Photo by ljubaphoto, Courtesy of iStock Photo

Last week we talked about setting goals and sticking to them. This week we’re focusing more on that last part: sticking to them! And for that, you need to keep your momentum going.

Momentum and motivation are intertwined:

Momentum creates motivation, and motivation creates momentum.

Today’s question is, how do you keep them both going? I’ve got a list of things that have proven to work. Some may not appeal to you, but you’ll probably want to try most of them.

Let’s start at the top.

Organize, track, and review!

Staying organized is a must when it comes to achieving anything. You need to know where you’re going and what steps to take to get you there. Likely you know this already, but how well do you implement it?

Maybe you’re good at organizing but fall short with tracking and review. Last week I talked a lot about this and suggested that you institute a weekly review to be done every week on the same day at the same time. The weekly review is the most effective of all the habits I’ve used to stay on track and keep going. If you didn’t get to read last week’s blog, click here to read it and find out what your weekly review should include.

The weekly review aims to track your progress, refine your system, and make revisions so that your performance will continually improve and move you toward your end goals.

If you don’t track, you’ll have difficulty finishing.

Make yourself accountable.

You might find it helpful to set up an accountability routine involving someone else in addition to your own tracking. You can work with a friend, colleague, partner, or group. For example, if your goal is to go to the gym weekly, having an exercise buddy you meet for each workout will help you keep your resolution. You’ll show up if you know someone’s waiting for you at the gym.

I have an online group I’ve been using to finish a course I’m creating. The group is an outgrowth of a class we all took on creating and recording online courses. Because we’re all trying to do the same thing, we use the group to hold each other accountable and share our problems. It’s invaluable!

Some people use mastermind groups to help them finish something. Others might have community or neighborhood groups. There’s a group of moms in my neighborhood that walk together every day.

Accountability partners provide more than keeping you on track. They’re supportive and cheer you on, particularly when you hit obstacles or find yourself lagging.

Keep your “why” in the front of your mind.

When you start on a new project, you’re excited because you have a vision of why it’s important and what you hope to gain by completing it.

When you meet obstacles, you can easily forget your “why” or push it into the back of your mind.

Write your “why” out. Be specific.

1. What are the rewards for reaching your goal?
2. What will you gain? Will anyone else benefit?
3. What’s your motivation for pursuing this goal?
4. How will you feel when you’ve achieved it?

Some people find it helpful to keep a “why” statement within view – either on a wall poster, computer desktop, bulletin board, or phone.

It helps to see it daily.

Eat that frog!

There’s a well-known book called Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy. I recommended it to you last week. It’s short and sweet and is invaluable. The basic idea is to do your most important work first thing each day.

Ask yourself these questions to decide what to pursue first:

• Which activities are most instrumental in achieving my goal?
• What requires the most effort and takes the most mental energy?
• What thing, if done early in the day, will make me feel good about my progress and free me up the rest of the day?
• What have I been procrastinating on that needs to be done now?

Once you have a list, choose one item at a time, and tackle it in the morning before you deplete your energy. Especially do things that require brain work first thing.

Remember that willpower decreases over the day. It’s strongest when you start and dwindles mid-afternoon.

Focus on weekly goals and use time blocks.

One of the most depleting things people do when approaching goals is to repetitively run the whole list of things they need to do through their minds. When you do that, you keep yourself in a state of overwhelm and mental disarray. You can’t focus.

Once you have your big goal outlined and know what to do to get there, or at least have your direction paved out, let it go.

Focus on no more than three small tasks/goals per week.

One is fine if that’s all you can do. It’s more important to complete a single task in a week that moves you toward your goal than to have ten plates spinning in the air and nothing finished.

Set your weekly goals for the week ahead when you do your weekly review, and put them on your calendar in time blocks.

Use “time blocks” to reduce your resistance to the work. I use them more often than “task blocks,” especially for work that’s harder to do or that I tend to resist. For example, I might decide to work one hour on a graphic design project as opposed to finishing the whole piece. Try it and see if that doesn’t help.

Learn something new.

Learning or improving a skill can go a long way to re-energize you toward your goal.

