The CBT triangle, explained

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is built on a very simple idea: your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are looped together. Change one and the others shift.

Imagine you wake up thinking "today is going to be awful." That thought lands as a feeling — heavy, low. That feeling shows up as a behaviour — you pull the duvet back up. Which then confirms the original thought.

The triangle isn't a diagnosis. It's a torch. You can shine it on any hard morning and ask: which corner can I nudge, even a little?

Nudging behaviour ("I'll get up and make tea, even if I don't want to") is usually the easiest lever — feelings and thoughts often follow.