Tag: mindfullness

Thoughts About Thoughts

March 13, 2023

 

 

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) suggest that our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are interconnected, and that what we think and do impacts the way we feel.  It follows that monitoring and changing thoughts where needed can change one’s life.

 

It’s reported that the average person has more than 6,000 thoughts per day. Becoming aware of these thoughts and thought patterns is imperative to changing behaviors and emotions. We will only feel as good as our thoughts allow us to feel.

 

Think of your mind as a thought machine that’s at work during all your waking hours and sometimes even when you’re in a deep sleep.

 

Where do thoughts originate?

 ·       Experiences

·    &n ...

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A mother and child sit face-to-face, each giving their full attention to the other. As the infant gleefully interacts with her mother through cooing, pointing, and the like, the mother responds by appropriately mirroring the child’s facial expressions, repeating the cooing sound, looking to where she points, and responding verbally. They are in a synchronous dance of mutually delighting in one another—the child leading; the mother responding. Then, for a brief moment, the mother turns her face away. As she turns toward her daughter once again, something has changed—something immediately evident to the child. Where the mother was once smiling and responding to her, the child now sees a stoic, unresponsive face. Could this be another game? The child smiles, knowing this always bring a smile to her mother’s face. Nothing. She coos happily and reaches for her mother’s face—surely this will get mom’s attention! Again, nothing. The mother sits in the presen ...

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You feel your heart beating harder and faster in your chest. A lump forms in your throat. The sound of the person talking to you fades into the background as your own thoughts and concerns become all-consuming. Maybe you feel a turning in your stomach or no longer feel content to stand still. You feel like you are losing your mind!

Well, there’s a little bit of truth to that. Dan Siegal, an author and professor of psychiatry, uses a fun analogy to break down the brain and how it works in situations like these. At the risk of oversimplifying, we’ll name two main characters in our brain: the guard dog (aka our brain’s limbic regions) and the wise owl (aka our brain’s cerebrum). The main role of the guard dog is to protect us from danger, and to do it fast! The main role of the wise owl is to help us think through things, using logic and reason.

In these moments when we feel like we are losing our mind, our guard dog has sensed danger ...

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