Today there are so many ways to do this. You can read a book or article, watch a Youtube video, take an online course, attend a class, or work with someone else who’s skilled with what you need.

It’s incredible how a ten-minute Youtube video about something you’re trying to do can make you feel so much more engaged and excited about what you’re doing.

Not only that, but learning something can help you get over an obstacle that’s holding you back.

If you don’t know exactly how to do something, try searching for the information online or reach out to someone who does know. Lack of knowledge is a common reason people stop pursuing a goal. Get help!

Do this when you get stuck.

Goals, especially those that stretch out over time, require sustained effort. You know this, and I’m guessing you also know from experience that sustaining effort is challenging.

When you lose interest or feel stuck, you have to restart your engine. All the above things I’ve listed thus far can help you once you get going, but they may not pull you out of your rut.

When you’re stuck, take any small step you can. Do one thing. Make it something easy, quick, and something that requires minimal energy.

If you need to clean the whole house, clean the kitchen floor. If you need to write a paper, write 200 words. Want to exercise but can’t get yourself to start? Do ten sit-ups. Do something – anything – and then take a break until tomorrow and do one more thing. It won’t take long before you’re back in the swing of it and easily work for longer blocks of time.

Get back on the horse, and it’ll start trotting and eventually galloping.

Last Note

I hope you found something in this list that’ll help you keep your momentum for whatever you want to accomplish.

We are officially in a New Year, and I wish you great success in your goals and aspirations for 2023!

That’s all for today.

Have a great week!

All my best,

Barbara

Last week we worked on five new habits to help create the right mindset for moving into the New Year. This week we’ll continue along this track with a discussion of goal-setting.

Most people can usually set goals with no problem, but maintaining them is difficult. Today I’m giving you a quick 4-step process for developing and keeping goals. These four steps will get you started, and then next week, we’ll talk about how to sustain your momentum and motivation as your do the work.

Let’s start with setting goals.

Step 1: Create your goal list for this year.

For this step, I’m going to Marie Forleo, one of my favorite resources for entrepreneurship, motivation, and business advice. She’s got a 2-step process for goal-setting, which I’ve used many times, and find very useful. She calls it the Purge & Prune process.

Purge

For this step, write down every conceivable goal you’d like to pursue. Don’t censor yourself. Include anything and everything that comes to mind. Marie gives three categories to help stimulate your ideas. These are:

1. Self goals. This category includes anything that falls under the umbrella of self-improvement. Examples might be increasing your fitness level, starting a meditation habit, improving your diet, or getting on top of your anxiety.
2. Relationship goals. As you consider the important people in your life and the general health of your relationships, what do you need to change? For example, do you need to improve your communication with your partner or your kids? Maybe you’d like to spend more quality time, or you want to become more appreciative. Are there significant issues that need sorting out and resolving? Parenting skills you want to improve? List these goals.
3. Work/Profession goals. What are your professional or career goals for the coming year? These can include milestones related to a job, new professional skills you’d like to acquire, or if you’re a homemaker, things you’d like to improve in the management and upkeep of your home. Write it all down.

Prune

You know what’s next, right? Go through those mammoth lists you just made and start pruning them.

You can’t do everything. If you think you can, you’ll undoubtedly wear out early in the game and drop out.

The purpose of pruning is to select the most important goals for this time in your life and make them manageable and reachable. Less is better in this case, but just because you delete many goals from your list for this year doesn’t mean you can’t add them back in later.

Some people find it helpful to prioritize first. You make a high-priority list to pursue and a second list to pull from if you finish some of your goals sooner than you thought you would. There isn’t a magic number, but I caution you to get your list as small as possible to start.

Keep in mind that you can focus better and more effectively if you are single-minded.

Two questions I use to help me decide are:

1. Why is this goal important to me now?
2. What are the benefits if I reach this goal, and what are the downsides if I don’t pursue it?

Step 2: Place your goals in time.

You have your list. Next, you need to break down your goals into specific tasks and put these in time slots.

I use a quarterly/weekly system.

I start by breaking down my annual goal list into quarterly sub-goals. From there, I list all the tasks related to each quarterly goal.

You might want to make the quarterly goal lists all at once, but make the quarterly task lists as you approach each quarter.

