Control Your Mind and Master Your Feelings

The best thing to do to take care of this is to accept that what is done is done and the future is untold, so all that matters is what you can do right now. What you do in the present can help

you learn from past mistakes and alter your perception of what will happen in the future.

Remember that knowing your opponent before a battle is essential to ensure that you emerge victoriously.

up to them.’ You need to take care of yourself first.
Worrying about money that is already gone - This type of stress causing worry is a form of overthinking and is actually much like the first stressor on the list. It is unnecessary and doesn’t need to take up your attention because the past is the past. The truth is that money comes and goes and shouldn’t hold as much importance to people as it does. You can and will make more, or get more, and you will always spend it. However, creating a savings plan is the most beneficial step for you to take if obsessing over the fact that it’s gone has you completely fretting. Make an emergency fund, then pretend it’s not there. Make a list of the reasons why you would need to pull from the fund. This way, you won’t stress that you don’t have any money, and the list will help you decide whether you need something badly enough to pull from your emergency fund or not.
Clutter - Clutter, whether it’s in your mind or on your desk, is actually your subconscious mind telling you that you are overworked. It may not feel like it, but clutter can be a big stressor, especially if you are the type of person to stay on top of things and be organized. Don’t let the clutter bother you, set aside some time to go through your clutter (mentally and literally) and do something about it.

Rethinking past stressful situations - Replaying a stressful event is not going to do you any good because it has already happened, and the only way to change it is to live in the moment for right now. Take time to be mindful, and meditate while thinking positive things - such as inhaling and thinking ‘I am’ then exhaling and thinking ‘peaceful’.
Procrastination - This is perhaps the most common stress increaser because the more you procrastinate about something, the more you put it off, and whether it’s important or not, it needs your attention. If you feel you are stuck in this trap, you may feel frustrated. This is where time management comes in. Look at your ‘to-do’ list and learn how to prioritize. Then break the most needed things into smaller portions, so the list doesn’t seem so overwhelming. Tackle one task at a time.
Showing up late - No one likes to be late and sometimes being late is completely out of your control - like traffic back-up, or kids, and last minute appointments. Other reasons for being late may include you saying yes to things you didn’t really want to do, or you may be overwhelmed or afraid to attend. Know when to say no due to the overload you already have. Practice on not feeling guilty but work on ‘making

Dizziness or feeling spaced out
● Aches and pains throughout your body
● Teeth grinding, or clenched jaw
● Headaches
● Increase or decrease in appetite
● Muscle tension
● Heart rate increase
● Chills
● Extreme fatigue or exhaustion
● Sexual difficulties
● Trembling or shaking

way and you think ‘she must think I am a horrible person; I know she doesn’t like me.’ Another example is, you anticipate that things will end badly, ‘I just know I am going to fail; I’m not going to beat my deadline; I will get fired.’
Catastrophizing - No matter what happens, there is gonna be a disaster. In this distortion you may hear about a problem, then question the what-ifs about the whole thing, and come up with an absolute nightmare as a solution. For example, your car breaks down, ‘my car broke down, which means I will be late to grab my children from school; they will hate me; the teachers will look down on me; I will be the laugh of the town.”
Emotional reasoning - Emotional reasoning means that because you feel a certain way that it’s obviously true or going to come true. For example, you feel sad so you think ‘I am sad and miserable, it must mean that I am a depressing miserable person.’
Minimization - You minimize even the good things that are happening to you and make every outcome a negative one. For example, someone compliments you so you think ‘he only complimented me because he knows I am weak, and so he feels sympathy for me. It doesn’t mean he likes me.’
Disqualifying the Positive - This means that nothing positive ever happens to you because you don’t see things this way. For example, someone notices your initiative and encourages you to continue, you may think ‘I took the initiative because I had to.’

Filtering - Filtering is about someone taking negative details and magnifying them, and filtering out all the positive possibilities to do with the situation. For example, you may think ‘I failed my test; now I am a failure; I can’t do anything right; I will never pass anything ever.’
Black and White thinking (all or nothing) - It’s either be perfect or completely fail. This type of thinking has nothing in between, you are either extremely happy or the exact opposite. You are either very positive or very negative, there is no compromise with this way of thinking. For example, say you have an argument with a loved one, you may think ‘that’s it, we don’t know each other anymore, and I will never talk to them again.’
Overgeneralization - This cognitive distortion may make you think that based on one single incident, that is the way it is, no turning back or moving forward. Meaning this same thing based on a single piece of evidence will happen again and again as a never-ending pattern of defeat. For example, you aren’t picked for a team, or promotion, you may think, ‘I’m not good at anything; I never get picked; I obviously can’t do anything right.’
Jumping to Conclusions - This way of thinking says that you know exactly what someone feels or thinks about you without any evidence proving your conclusion. You fortune tell everything, and just seem to ‘know’ exactly what to expect with nothing to back up your conclusion. For example, someone looks your

Even though the thoughts may sound rational, they are not, and are just excuses to continue feeling bad about ourselves and the world

all that matters is what you can do right now.