x: i keep trying to do that exercise but i have no luck, i’ll never be able to play those patterns.
y: try again, don’t be fooled by your thoughts.
x: but i never pull it off, then i realize i’ve never amounted to anything, then i feel like shit. i should quit, it’s too hard, i’m an imposter.
y: you realize all those thoughts are separate from trying to learn the exercise?
x: i don’t understand what you mean.
y: trying to do the exercise is just that. trying to do the exercise. all that other stuff is something else. your thoughts are chasing your thoughts.
x: true.
y: it’s like you think you should be in control of your thoughts. good luck finding a you that’s in charge. could you just be another thought?
x: this isn’t going to end well.
y: might be easier to look at the opposite side. work backwards from there.
x: what opposite side?
y: like how do you make it worse – you go down this road of negative thoughts connected to negative thoughts. if you saw that that road as leading to nowhere.. what then might that do for the actual exercise?