Bad Thinking Diary

Start today: keep the diary where you’ll actually use it — a small notebook, a notes app, or a sticky on your monitor. Do one entry when a thought spikes your mood; three entries a week add up fast.

In the age of self-improvement, we are often told to "journal our feelings." We buy beautiful leather-bound notebooks and expensive fountain pens, ready to pour out our souls. But for many of us, something strange happens when the pen hits the paper. Instead of manifesting gratitude and clarity, we begin to document a trial. We list our failures, obsess over conversations we had three years ago, and rehearse arguments that haven’t happened yet. Bad Thinking Diary