Thoughts for World Thinking Day

The thought manifests as the word;

The word manifests as the deed;

The deed develops into habit;

And habit hardens into character;

So watch the thought and its ways with care. (Buddha)

We have many different types of thoughts. Some of our thoughts are directly involved in how we feel. Typically we have descriptive, interpretive, inferential and evaluative thoughts. They may sound a bit fancy but here is a brief and simple explanation.

Description

 A descriptive thought simply describes something without attaching any meaning or emotion to it. A description can be true or false. Example: The company I work for has been taken over by another.

Interpretation

 This thought goes beyond the available information but without attaching any emotions to it. Example: The company I work for has been taken over by another because I work in an aggressive market.

 Inference

Inferences go beyond the available information but they are partly evaluative. When an inference is made, our emotions may become involved if something is important to us. Example: I could lose my job because of the takeover.

Evaluation

An evaluation thought is when your emotions are totally involved and engaged. It is fully evaluative. We make a realistic or an unrealistic judgement. An evaluation thought is usually known as a ‘belief’ in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy (CBH). Example: It would mean I am worthless if I am made redundant.

Which of the following thoughts may lead to an emotion and which will definitely lead to an emotion?

 1) I saw a woman getting on a bus

2) Some of my colleagues are ignoring me

3) I won’t succeed, I’m useless

I hope you have enjoyed our thoughts on thoughts, and that they have given you something to think about for World Thinking Day…