NORTHWESTERN

UNIVERSITY

LEARNING COMPETENCIES:
1. Evaluate his/her own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
2. Show the connections between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in actual
life situations

MODULE 2: Thoughts, Feelings and Behaviors

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INTRODUCTION:  

Watch your thoughts, they become words;

Watch your words, they become actions;
Watch your actions, they become habits;
Watch your habits, they become character;
Watch your character, for it becomes your
identity.
-Frank Outlaw

Have you ever wondered why you keep

repeating a specific behavior or why you
experience feelings the way you do? If so, I
am here to shed some light on this by
explaining the relationship between thoughts,
feelings and behaviors. This is also known as
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy – simplified.

First, let’s define these terms. Thoughts

are ideas, attitudes or perception about things.
They are creative and have energy. Basically, if
you can imagine something, you can make it
happen. Think about art work, furniture,
inventions, etc. These all started with an idea
or concept.
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Feelings are emotions such as happy, sad, mad, frustrated, surprised, anxious, etc.
They can be experienced in varying degrees of intensity and usually have a physical sensation
attached. For instance, people will describe anxiety as having butterflies in their stomach. If
someone is angry they may feel tightness in their chest. Feelings are something we all
experience and it is important that they be expressed. And, there is no such thing as a “bad”
feeling. Feelings are needed because they serve a purpose.

Behaviors are simply the actions we take. We choose how we are going to behave.
Behavior can be classified as right or wrong, healthy or unhealthy, appropriate or inappropriate.

Checkpoint 1. Explain what.

Explain what are your thoughts, how will you behave and what is your feeling about the
given situation.

Example
Situation Group activity
Thoughts I can’t rely on my partner
Behavior When my partners tries to help me I turn away
Feelings I feel unsupported, angry and lonely

Situation Your group of friends are not hanging out with you anymore.

Thoughts

Behavior

Feelings

Checkpoint 2. You are Your Thoughts

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This activity will help you identify certain beliefs about yourself,
which may be positive or negative. You will also be exploring evidence that supports
such beliefs.

Instructions:
1. Using the activity sheet below, write the following:
a. In the first column, write one belief about yourself.
b. In the second column, write your experiences that may support this belief.
c. Finally, in the last column, write the experiences that does not support this belief.
For example:
Belief: “I am not good in reciting”
Experiences that support your belief:
a. I stutter when I speak
b. My knees tremble when I stand in front.
c. I cannot establish eye contact with people around me.
Experiences that do not support your belief:
a. When I practiced for an hour every day for one week, I was able to deliver my speech
well.
b. I got a final grade of 5 in my English class last year.
c. When I am at home, I can speak in English fluently.

Belief Experiences That Support Experiences That Do Not

Belief Support Belief

Thoughts, Feelings and Behavior of Adolescents

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The Connection

Our thoughts create our feelings and our feelings drive our behavior. Let’s take a simple
example. If I like being outside near water and enjoy swimming, the thought of going to a pool
makes me feel happy. These thoughts and feelings are going to lead me to plan activities that i
nclude swimming. However, if the thought of being near water scares my friend, she will avoid
swimming. The same experience (swimming) viewed differently by each of us (thoughts) cause
s different emotions (happiness or scared) which leads to different behaviors (going to the pool
or not). Neither one of us is right or wrong. We simply have differing ideas about what is fun
(or not)!

Depression
Depression can take at anyone. It
happens to one on four of our lifespan.
Depression (major depressive disorder) is
a common and serious medical illness
that negatively affects how you feel, the
way you think and how you act.
Fortunately, it is also treatable.
Depression causes feelings of sadness
and/or a loss of interest in activities you
once enjoyed. It can lead to a variety of
emotional and physical problems and can
decrease your ability to function at work
and at home.

Depression symptoms can vary from mild to severe and can include:
 Feeling sad or having a depressed mood
 Loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed
 Changes in appetite — weight loss or gain unrelated to dieting
 Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
 Loss of energy or increased fatigue
 Increase in purposeless physical activity (e.g., inability to sit still, pacing, handwringing)
or slowed movements or speech (these actions must be severe enough to be observable
by others)
 Feeling worthless or guilty
 Difficulty thinking, concentrating or making decisions
 Thoughts of death or suicide

Physical Sensation
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 Fatigue, exhaustions, wearniness
 Trouble concentrating or remembering
 Sleep changes (sleep more or less)
 Eating habit changes (eat more or less)
 Loss interest in hobbies , activities.

