Like many things in life, food, and sleep for example, thinking is another aspect where things that are inherently good for health and well being, can sometimes be a bad thing when used excessively.  In this post I want to explore an example of this. Self-reflection and rumination.

What is rumination and self-reflection

Self-reflection is the action of thinking about your own feelings and behavior, and the reasons that may lie behind them. Rumination is repeatedly and passively thinking about the causes or consequences of problems without moving to active problem solving. Both are examples of adaptive behaviors so it is not a question of whether they are good or bad, but whether they are  useful or not. Self-reflection is associated with the ability to exercise more control over one’s feelings and behavior and generally to make better decisions in terms of how to respond. It is associated with the ability to learn and change. Conversely, rumination is a key contributor to mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety.

How do I tell the difference?

So at this point a good question might be how do I know whether I am ruminating or self-reflecting, and if I’m ruminating how do I move back to self-reflection or at least stop ruminating.

Differentiating between self-reflection and rumination can  sometimes be done through the perspective of negative or positive content of the thoughts. Rumination will generally have exclusively negative content whereas self-reflection will either have a mixture of negative and positive or just positive content. There are also process differences as rumination will not result in a move to a problem-solving mode whereas reflection will. Finally rumination will tend to persist for a longer period of time than self-reflection.

An example of the differences.   Self-reflecting on a presentation  I need to give tomorrow, considers my past experiences,  good or bad, and then realistically identifies my strengths and weaknesses and taking action to address deficits is a self-reflective process. A ruminative approach  would be to reflect on past experiences,  focussed on bad experiences  and based on a likely negative outcome, and then project further consequences of that.

What can i do if I find myself ruminating?

Indicators of rumination could be body sensation;  headaches, pains or tightness similar to stress, difficultly in sleeping, loss of appetite.  It could be mental symptoms such as loss of concentration and focus or just an inability to stop thinking. The key to stopping ruminating is firstly noticing  these symptoms. The next step is to do something different to break this cycle. This could be meditation, physical exercise, mental distractions such as thinking of other things, talk to a close friends or family member (beware of those who tend to have their own issues with ruminating). If all else fails mindful breathing is a great thing to do in the moment as a combination of deep breathing and noticing your body will tend to immediately break the cycle so you can put in place other more productive cognitive strategies such as reappraisal, reviewing the evidence in terms of likely outcomes and likely consequences of these outcomes, and problem solving.

In conclusion…..

I encourage you to self-reflect, as this is a very healthy pursuit, and to become aware of when you are over your thinking limit. Notice the physical and mental symptoms of rumination and take action to stop the rumination cycle.

Welcome to the world of CVID-19 – no need to imagine

Our ability to cope with uncertainty is a marker of positive mental health. It is also a highly protective ability in times like those we are facing know. It is important for each of us that we foster and develop this ability and learn how to cope in uncertain times.

For many people, the uncertainty surrounding coronavirus is the hardest thing to handle. We don’t know how exactly we’ll be impacted, or how bad things might get. In that environment it is easy to catastrophize and spiral out into overwhelming dread and panic.

Why is uncertainty problematic

Not knowing is an uncomfortable experience. As human beings, we are naturally curious. We seek to understand, predict and control – it helps us learn and it keeps us safe. Uncertainty can feel dangerous because we cannot predict with complete confidence what will happen.

Intolerance of Uncertainty

From a mental health perspective intolerance of uncertainty is defined as trait like tendency to have negative beliefs about uncertainty, and what it might mean to us. Evolutionary, it was protective as it enabled us to decide very quickly whether to fight or run. In our modern world much less so as there are many unknowns. They relate less to our basic survival and often we don’t have control over these unknowns. Intolerance of uncertainty can be considered to be on a scale. Higher ratings are associated with many mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety.

On a practical level increased intolerance of uncertainty results in a tendency to respond negatively in the following domains:

Emotional – sad, anxious, no pleasure, angry

Cognitive – rumination, worry, catastropic thinking

Behavioural – withdrawal, unhealthy coping strategies such as addictions

Coping strategies

The strategies below can help you not only to cope better in the coronavirus world, but also to build your capacity beyond this to cope better and have a better quality of life.

Mindfulness to become aware of negative thought patterns associated with uncertainty, and to disconnect from them and not engage with them.

Slow / Deep Breathing as a way of connecting with our body and hence disconnecting form negative future thoughts and to regulate strong emotions.

