Helping humans one email at a time
Helping humans one email at a time
Psychologist Michael Greenberg lays out four different kinds of compulsive thinking traps we often get caught in. I’ve done all of these at one time or another and am glad to have them laid out so I can catch them when they crop up. Rumination is a common but very unhelpful habit that fuels unhappiness […]
Pay Attention to these thinking traps Read More »
Most of us didn’t grow up learning how to take care of difficult feelings and it’s rare that adults are able to model this well. So many of us arrive into adulthood with more emotional reactivity and more emotional avoidance habits than we need. Small things set us off and we can get to feeling
What to do with those terrible, horrible, no good, very bad feelings Read More »
When we circle around and around on a topic in a tight, repetitive way — that’s ruminating. Our minds will try to convince us that we’re solving a problem when we’re actually just stirring the same tired mud puddle. And often the feeling tone of rumination is negative, whether it’s worry, regret, or self-criticism. Problems
Stop ruminating: it’ll make a big difference in your life Read More »
Here’s some advice about how to choose which path to take when the way forward is not clear. The top line is that it’s helpful to have an intentional process of some kind when facing a tough decision. Otherwise, our default mode may use fear or reactivity as a guide, which gets in the way
Which way do I go? When you have a tough decision to make Read More »
When we reach big change points or face new challenges, it can help to take fresh stock of our ingredients. By that I mean the natural strengths and vulnerabilities of our personality. Life stress has a way of sticking its thumbs into our tender parts and raising self-doubt. Personality tests can give a more objective
Know how your pieces fit together: three self-tests Read More »
The five techniques described in this short piece loosen the grip that sticky thoughts have on us. The TED talk on that same page about developing psychological flexibility is really good as well. The short-hand for these practices is “thought defusion” and in short they are: Our sticky thoughts often get to run the show
Making difficult Thoughts Less Sticky Read More »
Take a look at this site with tree root drawings. Here’s one of the humble Scots Pine — isn’t that amazing? Look up your favorite tree and appreciate it in its fullness (you’ll need to look up its scientific name first if you don’t know it already). We humans walk around on top of the
Trees: There’s More to Reality Than We see Read More »
This wonderful piece gives a quick rundown on the researched benefits of the big non-drug things that support mental health: art, music, reading, physical activity, nature, laughter, yoga, sleep, sunshine, social connection, being kind, feeling grateful. Let us find ways to bathe in an abundance of these things every day! (Various medications are still very
Music, Reading, laughter, moving: non-drug prescriptions for mental health Read More »
This whole article is quite lovely, with good resources and exercises to try. One quote I particularly like: “Trusting myself is, first and foremost, a visceral experience, less like adopting a new set of beliefs and more like a trust fall into the inner landscape of my heart, lungs, abdomen and gut. Each moment, interaction,
How to Trust Your Body Read More »
As Voltaire said, perfect is the enemy of good. In our hunt for perfection, we wear ourselves out, make ourselves sick, and usually have a pretty grim time of it. This article is a solid look at how to recognize and dial back perfectionism. You don’t have to give up on excellence when you let
perfectionism produces paralysis Read More »