As of right now, start noticing when

• your mood has changed or intensified in a negative direction,
• you are having bodily sensations associated with negative emotion (such as your heart beating fast when you become anxious), and/or
• you are engaging in unhelpful behavior or avoiding engaging in helpful behavior.

Ask yourself what emotion you are experiencing, as well as the cardinal question of cognitive therapy:

“What was just going through my mind?”

This is how you’ll teach yourself to identify your own automatic thoughts. Pay particular attention to automatic thoughts that get in the way of achieving your goals, especially the ones that interfere with reading this book and trying techniques with clients. You may recognize thoughts such as these:
“This is too hard.”
“I may not be able to master this.”
“This doesn’t feel comfortable to me.”
“What if I try it and it doesn’t help my client?”