People shared the ‘small bombshells’ dropped by their therapists and you can have these 17 life-changing tips for free

It may involve a lot of scary introspection, but therapy can lead to massive breakthroughs that can positively change your life.

Counselling is not all about these seismic realisations though. Even an apparently off the cuff remark can have a strong impact. Reddit user pottipenguin wanted to learn more about these words of wisdom, so they put this question to r/AskReddit:

‘What’s a small bombshell your therapist dropped during a session that completely shifted your perspective?’

Here’s the top therapist feedback, free of charge…

1.
‘Your brain is there to keep you alive, not happy. You need to do things that make you happy, not just expect it from your intellect.’
–Misfit_somewhere

2.
‘Rest is productive too’
-Bitchy_Birthcake

3.
‘I described what another person must have been thinking/feeling when they did X. My therapist described an alternative version of what they may have been thinking/feeling, which was immediately completely plausible, and was a much kinder interpretation than mine.

‘It was then that I realized my interpretation of reality could (potentially) be really flawed, and cause me unnecessary strife.

‘It made me realize that I should be much slower to judge actions/words, and that, especially in the case of people who I had reason to trust, I should actually seek clarification before I jumped to emotional conclusions.’
-whynotthebest

4.
‘24 hours can start at any time. If you feel like you’ve messed up instead of looking at the day as a failure, just decide it’s a new day and make this one better.’
-tambam1015

5.
‘The reason you feel the way you do is because your actions/decisions are not congruent to your values.’
-Strong_Emphasis_9632

6.
‘Him: “Do you want to talk about your anxiety?”

‘Me: “I don’t have anxiety. Because as a kid, I figured out that if you imagine the worst possible outcomes, they won’t catch you off guard and you won’t be anxious.”

‘Him: “That’s literally a textbook example for someone with chronic anxiety.”’
-WordyNinja

7.
‘When talking about my really fucked up childhood, she told me, “you’ve already survived the worst of it.”’
-Karmadillo123

8.
‘That my parents DIDN’T spoil my little sister. Going to parent teacher conferences, getting new clothes that weren’t for back to school, being willing to sign you up for a sport and take you to practice isn’t spoiling, it’s basic parenting.’
-GlassCharacter179

9.
‘“Thoughts are not facts”

‘That phrase almost certainly saved my life’
-yearsofpractice