Staying Present in simple ways by noticing what is happening in our current surroundings. What is the weather like, what is in my space, noticing colours, sounds, textures etc. This can help to avoid the future thinking associated with anxiety.

Focus on the Things You Can Control as a way of regaining a sense of personal power and control. Maybe re-organising your work space, bedroom or other home spaces. Working in the backyard if you have one.

Set Goals and Progress Them to avoid losing your sense of purpose. Maybe learning something on-line, gaining a new skill such as learning a musical instrument, or set exercise or diet goals where possible.

Stay Connected in Creative ways. Utilise online technologies that allow us to share what is going on for us with those that we can’t be physically close to at the moment. You can have a coffee or eat a meal on video-conference with someone you can’t physically connect with at the moment. If you are technology savvy you can even watch a movie together and chat about it. Be creative!!

In finishing

I encourage you to become aware of your responses to uncertain times such as those that exist now. Once you are aware, you can then try one of the strategies above that resonate with you. Developing your tolerance of uncertainty will be protective of your mental health and increase your quality of life.

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How to increase self-esteem. a bottom up approach

Do you at times struggle with managing your emotions? Do you find yourself hanging on to a thought and associated strong emotions for much longer than you would like to? One of the goals of my blog is to increase your understanding of the internal resources you have, how they can impact you, and how to learn to use them to your advantage. I have previously written on developing mental flexibility, and on self reflection and rumination, and the difference between the two. This week I look at attention, emotion regulation, and using attention control to regulate your emotions.

About attention

From a neuoroscience perspective, attention is a limited resource and its control determines what is in our conscious awareness at any point in time. Most people have experienced the benefits of paying attention. In completing a task correctly, in receiving instructions, in learning a new topic. You have also likely experienced the down side of not paying attention in terms of making mistakes, conflict in relationships, and not performing as well as expected on academic tasks.

At any time many things contend for our attention. These include our current goals and tasks. There is also the equivalent of a priority queue for emotionally charged items. This is part of our evolutionary design. Emotions are designed to gain attention so we can take action. In the fight and flight world of early evolution, not paying attention and quickly responding to emotions was the difference between life and death.

About Emotional Regulation

Emotional regulation is the ability to respond to, control and modify the duration and intensity of emotions we experience in relation to life events and experiences. Many factors contribute to what would be the unregulated intensity and duration of emotions. These include genetic factors, previous life experiences and even external factors intentionally manipulated to create a heightened level of response (Try to become aware of sensory cues such as music, volume, images and words and what emotional response you have to them). The media and adverting industries are experts at this. Without the ability to regulate we are at risk of stress, distress, mental health disorders and risk taking behavior.

One of the indicators of good mental health is the ability to emotionally regulate. There are many effective therapeutic approaches for working with individuals struggling with the effects of not being able to regulate emotion, and the associated distress, mental health disease and lack of functioning that can result. For those who do not require this level of support but would like to learn more, then paying attention to your attention is a good starting point.

Using Attention to Regulate Emotion

The nature of emotionally charged stimuli is that they are designed to gain and keep our attention. If we can increase our ability to move our attention away from them, then this has the effect of reducing the associated level of emotion and even the actual emotional state. An example is if we keep going over a negative interaction from earlier in the morning with our partner then the associated negative emotion remains, and it may even increase in intensity. Moving our attention to other thoughts will immediately reduce this emotional intensity and even change it. There is a catch, in that research suggests that the nature of these distractors will influence our ability to change the emotion. Thoughts that create positive emotions, or focus on information relevant to the task you are working on, will tend to be more effective than neutral thoughts. Therefore if your thinking about that fight in the morning, either thinking about something that makes you happy, or refocusing on the current work task will tend to be more effective. Just deciding not to think about the negative event tends to focus your attention further on the negative event. I think there is no surprise here. (Don’t think of the colour blue. What are you thinking of?)

Mindfulness

There are many great resources on techniques such as mindfulness. The article below offers a number of ideas for implementing mindfulness in your life. As this article suggests, mindfulness doesn’t need to have a spiritual basis. From a neroscience perspective it is the impact in has on attention that makes the difference.

4 simple exercises to strengthen your attention and reduce distractibility

In Finishing

Attention and emotions are very improtant resources to ensure our survival. In our modern world with an excess of emotionally charged stimulus, emotional regulation becomes critical. Particularly due to difficulties in regulation being associated with many mental health disorders. One proven group of strategies focus on attention control as a way of regulating emotion. This week I have given you some ideas on using attention control to regulate your emotions I encourage you to consider this approach and also to look at the article on mindfulness.

