Steven - Module 4

Homework review

So this week’s homework was kinda interesting. The first time I tried watching my breathing and thoughts, I was in bed and ended up falling asleep. I’m guessing that wasn’t the purpose of this. I tried again the next day when I was out of bed because I really want to get over this anxiety. I tried while I was having breakfast. I found it easier to focus on eating than on what I was thinking. I really tried to take my time and not inhale breakfast as I normally tend to do. It was surprisingly enjoyable. I have to admit that I felt a little silly smelling my grapefruit, but there was no one around to see me, so, so what! It was interesting to feel the juice squirt out when I chewed a bite of grapefruit for the first time. I actually noticed that my favourite mug has a bit of a crack in it, which I was not happy about. I wonder how long it had been there. I’ll try to keep up with this being in the moment and see what happens.

Situation – this anxiety business is pretty brutal; I really hope this program works because it’s really getting in the way of life for me. So, the situation I decided to use occurred when I was talking to a new girl at work. I was getting the sense that she was interested in me and I admit, she was cute. I really wanted to ask her out but I stopped myself because I started to worry about what might happen if I had one of those panic attacks while we were out. What would she think and worse, what if it got back to the office that I had a freak out? It just wasn’t worth the risk. Hopefully she’ll be still be unattached by the time I beat this thing.

Emotion (0-100)	Thought	Cognitive Trap
Happy	She’ll think I’m a loser if I have a panic attack while we’re out.	All or none
Sad 50	If I do have a panic attack, it’ll get back to the office and people will treat me differently and might not want to work with me.	Catastrophizing X
Anxious/Scared/Nervous	She’ll think I’m cheap if I suggest a really nonbusy place.	Dismissing or discounting the positive
Ashamed 50		Emotional reasoning
Angry		Labeling
Frustration 70		Magnification
Guilty		Mind-reading/fortune telling X
Other		Overgeneralizing
		Personalization
		Should,must statements
		Hindsight bias

Read Module 4 reports from the other learners.

Jenny	Mark	Ann-Marie