What you think influnces what you feel, that feeds what you

The thought-feeling loop is the way our minds unconsciously filter our experience through our belief system. The root of the belief system is the "Big Three" negative core beliefs.

These are I am:

1. unlovable
2. unworthy
3. helpless/incompetent

The Big 3 sit underneath and fuel our "intermediate beliefs." These are our rules and assumptions of ourselves, others, and the world.

When you feel something, be it emotional, psychological, or physiological, the thought/feeling loop is to blame. Thoughts like, “This sucks,” “This is unfair,” or “I’m not good enough,” flavor what you feel. Your body senses a problem and it sends up red flags. The mind sees those red flags and reacts. The brain and the thought/feeling loop roll on in the direction of the dominant thinking.

The thought/feeling loop causes the mind to get stuck in repeating loops of helpless and/or hopeless thoughts, or potential worst-case scenarios. What you think influences what you feel, flavoring what you think next. This is a vicious cycle.

Thoughts about the fear of failure, fumbling the ball, or striking out create an anxiety driven reaction that implies one of the Big 3 negative core beliefs (unlovable, unworthy, helpless/incompetent). The reaction to this filtering causes the physical fight, flight, or freeze mechanism to fire. Adrenaline hits your bloodstream. Your muscles tighten, influencing your coordination and your heart speeds up as your breathing shallows. You are compromised physically. 

Attention is drawn to the problem, taxing attentional resources as your mind manages your reactions. Performance is more difficult. You are constricted on the next free throw, inbound pass, or three-point shot attempt. It’s natural to avoid failure, and the easiest way to do that is to develop avoidant strategies. There is a pull toward blame-shifting and making excuses for poor performance. Hypervigilance about avoiding failure and the fear of mistakes powers a downward spiral. Attention moves from the present moment to imagined worst-case scenarios.

The vicious cycle has a more pleasant cousin: the virtuous cycle. In the same way, negative thoughts have a negative influence on the mind and body; right thoughts create a positive reaction. The mind has an easier time staying present, and the body stays loose and can perform more easily. Here's an easy way to create a virtuous cycle:

Thought Flipping

This is a simple process. If it’s difficult, don’t worry; you will get better at it over time.

1. First, recognize a negative thought, or awfulizing the current experience.
2. Use the content of that negative thought to turn it around into something neutral or positive.

It's hard to think straight when the mind and body are under stress and in any level of fight or flight. Using the content of the original thought and then flipping it is easier than creating an original counter-thought in the heat of the moment.

Note: The flipped thought doesn’t have to be 100% factually accurate, it just has to be reasonable and entertained long enough to interrupt the vicious cycle. It also doesn’t have to be overly optimistic, or rah, rah. Neutral is fine, just something different from your normal negative habitual thought to pull out of the vicious cycle and lay the ground work for a virtuous one.

Examples:

“I suck at hitting” becomes: “Sometimes I make solid contact.”

“This guy always strikes me out” becomes: “Today’s the day I get a hit off of him.”