Note that the strategy is not to eradicate negative automatic thoughts. Not only is that an unattainable goal, but it wouldn't make sense; sometimes anxious or sad thoughts are appropriate, useful, and crucial to healthy human experience. It is only when our range of cognitions is too restricted that we develop emotional distress. So, our strategy in cognitive therapy is to open up biased thinking patterns, allowing better functioning to flourish when we rely on more realistic cognitions. Imagine a train leaving a station, going in the same direction, on the same track and on the same schedule every day. Since your negative automatic thoughts ride on one well-worn but misdirected track, we want to lay one or two new tracks out of that same station. Then, when you experience the same old triggering event, you'll be able to react less automatically, as you'll have a greater range of options from which to choose. And the more times you ride on those newer tracks, the smoother their rails will become, the easier to glide on. Soon it won't matter that the old track is still there - it will eventually become the "out-of-service" track, as you begin to develop a set of new, more adaptive cycles of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.