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(+1)

Stop letting your ahamkara control you.

Here's some CBT questions that I've found very helpful:

  • What alternative ways are there of viewing this situation?
  • Are there any thinking errors in the initial thoughts? If so what might be an alternative balanced thought?
  • What does the evidence suggest? What evidence shows the automatic thought is true or not? What does the evidence say about the alternative thoughts?
  • If xxx was in the situation and had this thought, what would I tell him? What would they tell me?
  • What experiences have I had that show this thought isn't true all the time?
  • Five years from now, if I look back at this situation, how will I view it?
  • What's the effect of my believing the automatic thought? What could be the effect of changing my thinking?
(+1)

I try to stick with sound reasoning. You have premise and formal reasoning. If reasoning has formal error, there is a problem. It is almost like maths. If 1+1 is 11, you made a mistake. But many people forget to check the premise. Because in Roman numbers, I + I actually is II. 

The hard part is, to apply that to your own arguments. Too often emotion is the driving factor. Not the accuracy of any facts. So you start with your unfounded opinion, the automatic thought, and try to justify it after the fact. Instead of building up from the ground and arriving at a founded opinion.

To use this thread as an example, OP was angry because the thing did not work out as expected and overlooked his own mistake. Lashing out in anger, making threads on at least two forums. When made aware of his factual error about the supposedly wrong description, he backpaddled to claiming, he was mislead. Still justifying his initial anger, instead of admitting the mistake. He even invoked an appeal to authority (a fallacy). He claimed his own expert level photoshop skills, to show that the assets could not be made to work, arguing that it must be still the assets that are at fault.

(+1)

I tried sticking with sound reasoning, but I've got too many cognitive distortions for that to work which is why I'm using cognitive restructuring instead.