[Woman] "I'm going to be late ..."
"What if the kids are waiting outside by themselves ..."
"And the teachers think I'm a terrible parent ..."
"And they call social services ..."
"And they come to take away the kids?"
[Host] Does this kind of thinking ever happen to you?
Sometimes, our brains run away with a harmless thought and turn it into something big and scary.
We have to be careful about letting this happen ...
because our thoughts have a lot of power.
Let's say you're about to go to a party, and you're thinking, "It's going to be awful because I won't know anyone."
How is that going to make you feel?
But what if instead you're thinking, "Hmm ... maybe I'll meet someone interesting."
You see ... our thoughts control how we feel ...
so they have a lot to do with how much we enjoy life.
Now ... it can seem like you don't have a lot of control over your thoughts.
But you do. And you can learn to replace unhealthy thoughts with healthy ones.
The first step is to pay more attention to what your mind is telling you.
This can take some practice.
Try it when you're driving ... or on the bus ... or doing dishes.
After you're more familiar with what's going on in your head, you'll know right away when you have any hot thoughts ...
those thoughts that make you most anxious.
And you can take a minute to look closely at that thought and ask yourself, "Is that thought really likely to be true?"
And then you can do your best to come up with a replacement thought ...
one that can change the way you feel.
Let's try it.
Here's Dan. Dan wakes up with a really stiff neck.
At breakfast, this is what's going on inside his head.
[Dan] "My neck is really hurting me ..."
"I should go to the doctor ..."
"But I don't have time ..."
"Wow, it really hurts today ..."
"What if it's cancer?"
[Host] Now ... how could Dan replace his hot thought with something that's a little more realistic?
[Dan] "Well, neck pain is really common."
"I did sleep in a bad position last night."
"It's probably not cancer."
[Host] Okay, now, if you're ready ... you try it.
Think of a time recently when you had a hot thought like this ...
Was it really likely to be true?
See if you can turn it around ... and come up with a replacement thought.
At first, it may help to think of a few possible replacement thoughts ...
and then pick the one that feels the best.
With practice, it gets easier ... this process of replacing unhealthy thoughts, the ones that fuel anxiety, with thoughts that make you feel calmer and more relaxed.
What do you think ... ? How might this process help you?