If your emotions are causing you significant distress I suggest you make contact with a therapist or other mental health service for support.

Enjoy from Scott

Forgiveness seems to have attained the status of a virtue that we should all aspire to. In fact when we can’t forgive we might consider this a personal failure and/or a character deficit. I call this The Dark Side of Forgiveness. This week’s article looks at forgiveness in a more balanced way. It considers a wider variety of responses to the transgressions of others against us. It places the goals of personal psychological health and physical safety as primary. My aim is to support victims of transgressions of any sort to have a wider number of choices in supporting themselves.

What is Forgiveness and Should I Forgive ?

Forgiveness is a term bandied around a lot with many people advising friends and family members of the need to forgive, irrespective of who and what they are forgiving. People whose life includes a spiritual element, seem to be even more adamant of the importance and significant of forgiving. Where it can become challenging is often people can feel shame when they are not ready to forgive, or even don’t feel they should. As a therapist I have noticed times where clients’ forgiveness might result in them returning to unsafe situations.

First a current definition from a psychological perspective. According to the emerging consensus among researchers, forgiveness includes (a) the reduction in vengeful and angry thoughts, feelings, and motives, and may be accompanied by (b) an increase in some form of positive thoughts, feelings, and motives toward the offending person.

Are There Other Options ?

There is a substantial body of research around forgiveness, unforgiveness and the idea of not forgiving. It would seem that the negative psychological impact of not forgiving is around the holding onto of resentment, bitterness and anger that is directed toward another person who has committed a transgression against us. Another interesting area of inquiry has been around the impact of punishment. How does the offender being punished for the transgression impact the ability to forgive someone?. It seems that it is more effective when the victim is given a voice as part of the punishment process and hence a sense of power. In fact forgiveness in itself facilitates a redistribution of power between the offender and victim where the choice to forgive is an empowering and purposeful decision. It is felt that this is the mechanism through which the negative emotions are resolved.

More recent definitions of unforgiveness divides unforgiveness into three aspects: negative emotions and rumination; unforgiving cognitions; and an altered perception of the offender. Ift seems that if the negative emotion and rumination are resolved, then unforgiveness may not have adverse outcomes for the individual. It would appear that people who have a greater ability to control their emotions are able to do this more easily.

So it is important to be aware that conditional forgiveness, or in fact not forgiving, can be as psychologically healthy as forgiveness. This is counter to the general idea that unconditional forgiveness is the ideal standard. It would seem that across all options a sense of empowerment and control is the pathway to better psychological health.

If Someone Does Something to me How do I Take Care of Myself ?

This suggests that when someone does something to us, aside from the direct consequences to us of their actions, one of the key losses is a loss of power. Being able to reclaim and exercise that power enables us to avoid rumination. Rumination usually involves focused thinking on the transgression, the offender, and the associated negative consequences. Rumination as well as anger directed toward the offender become the default strategy and it is this approach which is linked to negative health outcomes and other consequence. Revenge is an example of a strategy that might result from being in this head space.

Once we have addressed the impact of these negative emotions and / or reclaimed our personal power then we can decide what of the next step. Whether it would be be offering forgiveness to the offender, offering forgiveness subject to punishment, or not offering forgiveness at all. Noting that there may be a place for each of these options.

Some Strategies for Addressing the Personal Power Deficit and / or Avoiding Ruminating

Mindfulness – This is a way of disconnecting from emotionally charged thinking where our responses, however uncomfortable are held in awareness without our passing judgment on them. There are many online resources about this topic, or talk to a therapist.

Self-worth / Self-esteem – Restoring your sense of self will increase your power. Dependent on the transgression talking to victim support services can be useful. Focusing on your strengths and self worth values with a therapist or trusted friend can be useful.

Realistic Thinking – For some people rumination can result in heightened distress due to unrealistic thinking about the consequences of the transgression. Becoming aware of these thoughts and challenging them can be helpful to reduce this distress. If you find it difficult to do this alone, then seek the help of a mental health professional.

Positive distractions – Whilst not as enduring as the previous strategies, distracting yourself with other things in your life that make you happy and feel good about yourself to reduce distress. Please ensure that these are NOT destructive or unhealthy.

