It’s possible to think or feel one way and act another. In this exercise, we invite you to remember times when you thought or felt one thing but did something different with your body. For example, have you ever felt tired or down when you were supposed to go somewhere, like work or the gym to exercise, and you go anyway even though you didn’t feel like it? Although your thoughts or feelings wanted you to stay home or exercise another day, you didn’t listen to what they told you to do and went anyway. Remember times like this when your actions differed from your thinking or feeling, and list them on the Opposites Worksheet you can download and print.
List some examples of when you thought or felt one way and did something else at work, home, and other areas of life. Also, list an example or two of times you felt angry and didn’t act on it. For instance, you remember thinking about hitting someone and not acting on it. Instead, you talked with the person respectfully. After filling in the Worksheet’s table, answer the question that follows it.