This book is an excellent quick reference and is carried in my handbag with coloured tabs marking pages which I want to change so when I find myself with a few moments to spare I can refresh my goals.
Pages 89 & 90 have particularly supported be through a difficult personal time - so much so that I've laminated them and have stuck them by my computer.
Page 89
Every time I become anxious I look at it and ask myself:
* What am I thinking
* Is my thinking helpful and rational?
* What is a more helpful / positive thought
This has become an important anchor and is helping me stay positive through this difficult time of my life. It has definitively helped me change my emotional response and everyone is amazed at how well I'm coping. I could easily have crumbled.
Page 90
Helps me take this a stage further
A -Alter - can I alter my feelings and thoughts to a more positive state and is this a healthy thing to do
A -Avoid - can manage to stop thinking this thought or feeling by thinking of a good time or feeling
A- Accept - do I accept the feeling or thought and work thought it as an experience which I need to feel or think about in order to move on
The STOP strategy has also enabled me to cope at work when my personal thoughts and feeling could easily consume my day and affect my work.
S - Step back
T - Think
O- Organise my thoughts
P -Proceed
It allows me a moment with my problems but enables me to proceed with my day in a positive way.
This is how I've used the tools it may not be there intended use , I may not be using them correctly however they have supported me , helped me cope and have been so valuable.
I am so grateful to Gillian for sharing her knowledge and skill with me through the written word, in such an easy to read way. My mind is in such a muddle at the moment that I couldn't have coped with complex text .