In Finishing

When a transgression is committed against us, aside from the consequences of that transgression, there is a loss of personal power. Our evolutionary adaptive strategy is fight while rumination and anger mobilize our resources to restore the power imbalance. If we wish to consider and adopt alternate strategies in response to the transgression that better support us, we need to find a way to restore our internal power deficit, or at least stop ruminating. Once we have done this we can consider, possibly with support, what it the best strategy that would protect us and support our growth.

There are many anecdotal stories of the power of unconditional forgiveness of significant transgression, but this should just be considered one of the possible options. It is important that the victims of others’ transgressions are not further victimized by the choices they make to restore their psychological health and ensure their physical safety.

Any comments or feedback on your own experience of this is appreciated and valued.

Take care

Scott

PS Scroll down and subscribe if you would like to be notified by e-mail when new posts are available.

This article explores the idea of finding your strengths as a way of increasing the depth and breadth of your capabilities. It considers two different perspectives of what a strength is, and provides some tools and resources to assist in identifying your strengths. These strengths can be utilised in dealing with adversity, and / or achieving optimum outcomes in your life.   

What is a strength

There are a wide variety of definitions. I consider a strength to be any asset or capability which can be used to solve problems, and achieve goals. Also anything that is a useful adaption in some circumstances. Capabilities such as reflection and procrastination are examples of capabilities which are useful in some cases, and not in others. Discerning when something is useful or not is the topic of another article.

Counselling / Social Work perspective

Within the counselling and social work community there is a framework called Strengths Based.  The idea is that clients who are struggling with historical or current issues tend to only see the world as containing problems. They can often see themselves as having little or no power in their life.   A Strengths Based approach validates their struggles, and more importantly their ability to survive in difficult circumstances. The therapist working with the client in unpacking their story will attempt to identify strengths that the client possesses. From my own experience as a therapist there are always some. For some people still being alive in spite of horrific life experiences is a strength.

Positive Psychology Perspective

From a positive psychology perspective, the purpose of identifying individual strengths is to then focus on utilising them.   Focusing on strengths results in enhanced well being and experiencing more positive emotions. Research suggests it is also protective against mental health symptoms.

Identifying Strengths

When attempting to find our strengths, we will often identify our strengths as things  that have been named by others. If people say we are funny, smart, kind,  tenacious etc, then we will identify with these. Or inner qualities that we feel have made a clear contribution to a particular achievement we are proud of. This makes sense but can be somewhat limiting as it starts to narrow our personal inventory of strengths. I am suggesting that doing a broader sweep of our life might reveal additional qualities which can increase our perceived overall capabilities. It may even allow us to expand our life choices.

Some tips and resources for finding your strengths

In digging for the less obvious, but somewhat hidden strengths, some things to consider are:

·         Difficult circumstances you have survived or are even currently surviving in . Things such as financial or health stress, loss of loved one to name a few.

·         Things that you have done which were outside your normal range of activities and / or situations. Maybe you consider yourself a passive person, but you have had to advocate. Maybe you are very outcome focussed, but found yourself in a situation which you just had to accept. 

·         If you are still struggling an excellent resource is the VIA Character Strength’s Inventory. Some  people use this as a way of only identifying their top strengths to focus on in order to maximise their potential which can be useful. I suggest using it to identify the diversity of strengths you have. When reviewing the report, consider all of the strengths you have as potential resources.

In finishing…

We all possess many capabilities and resources which can be utilised in dealing with life situations,  and / or enhancing our lives.  Looking at our life through the lens of strengths enable us to validate the resources and capabilities already in our possession. If we take an inclusive approach to developing a strengths inventory, it enables us to have a broader definition of ourselves, and what we are capable of.

I encourage you to start the journey of finding your strengths.

As always, any comments or experiences related to this article are appreciated.

As a therapist, I often find that an individual’s fears might hold them back from living a more fulfilling and satisfying life. Usually there is a basis in their past for this fear, or if not the original fear has spread into other areas of their life. Fear of failure is another valid response to situations, just like procrastination, rumination and reflection. These responses are purposeful and adaptive, but not always useful or in our best interest. I’m suggesting that being ok to fail, or what I refer to as successfully fail, might be useful. This article and the recommended reading explores this idea further.  

Introduction to fear of failure….

Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective. It can also by considered as the opposite of success. From a psychological perspective there is as construct called Fear of Failure and it is considered an avoidance orientated achievement motive. In non-psychology terms this  means it creates a reason to avoid embarking on activities which would lead to the achievement of goals.

In the case of fear of failure the thing being avoided  is the potential feelings of shame. The associated thought is that any failure will indicate a global level of incompetence, beyond that of the specific task being undertaken. Furthermore this incompetence will result in significant people abandoning us. Whilst not the subject of this article, psychologically the fear of abandonment is comparable to the fear of death. Hence why it can be a strong influence. Like many of these almost primal fears we have, our smart brain finds more socially acceptable reasons for this fear, or even just for not embarking on particular activities. These reasons are what we share with others, and tell ourselves. The end result is that we may not even access this underlying fear.

‘There is no innovation and creativity without failure.’ 

Brene Brown

Reasons to Fail

Being willing to embrace failure has been a lesson learnt to me later in life that has had a profound affect. I thought I would recommend an article published in the Guardian called Why we should learn to embrace failure. It offers some great insight on this subject. For me being willing to fail  it is the difference between pursing my passions and dreams, and just wondering how things might have gone if I had. At a personal level being willing to fail means allowing for the possibility of success. Happy reading!

The better we understand our internal processes, the better we are able to control them, and even change them, in order to achieive the best possible outcomes for ourselves. A previous article on self-reflection and rumination was one example of where our internal process can be useful in some circumstances, and not so useful in others. Cognitive biases often fly under the radar of our conciousness and hence we are not aware of their impact. This article will help shed a light on these for you.

Cognitive biases  – one of the costs of speed vs accuracy

We all like to think that when required, and under the right conditions, we can make well thought out decisions based on a rational and accurate assessment of the information available. This is true sometimes, but what is equally true is that we are all influenceable. One of the more subtle ways this influence occurs is though our cognitive biases. Thinking ,or cognitive, biases are in fact errors in thinking that influence how we make decisions. In this article we will explore  why these influences exist,  and look in more detail at a few of them

Cognitive psychology is a field of psychology that is still maturing. It attempts to take a more systems based approach to the processes of the mind.  Having come from an Information Technology background I have a strong preference for this approach. Unfortunately, the accuracy of any theory is fraught with error, as unlike with computer hardware which is designed by a human being, the brain was not. Therefore a lot of assumptions tend to be made about the inner workings of the brain. Whilst cognitive psychology is a science, theories are still prone to changing.

With that in mind one area of particular interest to me is the subjective nature of the human experience. This blog article focusses on the challenges associated with what we consider to be one of our most rational processes, decision making. Just like computers we balance the need for speed with the need for accuracy. The need for speed came from our evolutionary origins  where threat detection and assessment needed to be made quickly. As we move into today’s world, accuracy is a key requirement but we are challenged by the exponential growth in complexity of the world.

As we have always done, the human species adapts, and one of the adaptions is the idea of having two processing paths. A faster and more automatic path which aims to deliver a quick decision  with the minimum amount of processing and information. A slower path which provides more information, considers more options but is in theory more accurate.  Cognitive psychology considers that the fast path uses thinking shortcuts, called heuristics,  as a way of speeding up the process. In the fast path, access to information affected by these biases is also utilised.

Specific cognitive biases

There are a lot of biases. I will focus on five of the most common ones. This might help you understand how they might impact your decision making process.

Confirmation bias

The tendency to search for, interpret, focus on and remember information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions. This bias is when we want something to be true then we can look for information to confirm it. This also also means we tend to ignore information that is not consistent with this belief. In most aspects of life where highly inflexible opinions exist, you will often find an environment ripe for this bias.  They can also impact in more subtle ways such as our thinking in relation to things such as favorite hobbies, team, friends etc. for more read

Framing effect

Drawing different conclusions from the same information, depending on how that information is presented. The classic is the same information can be presented in a way that makes it seems like a problem, or in a way that makes it seem positive. We see this every day in politics. Policy changes are framed positively by those in power, and negatively by the opposition of the day.

Anchoring effect

The tendency to rely too heavily, or “anchor”, on one trait or piece of information when making decisions.This is usually the first piece of information acquired on that subject. This often happen is purchasing and / or negotiation when we decide a particular feature is important and focus heavily of this. We then end up compromising on many other equally important aspects of the purchase or situation.

Observational Selection Bias

The tendency to notice something more when something causes us to be more aware of it. An example is when we buy a car, we tend to notice similar cars more often than we did before. They are not suddenly more common, we just are noticing them more.

