Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life

AIRPLANE VS CONVEYOR BELT strategies... lET’S TALK ABOUT IT.

When we have anxiety, depression, or are experiencing trauma, we almost always have negative thoughts that go along with those. These negative thoughts can really make our life difficult. While it won’t fix an entire anxiety diagnosis, per se, changing your relationship to your thoughts can be a game changer. I like to think of two ways of relating to these thoughts: airplane or conveyor belt methods. (Let me be honest, though. I did not make these up. They have their origins in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and mindfulness practices.)

Airplane Method:

Basically, this is mindfulness. I just really like the visual of it all. If you are depressed and lying in bed, feeling like it is impossible to get up, you could have a thought like “I am so worthless. I can’t do anything right.” Instead of fully identifying with this super hurtful thought, you could watch it come and go, like an airplane in the sky. Just like you’d say “oh, that’s an airplane,” you can say “oh, that’s just a negative, depressed thought.”

Conveyor Belt Method:

This one is for my Cognitive Behavioral Therapy goers out there. Just like an item needs to be examined and decided on whether it can go back on the conveyor belt and put fully into production, thoughts that are harmful need to be looked at and chucked in the bin if they are skewed. Don’t let that thought just keep going down the line. Instead, catch it, hold it up to the light, and really examine if it is worthy of staying in your schema as truth. Ask yourself what other evidence do you have that you aren’t worthless? What are ways in which you are worthy? Is this a thought you would think if you weren’t anxious or depressed? How would you talk to your friend if they were going through the same thing?

Curious about more ways to change your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors? We have plenty of staff fully trained in working with anxiety, depression, and trauma disorders! Feel free to contact us on the “contact” page and we will work on finding somebody to support you.

-Stevie Spiegel