Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is therapy in its most vanilla form, you could say. This is not to disparage it, because it’s something like a systematic analysis of thinking errors that most of us do, and that really can get us into trouble. It’s a nice, organized approach.
But in the same way that Physics is sometimes explained to poets in a … different way, let’s say … I thought that haikus might be a good way to explain a number of mistakes we often make, for the poets among us.
Do you notice any mind habits you have?
No middle ground exists,
Only hero or villain’s mask.
Shades fade in stark light.
Alice is running for student council. Her opponent, Ben, is either a “brilliant leader” or a “total disaster.” There’s no room for the possibility that both have strengths and weaknesses.
Yesterday’s lens,
Rewinds perfect the unseen play.
Tomorrow’s script ignored.
After a failed presentation, Sarah berates herself for “not practicing enough” and “being so nervous.” She ignores the positive feedback and focuses solely on what could have been done differently.
Their actions mirrored,
My thoughts paint their unseen intent.
Guesswork binds like chains.
David sees his coworker, Emily, laughing with someone and assumes she’s making fun of him. He never asks her about it, letting the imagined negativity fester.
Tiny flaw giants,
Shrinking mountains to dust mites.
Truth lost in perception.
Maria tells her friend about a fight with her parents. The friend brushes it off as “just a typical teenage disagreement,” dismissing the emotional impact.
Ants into dragons,
Whispers morph to deafening roars.
Fear paints false monsters.
John notices a stranger looking at him and immediately thinks it’s because he’s “wearing the wrong clothes” and everyone must be judging him.
Pattern seeks itself,
Ignoring contradictions’ cry.
One dot a grand line.
After one bad date, Mike declares all women “drama queens” and refuses to consider dating again.
Crystal ball’s vision,
Futures cast in fear and hope.
Time unveils its own.
The fortune teller tells Sarah she’ll “never find love” and now Sarah feels doomed to be alone, ignoring potential opportunities.
Only fitting parts,
Filtered scenes create the truth.
Blind to what’s unseen.
A newspaper only reports on crimes committed by immigrants, leading readers to believe all immigrants are criminals, ignoring the vast majority who are law-abiding.
Consensus whispers,
“This is reality’s path.”
Question the echoing crowd.
Everyone at the party is smoking, so Mark feels pressured to join in, ignoring his personal reservations about smoking.
Words replace the raw,
Emotions numbed by analysis.
Feeling’s buried deep.
When her friend cries, Alex immediately tries to analyze the psychological reasons behind the tears, neglecting to simply offer comfort and support.
Self the center stage,
Events revolve around their role.
The world watches, unseen.
Lisa receives a critical work email and assumes it’s because her boss doesn’t like her personally, ignoring the possibility of it being objective feedback.
Feeling paints the world,
Logic drowns in passion’s tide.
Reason takes the back seat.
Feeling angry after an argument, Liam decides to stop talking to his friend because he is illogical, ignoring the need for rational communication to resolve the issue.
Rigid rules dictate,
No room for nuance or change.
Life cracks through the mold.
Clara believes she “shouldn’t eat dessert” after dinner, based on a rigid diet rule, even though she’s already achieved her fitness goals and feels like a treat.
Good or bad, black or white,
Ignoring the balanced scales.
Bias tips the weight.
Tom receives praise for his work but dismisses it as “just being polite” while fixating on a minor mistake as evidence of his incompetence.
Fault cast like a stone,
Landing elsewhere, never held,
Leaving burdens unsolved.
After getting caught cheating on a test, Mark blames the teacher for “making the test too hard” instead of taking responsibility for his own actions.