How to Balance your Thinking using CBT

Balance is an important aspect of daily life: a balanced diet, a balance of productive time and rest time, a balance of give and take in relationships. Life is all about balance.

One place where balance is sometimes neglected is in our thoughts 💭

Many folks think that healthy thinking means positive thinking, but this isn’t the case. Healthy thinking is BALANCED thinking. Our thoughts should be realistic and balanced between being overly optimistic and overly negative.

Allow us to illustrate with an example:

❌ “I know everything about physics. I don’t need to study for this physics test.”
This is an overly optimistic thought. A thought like this could result in a negative outcome because it likely overestimates the person’s capacity.

❌ “I’ll never know anything about physics. I may as well not even try.”
An overly negative thought like this could also result in a negative outcome because it likely underestimates the person’s capacity.

✅ “I’m feeling confident about my physics knowledge, but I should still study because I could always get better.”
This balanced thought finds space in between the negative and positive. It’s neither overly positive nor overly negative. It’s realistic and helpful.

It’s important to practice awareness of the thoughts in your head, and keep an eye out for overly positive or negative thoughts. Shifting your thoughts to a place of balance takes time and practice, just like learning to walk or ride a bike. But in the end, it’s totally worth the effort.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) identifies common thinking traps (like being overly positive or overly negative) and works towards helping you develop more balanced thoughts.