Dr. Louise Aznavour, Psychologist - Solution Oriented Coaching

Record Keeping – Behavior Therapy Exercise

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Post category:Building Good Habits / Life Coaching & Workshop Materials / Mini AudioBook Selections / Multimedia - Louise Aznavour Blog / Stress Management

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Daily “Record Keeping” is used extensively in Behaviour Therapy. Keeping records help you track down your habitual patterns and your automatic reactions to problematic situations, thoughts and emotions. When problem situations arise it is a good practice

to break down the chain of events. Then you will see a pattern emerge after a while.

You will learn about your reactions to certain types of situations and people. You will even find out about the time of day when your negative reactions are at their peak. You may schedule your activities according to your energy levels. You will focus on how you would like to respond next time around when similar situations arise. You get prepared. In doing so, you are no longer a passive recipient of life’s events. You learn to interact with the world around while you bring out your best. So, keep notes on the following:

• Time and day

• What was the unpleasant event?

• What did I feel (the accompanying emotion) related to that event?

• How strong were my emotions related to that event (rating from 0-100)?

• What was I thinking before, during and following the unpleasant event?

• How did I handle the situation?

• How do I want to handle such unpleasant situations better next time? Do this exercise on Record Keeping periodically for a week. Do it especially during hard times. This

habit will sharpen your observation and problem solving abilities.