Worksheets

The worksheets on this page are designed to help you explore your thoughts and feelings, with the ultimate goal of producing more positive emotions. Each worksheet can be filled out electronically when downloaded to your tablet, smartphone, or computer. While negative emotions are a normal part of life, at times, they can be overwhelming and make life difficult. Your ability to effectively manage these emotions can start by first asking yourself, “What do I need today, in this moment?”

Do you need to…

Focus on your thinking. Our emotions provide clues to the types of thoughts we are thinking. When we feel confident, calm, strong, or energized, it’s likely that our thoughts reflect positive beliefs about ourselves and about our ability to overcome obstacles. On the other hand, feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, anxious, or depressed, tends to mean that our thoughts have become negative and overly critical. Focusing on your thoughts can help you improve your mood, change your behavior, and come up with new solutions. It’s true! Research shows that focusing on your thoughts is effective for a variety of mental health issues and may even prevent relapse better than medication. You can begin with something as simple as increasing your awareness of your thoughts. Or, you can try something more advanced such as challenging and replacing negative thinking using the worksheets in this section.

Worksheets:

Anxiety Profile

Automatic Thoughts

Cognitive Distortions

Thought Record

Partial Thought Record

Socratic Questions

Social Situation Fear Hierarchy

Social Anxiety Graded Exposure List

Managing Test Anxiety

Shift your attention. Many of our negative emotions come from worries about the future, or regret about the past. Shifting your attention to your immediate experience while maintaining an attitude of openness, acceptance, gratitude, and curiosity can help you to become more flexible in your thinking. By shifting your attention through breathing or other mindfulness exercises you can learn to simply observe your thoughts rather than engage them, when engaging your thoughts might disrupt your emotional or physiological state.

Mindfulness Scripts:

Abundance Mindset

Create Space

Letting Go of Emotions

Mindfulness Exercises:

Body Scan

Clarify your values. Values are ideas that describe the things matters most to us in life. They inspire and motivate us, but most importantly, values guide the choices we make and determine how we treat ourselves, others, and the world around us. When we are clear about our values, we can be more intentional in making choices that are satisfying and consistent with the outlook we have for our lives. Activities centered on identifying and clarifying your values can help you accomplish this.

Worksheets:

Values Clarification

Set goals for yourself. Goals are important for many reasons. Goals help us construct a vision for ourselves, aims for the future, and structure for our everyday lives. Focusing on your goals can also help you turn your attention away from unwanted thoughts and feelings to actions that produce a sense of accomplishment, pleasure, or both, thereby improving your mood. Together, you and your counselor can explore various areas of your life and identify goals designed for lasting, committed action.

Worksheets:

Goal Setting

Get your body moving. There is a close connection between our bodies and our moods. Physical activity such as walking, yoga, or stretching can have a positive impact on our moods. Increasing the amount of time we spend engaged in activities that give us a sense or accomplishment or pleasure can also have a positive impact on our moods. Depending on your emotional state, this can include activities as small as making the bed in the morning, or showering before bed at night. Being intentional about including activities that make you feel accomplished or are fun can be a great way to start feeling better.