Tag: mindfulness
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The Courage to Have a “Good Enough” Holiday Season
Lots of people feel down or angst-ridden during the holiday season, and many will say that this malaise stems not from too much fruitcake consumption (surprisingly), but from our expectations – of ourselves, others, and the holidays themselves. The fact that society and the media constantly pump us full of unhealthy messages regarding how we…
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When Relaxing Is the Hardest Task of All
At the end of yoga class last week, as we were all transitioning to Savasana (also known as Corpse Pose, the part of class in which you lie down and allow yourself to rest and relax after a period of self-exertion) our teacher said to us: “Savasana is one of the hardest exercises we do…
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The #1 Tool for Challenging All or Nothing Thinking
With me it’s all er nuthin’Is it all er nuthin’ with you?It cain’t be “in between”It cain’t be “now and then”No half and half romance will do! – Lyrics by Richard Rodgers, from the musical Oklahoma! When I was in the sixth grade, my class staged a production of the musical Oklahoma! It’s amazing the…
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“Thought Records Don’t Work on Me.” The Second Secret Weapon That Interrupts Distorted Thinking
“Thought records don’t work on me.” Wanna know who said that? Me. So why did I write an entire post on how to complete a thought record last week? Because they’re an extremely important tool that can help you challenge distorted thoughts. 100 percent. AND… A thought record is not a magic pill that will…
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Using Thought Records to Challenge Distorted Thinking: A Step-By-Step Guide
A thought record is a major tool in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) that guides us, step by step, through the process of challenging distorted, automatic thoughts. If you’ve been following my recent blog posts, you’ll know that in order to even recognize automatic thoughts as they’re occurring, you first need to practice mindfulness. You’ll also…
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A Distorted Reality is NOT a Necessity to Be Free: How Cognitive Distortions Hold You Back
Sorry, Elliott Smith. I’ve been a huge fan of yours for ages, but in this post I’m going to talk about how our distorted thoughts make us anything but free. In last week’s post, I introduced the concept of automatic thoughts and explained the CBT principle that our thoughts lead to emotions, and emotions lead…
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Harnessing the Power of Automatic Thoughts
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) operates on the general principle that our thoughts influence our feelings, and our feelings influence our behaviors. Thoughts –> Feelings –> Behaviors For example, a person could have the thought: “I suck at my job.” This creates feelings of sadness, anger, hopelessness. Now in this negative emotional state, in the person…
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Shut Up & Dance: Lessons on Mindfulness from a Pop Song
Photo credit: “Dancing in the Street 4” by Petr Dosek is licensed under CC BY 2.0 As a psychologist and pop culture lover, I love it when a piece of pop culture – say, a popular song – allows me to explain a psychological concept. The song Shut Up and Dance by Walk the Moon is a song…