Doing one quarter at a time rather than trying to do them all upfront allows for deviations as you see how much time things take. You might need to change some tasks around or even update your goals.

There’s no need to write everything out at once. However, if that’s something you like to do and it’s worked for you, then, by all means, do it that way.

One of my favorite writers, Jon Acuff, uses a one-year calendar that fits on his wall. He writes everything down for each day of the year. It’s erasable, so you can update it. If you’re interested in that, click here.

Next, create weekly task lists from your quarterly lists.

Step 3: Schedule like there’s no tomorrow.

The weekly schedule is cash. I suggest creating no more than three main goals to accomplish in a week and then diligently scheduling what you’ll do each day to ensure you reach those three goals.

It’s helpful to schedule everything on your calendar, including downtime, sleep, meals, errands, and work tasks.

I use something called “focus blocks” for work tasks. I’ll block off a certain number of hours and then list what I’ll do in those hours. I’ve found this to be the most helpful strategy for reaching goals.

There are two methods you can use:

1. Time completion.
2. Task completion.

For writing, I use time completion. If I sit down to write with the goal of finishing an entire article, my resistance flares up, and I find myself having difficulty sticking with it. If I instead write for an hour only, it’s much easier because it’s simply one hour. I often go over that hour, but knowing I only have to write one hour lowers my resistance.

You can choose which method works best for you, and I’d imagine it will vary depending on the project or goal.

One more thing – Be sure to choose a calendar you’ll use and look at that’s easily accessible. I use a Google calendar that syncs across all my devices. I also use “Notes” on all my devices to create daily lists. Don’t get too elaborate with your system. Make it simple.

Step 4: Tracking your progress.

Tracking helps you keep the big picture in mind while ensuring that you do the work. Without tracking, you’ll lose your place and find it easy to opt out.

Since you’ll be scheduling tasks weekly, tracking should also be a weekly event. I’d suggest doing a weekly review on the same day each week and using a written format that will give you continuity in seeing where you are.

I do mine on Saturday mornings. They take about 30 minutes -nothing super long. My format has four sections:

1. Weekly Insights – What did I learn that will help me going forward?
2. Successes – What went well, and what did I accomplish?
3. Revisions – What do I need to revise this week to make my process smoother and more effective?
4. New goals & schedule – What are my goals for next week, and what tasks do I need to list to accomplish those? Write them on your calendar now.

You can read more about this process by clicking here.

It’s a good idea to type or write this out. Then make sure you read it over daily. Doing that helps you stay motivated and keeps you on track to meet your weekly goals. It’s best to do that at the same time every day – either at the beginning or end. It helps you maintain a big-picture view so you don’t get lost in the daily work.

Keeping that big picture is necessary to get you to the finish line.

You can also use this same format for your quarterly goals.

Last Note

If you stick with this four-step process, you’ll meet your goals. You may revise them along the way and likely will. That’s normal and often necessary as you learn new things. Just remember this from James Clear in his book Atomic Habits:

Goals can provide direction and even push you forward in the short-term, but eventually a well-designed system will always win. Having a system is what matters. Committing to the process is what makes the difference.

That’s all for today!

All my best,

Barbara

P. S. Two books I’d recommend in addition to Atomic Habits are Finish by Jon Acuff and Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy.

It’s that time of year when we stop to think about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we want to go. As we head into the new year, I want to offer some ideas to help you ponder those questions and make new plans.

Today we’re starting with five habits aimed at keeping you in a good place emotionally, regardless of what new goals you want to accomplish in 2023.

Next week I’ll talk about goal-setting and strategies to achieve them, and the following week tackle momentum and motivation.

I think it’s always helpful to get into the right mindset before figuring out what you want to do. In a phrase, focus on how you “be” before what you “do.”

Let’s dive in.

1. Start a daily gratitude journal.

If you’ve never tried this, please do. I’ve been doing this for at least ten years, and I never fail to be impressed with how much it positively impacts my daily mindset.

It’s very simple. Every day, write out ten things you’re grateful for. If ten sounds too much, do five or even three, but whatever you choose, be consistent.

