: The next time you find yourself ruminating or looping thoughts, remind yourself that you’re thinking thoughts and possibly making up stories about facts. What are the facts? What is the story you’re telling yourself about the facts? When you remind yourself of the story vs. the facts, how do you feel differently?

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