"Thinking traps" are mental misrepresentations of reality. They trigger negative emotions and misguided behaviors. 

Have you every misread a situation? Over reacted? Been needlessly worried? Misjudged somebody? We all have! 

Listen for the thinking traps you're telling yourself and hearing from others. Some of the more common ones include - 

• Should/ought/must thinking - having ironclad expectations of how things "should", "ought" or "must" be 
• Catastrophic thinking - always assuming the worst possible outcome, intent or explanation 
• "All-or-nothing" thinking - things are either GREAT! or TERRIBLE! Theres no in-between. 
• Fortune telling - convincing yourself that one particular outcome is guaranteed 
• Over generalization - viewing a single temporary event as a general or permanent state of affairs
• Mind reading - assuming what others are thinking 
• Emotional reasoning - taking our emotions as evidence of the truth 

PRACTICE TIP - see if you can track a negative emotion like fear, anger or sadness to a thinking trap. For example, "catastrophic thinking" typically triggers fear, and "mind reading" often triggers "anger". 

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