This works best if it’s a ritual you do the same way and same time every day. I think morning is best because it sets you up for the day and resets you if you wake up grumpy.

I can be in a lousy mood, and by the time I finish that tenth item, my perspective’s shifted. I’m not exaggerating. I’m always surprised by the shift.

I type into an iPad in a format I have set up. You can write it by hand or type it. Some people say they get more out of writing by hand. Do whatever works for you.

You can read a longer article by clicking here if you’d like more detailed instructions on how to do this.

2. Listen more than you talk.

This is one of those habits that yields profound benefits. Here’s how to do it:

Whenever you’re having a conversation with someone, make a pointed effort to give your full attention to the other person, and do your best to understand fully what they’re trying to tell you before you respond. Listen for their feelings as well as thoughts, and ask yourself what they need or want from you. What do they want you to hear?

If you listen to understand this way, your communication with everyone will go more smoothly and enhance your relationships.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t say what’s on your mind, but always seek to understand and validate the other person before you do that. You’ll get better receptivity that way. This is especially helpful when subjects are contentious or heavy.

Secondly, expand your listening to broader situations. For instance, in a meeting or social setting, be quiet and take in what people are saying and thinking before you start talking. By listening objectively and hearing, you get a feel for the emotional pulse in a room. It’s very beneficial, especially when you need to be strategic with your communication.

It’s less stressful too, because:

• You get more information.
• You don’t have to be “on” right off the bat.
• When you do interact, you’re likely to be more effective with what you say and how you say it.

Most importantly, listening connects you more fully with others.

3. Practice empathy.

This one comes next because it goes along with listening.

When you attend to someone the way I’ve just described, you’re being empathetic as you seek to understand and connect.

You can also extend your empathy more broadly. When you’re anywhere, look around at people and recognize that each person you see has their own life, living circumstances, issues they struggle with, ways of thinking, backgrounds, and experiences.

When you look at someone closely, and especially at their eyes, you can see a lot. Each person you look at that way becomes more human to you and creates greater empathy. It changes how you interact with and treat people. It makes you more kind.

Sometimes I wonder what someone’s life is like. I might notice the lines in their face, the burdens they carry, or even the happiness and delight they express.

This is true even of people I might heavily disagree with or not want to spend time with, but the common humanity helps create acceptance and a persistent knowing that we’re all in this together.

We tend to narrow in. Practicing this type of empathy pushes you back out and keeps you open.

4. Set boundaries.

So didn’t I just tell you to be more empathetic and spread your concern wider? Yes, I did, but you can do that while also setting boundaries that are in your best interest and preserving your best self.

Boundaries don’t need to be harsh or negative. Setting a boundary means you value both yourself and the other person or persons involved. It means adhering to basic rules of behavior that are good for everyone.

If you’re already good at setting boundaries, great! But most people struggle with them, and sometimes throughout their whole lives.

Take an inventory over the next couple of weeks and decide what new boundaries you need to set.

• Where are you being taken advantage of?
• What kinds of behaviors are you engaging in that don’t really reflect your values?
• Who are you regularly rescuing that needs to stand on their own two feet?
• Are you overworking and not attending to your own basic needs?

Ask those questions, make a list, and set one new boundary at a time. You can read this article for more help.

5. Create an emotional reset ritual.

An emotional reset ritual is something you do whenever you find yourself overwhelmed, anxious, worried, overdone, emotionally upset, or off-kilter.

I’ll give you an example of mine and then help you figure out how to set up yours. Mine consists of four steps.

1. I stop whatever I’m doing or thinking and say to myself, “You need to reset.”
2. I do one set of square breathing. Get the instructions here.
3. Next, I repeat a ready-made mantra. I have several I use for different types of situations. One of them is, “All problems are solvable. I can figure out what to do.” Another one is, “This isn’t an issue I can solve today. Put it away for now, and get back to work.” Another is, “I can do this. I just need to calm down, take a moment, and do it.” That last one works best with interruptions like flat tires or your dog rolling in something awful as you’re going out the door to work.
4. Last, I shift gears and move forward.

For some people, feeling overwhelmed is the worst. For others, transitions or unexpected problems cause the most trouble. You know yourself, so create a ritual that best fits what you think you’ll need.

