Mental Chatter

Note: The Mental Chatter exercise and the Journal exercise must not be attempted together. Complete one before starting the other.

Background

As I discussed in the Introduction chapter, the mental chatter exercise calls for maintaining a brutally honest record of your spontaneously occurring thoughts—your “mental chatter”. That is, your task is to maintain an accurate record of whatever you are thinking, even if it is aversive and negative.

Objective

This exercise will help you gain a deeper and richer understanding of the quality of your emotional tenor. You may also gain insights into the goals you prioritize, and into the values and worldviews that shape your perceptions.

Please provide an email address to which your entries can be emailed at the completion of the exercise.

To begin with, watch this 5 minute video. This short video will give you instructions on how to tune into your mental chatter. (Note that this video was recorded to provide instructions to participants in a study that my co-authors and I were conducting. You don’t have to be part of this study, but if you are willing to be part of the study, you can write to me.)

The second step involves keeping a record of your mental chatter for the next 2 weeks, on a daily basis.

Please enter your mental chatter—or your spontaneously occurring thoughts—below. One way to tune into your mental chatter is to try to observe your thoughts as if you were an outsider, someone looking into your mind as it churns out thoughts and images.

As you attempt to do this, don’t be judgmental of the thoughts, feelings and images that arise. That is, resist the tendency to categorize them as “positive” “good” “bad” or “negative”. Your task is to merely observe the thoughts that arise without categorizing, judging or commenting on them.

If you feel that the act of trying to observe your thoughts is interfering with your ability to record them, don’t worry. That’s a very common experience. After taking a short break, go back to observing your naturally occurring thoughts.

In time, you will develop the ability to observe your thoughts and feelings without judging them.

Note: Complete the exercise only after you have maintained a record of your mental chatter for 2 weeks. Else click on Save and Continue.

This step of the exercise involves writing a report of your mental chatter by answering the following: