An exercise that is sure to

I have been treating patients with cognitive therapy methods for more than 15 years. One of the most successful exercises I've seen help people feel better is so simple that every time I get someone to do it, I'm amazed at how effective it is, writes psychologist Dr. Janice Vilhauer in Psychology Today magazine.

Before I share this exercise with you,

I want you to know that the hardest part is not doing the activity itself. It's about making yourself believe that this activity will be beneficial enough to make you put in the real effort to do it and experience the results.

Often when I give this task to patients, they come in for two or three weeks without having done it yet. This is normal. I'm so sure they won't try at first that I generally don't give them the task until I've worked with them enough time to train them to understand the benefits of shifting their attention and thinking, how it relates to how how the brain works and how it affects their mood so they understand the value of what I'm asking them to do.

So what is exercise?

Keep a notebook by your bed and every night before you go to bed, write down three things you liked about yourself that day.
Read this list in the morning before you get out of bed.
Do this every day for 30 days.

You don't have to be big things, for example I am a friendly person. They can be simple, for example – I liked that I held the door for my colleague, or I liked that I didn't freak out in traffic today, or I liked that I made the effort to do this exercise even though I don't know if it will work…

For a person suffering from depression, this activity can take a lot of effort. Why? Research shows that people with depression tend to focus on the negative things that apply to them. They also have difficulty controlling attention, meaning that once a negative schema is activated, they tend to fixate on it and find it difficult to disengage by shifting their attention to something else. Consequently, persistent negative affect is observed. In short, people with depression spend too much time thinking about what they don't like about themselves—and they have a hard time stopping.

The more time you spend thinking about one thing,

the more active it becomes in the space of your consciousness - the easier it is to access. Also, the more you think about something, the more you train your brain to keep looking for similar things in the environment, creating a selective filter that causes you to sift through your surroundings for things that match what you're thinking, as well as distort conflicting information in a way that fits your dominant thoughts.

For example: a person suffering from depression goes to a party. He gets 10 compliments, but someone mentions that his shirt is "interesting." When he gets home, that person is very likely to fixate on the vague comment and turn it into the following train of thought: What's wrong with my shirt, I must look stupid in it, I bet everyone thought I looked alike of an idiot. What is wrong with me? Why can't anything happen to me like people do? This is so humiliating. The ten compliments are long forgotten.

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How does this exercise help?

Research also shows that it takes no more attentional effort to stop negative thought processes than neutral ones. This simple but not at all easy exercise actually helps one build the power to interrupt negative thought flow, redirects attention to positive aspects of oneself, and reverses selective attention bias.

As you do this exercise, not only will you become more aware of your positive qualities, but they will become more accessible to you in interpreting what is happening. You'll remember to pay more attention to compliments because they'll fit better with the new way you see yourself. You will begin to interpret the events around you in a less self-critical way. If you stick to this habit, over time it will increase your overall self-esteem and, by extension, your well-being.

But remember: understanding how it works this exercise will not benefit your mental health, per se, as it will not benefit your physical health to know how to use the treadmill. Benefit comes from doing.

Read also: 9 things that affect your mood

Source: www.obekti.bg

Look more: Deepak Chopra's Ten Keys to Happiness