Continued influence Effect

The tendency to believe previously learned misinformation even after it has been corrected. Incorrect information can still influence our thinking after a correction has occurred. Factors that impact this effect include the logic of the original information, how often it is retrieved and the strength and sensibility of the correction. In some cases the correction can reinforce the original inaccurate statement.

Concluding…..

I would ask you as a fellow researcher / observer of the human condition to try to notice when you are impacted by these biases. Noticing will increase your ability in these situations to choose to move to slower but potentially more rational processing. This will reduce the impact of these biases on you.

Any comments on examples of where you have been impacted by these biases are welcomed.

No this isn’t a misquote. Understanding and responding to your desire to procrastinate can result in your being able to spend less time on procrastinating and more time on the task you have been avoiding. Like rumination and self-reflection, it is purposeful. Understanding its purpose will enable you to  become an efficient procrastinator. The aim of this blog article is to explore from a psychological perspective some of the typical reasons for procrastination, and some ideas about how to respond to these.

So if right now you’re thinking of stopping reading, then this is definitely the article for you.

Some background….

First lets specify what it is. Procrastination is the delay that is due to the avoidance of starting  a task. It is considered to be a common behaviour, as not less than 20% of the adult population identify with procrastination. It is also associated with mental health issues and other  poor outcomes. Procrastination can have significant negative impact on many aspects of your life.

Like most things in psychology there are multiple theories and multiple aspects to procrastination. There are active and passive types based on when it is used consciously, or subconsciously. Active procrastination refers to where it is used consciously to put off completing a task in order to achieve a better outcome.There is research to suggest that some people perform better  when they do a task close to the completion deadline. Passive procrastination flies under the radar as we are often not aware of it.

Why do I procrastinate??

Within passive procrastination there is a variety of reasons for it. As this is considered to be the  most problematic type of procrastination the rest of this article will focus on it. At an overall level it is important to acknowledge that procrastination is a purposeful strategy to regulate our thoughts and feelings. Like for all of our adaptations, it is not a question of whether it is good or bad, but whether it is useful or not.

In some cases, external circumstances which can change may be the cause of procrastination, such as in task ambiguity.  In these cases we are unable to start a task  because it is not clear what needs to be done. Resolving this lack of clarity can allow for the task to proceed. Other causes which are internal to us include:

• Fear of negative evaluation, or failure in relation to the task itself.
• Lack of buy-in to the task
• A broader problem managing emotions, particularly negative ones, outside of the task itself
• Challenges in managing attention

As you will see when you read on, it is important to become aware of and understand your own procrastination, as different strategies will be used depending on which of these resonate with you.

Strategies for becoming an efficient procrastinator

With passive procrastination there are a number of proven strategies

These include:

• Task managing which is often the first strategy and probably the most well known strategy.

This strategy is customized for the individual but would include things such as breaking the task into smaller tasks so it seems more achievable. Setting intermediate goals with personal rewards such as time outs, treats etc. Scheduling work realistically in terms of available time and other conflicting demands.  This can be useful when the underlying reason for the procrastination is a fear of failure in regards to task completion. The use of smaller tasks can also help those whose procrastination is due to challenges in managing attention or emotional state.

• Revisiting the purpose of the task and aligning it with your values may increase the motivation.

When the procrastination is due to what is referred to as process aversion, or more commonly referred to as lack of commitment to the task, then looking at the reason for performing the task and aligning it to your person goals and values can increase motivation.

• Mindfulness exercises such as noticing but not engaging with less productive thoughts.

When the reason for procrastination is lack of attention then mindfulness exercises might be helpful. These can reduce the impact of these distracting thoughts can reduce the impact of the procrastination.

• Mindful breathing can be used for attention and emotion related procrastination

Mindful breathing can also be used to increase focus to combat lack of attention, and also to reduce the impact of negative emotions and reduce the impact of feelings. This involves focusing attention only on your breath as a way of drawing attention away from everything else, so you can then refocus on the task.

• It procrastination is more related to a fear of failure in general, or failure in relation to the task, then other therapeutic approaches might be helpful

Particularly If the previous two strategies don’t seem to work, than  cognitive therapy,  either with a therapist or self-help, will help to challenge  global level thoughts that support procrastination. Examples of these thoughts include:I can’t finish thing, I can’t focus my attention, I always fail etc. Cognitive therapy will also help to develop more supportive thoughts

….finally

Be kind to your procrastination. It believes it is trying to help you and just needs to be given guidance.  If you can understand what it is about, then you can use some of the strategies above to reduce its impact. This will help you become a more efficient procrastinator, and a more effective task completer.

