Clear Mind · Practice 01
QUESTION
Examine the thought before accepting the conclusion.
A thought can feel certain before you have examined it. QUESTION helps you separate what you know from what you are adding, consider other reasonable explanations, and recognize what remains unknown.
What you'll practice
A thought is something you can examine.
Work with one interpretation, prediction, or conclusion. The worksheet guides you through six short steps. Brief answers are enough.
Create space
Check whether you have enough capacity to look clearly. Use familiar Calm Body skills when needed.
Name the thought
Capture what you are telling yourself in one clear sentence.
Separate
Distinguish observable information from interpretations, assumptions, and predictions.
Test
Estimate your certainty and consider what might make you less certain.
Widen
Consider one or two plausible alternative explanations. A third is optional. They do not need to be optimistic, and your original interpretation may still be correct.
Identify the gap
Name what you still do not know. Then stop. That is enough for QUESTION.
The core question
What do I know,
and what am I adding?
“They have not replied in three days” is information. “They do not want to work with me” is an interpretation. That interpretation may be correct. Separating the two helps you see where certainty ends and assumption begins.
Take it with you
The full QUESTION practice.
The worksheet works independently from this page. Fill it in on screen or print it, using one thought at a time.
- A brief capacity check before examining the thought
- Side-by-side space for facts and assumptions
- A 0–100% certainty estimate and a question to test it
- Space for plausible alternatives and missing information
Important context
Enough space to look. Enough room to question.
Regulation before interpretation.
If activation is making perspective, attention, or flexibility difficult, return to a familiar Calm Body practice. Use what you already know to create a little more space.
You do not need to become completely calm before continuing. You can pause and return later.
Explore Regulate →Curiosity without forced reassurance.
You do not need to argue with your mind or produce a positive explanation. The aim is cognitive flexibility: recognizing that your interpretation may be one of several reasonable possibilities.
QUESTION ends at missing information. REFRAME will explore a more accurate, balanced, or useful perspective. Solving and choosing come later.
Origins and scope
Examining thoughts, reviewing evidence, and considering alternative explanations are established elements of cognitive therapy. CFC created this coaching sequence and wording; it does not claim to have invented these methods.
This is a focused educational practice, not a complete CBT thought record or a validated assessment. The certainty percentage is your estimate, not a calculated likelihood. This resource does not replace medical or mental-health care.
Where QUESTION fits
The first Clear Mind skill.
Calm Body creates conditions for clearer thinking. QUESTION begins examining the thought itself. It helps you distinguish what happened from the story your mind is building around it.
Calm Body
Recognize your state and create enough capacity for perspective.
Clear Mind
Examine interpretations and make room for uncertainty.
Strong Life
Build choices and behaviors around what matters.
Working sequence. QUESTION examines the interpretation; REFRAME and CHOOSE are later practices.