It is quite common to find this diagram in many cognitive therapy texts:

The diagram however has two central inaccuracies. The first lies is in sequencing. Our personal experience (a better word would be phenomenal but we’ll leave the philosophical jargon for another place) is of past-present-future. Scientific understanding however raises some very good questions as to whether this sequence is really the only story so to speak. The second in a inaccuracy lies in the linear flow from event-thought-feeling-reaction. If only things were so simple!

Despite its shortcomings, I still use this diagram. A map offers the possibility of improvisation; improvisation offers the possibility of insight; and from insight comes the possibility of mastery.