There’s no I’ll only mess

points? up again

Thoughts

Anxiety
Stay in bed
Depressed

Behaviors Feelings

Tired
Pull covers
over head

The body’s way of responding to being in danger is anxiety. Anxiety is a normal

emotion. It’s your brain’s way of reacting to stress and alerting you of potential danger ahead.
Physical Sensations
 Heart Racing
 Breathing
 Tense Muscle
 Sweating
 Pupil dilate
 Digestive system slows down

Behaviors might include

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 Evading people or places
 Not going out
 Going to some places such as shopping at smaller shops at certain time, at less busy
times
 Escapes, leaving early

There’s no I’ll only mess

points? up again

Thoughts

Stay in bed
Depressed

Behaviors Feelings

Tired
Pull covers
over head

Anger
Anger is a consequence of discerning that we have been deceitfully treated or slighted,
that others have destroyed or fallen short of our rules, standard, or expectations and we will
not stand it.
Thinking this way leads us to feel angry, which stimulates the body’s adrenaline
reaction, which is our body’s way of helping us to handle either fighting, or running away. By
acting, or feeling an urge to act, in threatening or aggressive ways, we react to those thoughts
and feelings.
Thoughts that are frequently happen:
 I am being treated deceitfully
 I am being insulted
 They are breaking a rule or standard.

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 I will not stand for it.

Making Changes- Behaviors

Changing what we typically do can significantly affect manner we feel and think.

 What helped me to cope and get through it?

 What did I avoid doing?
 What automatic reactions did I have?
 What would other people have seen me doing?
 What are the consequences of what I did? What happened after I did it? Did it I affect
the way I felt after that?
 What would someone else have done in that situation?
 Have there been times in the past when I have done something else?
 If I had paused, and taken a breath, what would I have done?
 If I had tried that, how have could the situation been different?
 How would it have affected what I felt?
 How would it have affected my thoughts?
 Would it have been more helpful or effective for me, to another person or for the
situation?
 What could have been the consequences of doing something differently?

Making Changes- Thoughts

Our thoughts are constantly helping us to understand the world around us, unfolding
what is happening, and trying to make sense of it by helping us understand events, sights,
sounds, smells and feelings.
We are interpreting and giving our own meaning to everything happening around us
without even recognizing it. We might decide that something is pleasant or nasty, good or bad,
dangerous or safe. These interpretations and meanings result in physical and emotional feelings
that we give to events and situations.

Positive Affirmations
Positive statements that can help you to challenge and overcome self-sabotaging and
negative thoughts. 
Examples:
 I am strong  I am calm and confident
 I have strength  I have a lot to be proud of
 I have all that I need  I hold my head up high
 I am in control of my life  I look good because I am good
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 All is well, right there and then

Activity: Try to recognize your thoughts, feelings, and behaviour in previous situation that you
have been into. You may use the template below. Put at least 3 situations.

Date/time Situation Thoughts Feelings Behaviour What do

you feel in
your body?

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Self-Assessment Check

Direction: Choice the correct answer on the following questions.

1. They can be experienced in varying degrees of intensity and usually have a physical
sensation attached.

a. Thoughts c. Behavior
b. Feelings d. Anxiety

2. Statements that can help you to challenge and overcome self-sabotaging and negative
thoughts. 
a. Positive affirmation c. Positive feedback
b. Negative affirmation d. Negative feedback

3. It is simply the actions we take.

a. Thoughts c. Behavior
b. Feelings d. Anxiety

4. A common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you
think and how you act.

a. Anxiety c. Fatigue
b. Depression d. Anger

5. All of the following are positive affirmation except:

a. I am strong c. I have all that I need

b. I have strength d. I am not in control of my life

6. It’s your brain’s way of reacting to stress and alerting you of potential danger ahead.
a. Depression c. Fatigue
b. Anxiety d. Anger

7. Which of the following are physical sensation of anger?

a. Heart Racing b. Breathing
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c. Tense Muscle d. All of the above

8. What will you feel when you lost your pet?

a. Happy c. Excited
b. Sad d. Overwhelmed

9. What is your thoughts of having a low grade?

a. I can do better next time c. I will not let this happen again
b. I will review for my test d. All of the above

10. How will you behave in a positive manner when you are having a bad day?

a. I will make myself busy with my c. I will be alone and lonely

family d. I will sleep and not go outside.
b. I will not talk to others

Job well done, Northwesternian!

Resources: Reference Book and Online Sources

Cleofe, M.P. (2016). Personal Development. Diwa Learning Systems Inc.
Pablo, V.M.G.H. (2016) Personal Development. Scolaire Publishing

https://debbiewoodallcarroll.com/the-relationship-between-thoughts-feelings-and-
behaviors/
https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/depression/what-is-depression

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