Thinking is the highest form of human cognitive activity, one of the most important abilities. With the help of thinking, we form ideas about ourselves, about others, about the world, and pass on knowledge and experience from generation to generation. Thanks to the ability to think, we gain new knowledge and skills, learn to make predictions and make decisions, and find new ways to develop the person himself. Thinking has a direct impact on our life, on its quality, on who and what we become, how we feel and how we behave. Different thoughts are born in our head every second (so-called automatic thoughts), which are not very easy to track. These thoughts become the cause of emotions - both pleasant and painful, and also trigger the physiological stress reaction “fight or flight” in case of danger (both real and imaginary, fictitious or predicted). Surely you have noticed that in difficult life times are especially difficult after waking up, when you remember the situation in which you now live - and your mood and well-being immediately deteriorate. Remembered - this means a thought sounded in your head. These thoughts are difficult to cope with, especially when you are not aware of them. They often just go in the background, and are based on beliefs and attitudes about yourself, about other people, about the world. For example, the thought “I won’t be able to pass an interview” may be a marker of the belief “I’m not good enough” or “People are prejudiced against me” or “The world is unfriendly and unfair.” Deep-seated beliefs that are based on past experience or nurtured in us by parents or society are more difficult to deal with than automatic thoughts. I suggest you do one small experiment. As you go through your day, notice when your mood worsens. Before this, everything was fine, and suddenly something became sad, offensive, ashamed, anxious, etc. As soon as you feel this, immediately remember what you just thought about? Catch your automatic thought by the tail. You can also remember a situation that made you think about something, or you just remembered something. I’ll give one example from practice. I gave this task to one of my clients. So, the result of the observation: “I’m driving, and suddenly I feel sadness and resentment. I begin to monitor my thoughts or situation. I stopped in front of a pedestrian crossing. A couple in love was crossing the road in front of the car. They walked holding hands, and it was clear how good they both were. I thought - damn, why isn’t THIS in my life! I will never be able to build a good relationship, a family. How unlucky am I, will I really always be alone?” The girl felt sadness, resentment, tears welled up in her eyes. Her mood worsened and she abandoned some of the things she had planned for the day. You could say the day was ruined. Who, you ask? Isn’t that a good question? You can argue with automatic thoughts; they are often irrational, erroneous, and biased. Challenging thoughts removes faith in them, which means it minimizes negative emotions, drains energy and opens up new horizons. This is really so! Therefore, of the three components of working with stress and experiences (body, emotions and thoughts), the most important is changing your thinking, because thinking is the cause of everything. This is prevention, so to speak. And emotions and bodily manifestations are already a consequence of incorrect thinking. I invite you to my telegram channel The Place of Inner Strength - about how to become more stable in life and less dependent on external circumstances.