Related article

Realistic Goal Planning – Set Yourself Up for Success

We are often faced with external events which evoke a strong negative emotional reaction in us. This reaction is often stress, fear or worry. One proven way to reduce this affect is to taken another look at  the situation, which is also referred to as cognitive reappraisal.   This process can reduce the negative emotions and ensure we are better able to respond to the situation in a more useful way.  Cognitive reappraisal is a proven strategy to  reduce the symptoms of anxiety and depression. This article looks at the theory behind this, and provides some advice on how to use this valuable strategy.  

Cognitive reappraisal, the intersection between creativity and rumination

We seem to have an obsession with being happy and positive and sometimes it would seem that the secret to happiness is just that. That being the case we could all just choose to do this tomorrow and most of the need for my profession would disappear.  Unfortunately as a considerable percentage of our neural resource are focused on threat detection and management, it isn’t this simple. For most people there is a level of over effective threat detection and hence we tend to do the opposite of think positive.

Cognitive reappraisal  can be a way of moving from a threat focus to an opportunity focus in a given situation. It enables us to see new people, or the unknown,in a positive way and use our cognitive resources to shape our life in constructive ways.  Higher level thinking processes such as creativity can be used to look for opportunities. In fact development of this capacity  enables us to increase the number of perceived threats and unknowns that we can cope with.

Cognitive reappraisal is an emotion regulation strategy that involves changing the trajectory of an emotional response by reinterpreting the meaning of a situation that has triggered an emotion. The ability to reappraise a situation has broad benefits.  It can be a protective factor against anxiety and depression as research has shown it can reduce negative affect. It is also linked to high order thinking skills such as creativity as it allows us to respond  to novel and new situations for which we have no previous understanding.

Rumination is focusing on past events with a problem focus and normally negative affect.  This is a thinking style common to both anxiety and depression. It can be a useful strategy when dealing with threats which represent a clear and present danger  because it focuses our attention and both body and mind resources on the threat.This ensures the best possible outcome in responding to a real threat. The problem is determining what is a real threat.

Reappraisal can assist us in breaking a rumination cycle as it allows us to move from a problem to a solution focus. It is another example of more flexible thinking styles . Creativity is the use of imagination or original ideas to create something, and in the case of reappraisal this something can be additional perspectives. Cognitive reappraisal is about reviewing the initial understanding and response associated with an external event and reviewing it.  Generally the resulting reappraised perspective will be more realistic  and / or positive and the associated emotional response  will be less intense and negative. Reappraisal and creativity can work hand in hand as creativity  in developing alternative perspectives can open the door to greater diversity in thinking, leading to more positive outcomes from the reappraisal .

Cognitive Reappraisal in Action

Step 1 – An external event occur

Step 2 – We make assumptions around this and there is an associated initial emotional response

Step 3 – Rappraisal can happen here as we look for other options to explain the situation.

Step 4 – Based on step 3 we have a modified emotional response which can be more positive and less intense.

Step 5 – We can then take action if required

Reappraisal 101

One of the key area to increase the effectiveness  of  your reappraisal is to question the assumptions made in step 2. Some useful questions are…….

What is the evidence that supports or contradicts this thought ?

Is there an alternative explanation?

Is there another way of looking at it?

Am I overestimating the probability of the negative event occurring?

What is the worst that could happen?

What is most realistic?

Am I overestimating the severity of the consequences of the event (should it occur)?

Is it really a terrible catastrophe if it happens?

Could I cope with it?

Reappraisal Turbo-boost

When applying the above questions be creative. Look beyond the obvious answers, particularly when considering alternative options, or ways of looking at the situation.

Finishing comments

From an evolutionary perspective our brain is hardwired to expect, look for, and respond to threats to our survival As a human we have high level resources beyond that of other creatures. Rumination, reappraisal and creativity are all examples of these more sophisticated cognitive capabilities. Moving beyond rumination to reappraisal and creativity impacts our mood, our mental health,  and our capacity and capabilities to enjoy a better like. Like all new skills, the more we use reappraisal and creativity the easier it gets to use them. Enjoy !!!