Most people blame events and circumstances for their unhappiness never realizing that it's their thoughts about these events and circumstances that is often the true source of their distress. When we say things to ourselves like: I have the world's worst boss, or this traffic jam is going to take forever or I'll never get this assignment done, we don't realize the added burden we're placing on ourselves with our overly negative thinking. Reversing this tendency with a technique called cognitive restructuring helps people short-circuit stressful emotions like anger, frustration and anxiety. To quote a recent article in The New York Times: "The one workplace stress-reduction technique that seems to outperform all other is cognitive restructuring."