Get tuned into your particular soft spots, and set up a routine to speak to those. The mantras are especially helpful if you take the time to create ones that will fit those crucial situations. You can even put them in your phone to remind you when you need them.

Last Note

This is the last blog before Christmas. As mentioned in the intro, on the 26th, I’ll address goals and methods for accomplishing them, and on January 2nd, I’ll talk about how to maintain your momentum as you move into the New Year. For now, work on your mindset!

I wish you a wonderful holiday!

All my best,

Barbara

Photo by Dilok Klaisataporn, Courtesy of iStock Photo

Most people know something about serotonin because of its association with “happiness” and a lack of it with depression and mood instability.

Today I’m going to explain more about the various functions of serotonin, how and where it’s produced in your body, and what you can do to increase your levels. We’ll end with antidepressants and how they work.

Let’s start with a definition and description of serotonin’s functions.

What is Serotonin?

Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine or 5-HT) is a neurotransmitter. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that carry messages from one neuron (nerve cell) to another. They operate in the brain (central nervous system) and throughout the body (peripheral nervous system) to activate processes that make your body work. Serotonin also acts as a hormone.

In the brain, serotonin’s associated with regulating your mood. John Ratey calls it the “policeman of the brain because it helps keep brain activity under control” (Ratey, 2008). Here’s where it’s associated with happiness.

Along with influencing your mood, serotonin helps regulate impulsivity, anger, aggressiveness, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsiveness. Whereas dopamine’s associated with reward and anticipation, serotonin’s associated with emotional regulation and stability.

What most people don’t know is that about 90% of the serotonin in your body is produced in your gut, with only approximately 10% in your brain.

The serotonin produced in your gut can’t pass through the blood-brain barrier, meaning it doesn’t travel to your brain to help regulate your mood. The brain makes its own serotonin for this purpose (McKay, 2018, Part 1).

The serotonin produced in your gut has other functions you likely don’t know about. Let’s go through them.

Functions of Serotonin Outside of Mood Regulation

Digestion

Serotonin plays a significant role in our GI tract, assisting with peristalsis. These are contractions in the gut that squeeze food through the digestive tract. It can speed up or slow down digestion to rid your body of toxins or foods and signals a reduction in appetite as you eat.

Nausea and Vomiting

When serotonin is released in the gut faster than you can digest it, it triggers nausea and sometimes vomiting. The feeling of nausea signals that you may have eaten something that doesn’t settle well, or that’s toxic. Its purpose is to protect you from the intake of poisons or toxic substances.

Sleep

Serotonin in the brain is necessary to produce melatonin, a hormone that regulates your sleep/wake cycle. It also influences how much and how well you sleep, along with other neurotransmitters such as dopamine.

Memory and Learning

Research has shown that depleting serotonin in the brain can impair short-term memory. The hippocampus is an area of the brain associated with learning, memory formation, and storage. Memory strengthens when serotonin is released in the hippocampus during learning (Newman, 2018).

Wound Healing

Serotonin helps with wound healing because of its anti-inflammatory and blood-clotting effects. When you’re wounded, serotonin is released by the “platelets in your blood,” which “causes the tiniest blood vessels, arterioles to narrow.” This “slows blood flow and helps clots to form,” thereby facilitating wound healing (Cleveland Clinic, 2022).

Sexual Functioning

Serotonin affects libido, as does dopamine. Whereas elevated serotonin reduces libido, dopamine increases it. This is one of the main complaints about SSRI antidepressants.

How to Increase Serotonin Naturally

There are two reasons serotonin levels may be low:

1. Not enough serotonin production in your body.
2. Your body is not using serotonin effectively.

There are six things you can do to help rectify both problems. Let’s go through them.

1. Improve your mood.

We’ve gotten into thinking that depression is an outcome of a “chemical imbalance,” i.e., not enough serotonin, but this isn’t always accurate. Stress, trauma, overwhelm, depression, and anxiety can all affect the availability of serotonin and other neurotransmitters like dopamine in the brain.

Simply put, as you experience stress or trauma, serotonin levels can drop.

Similarly, serotonin levels can rise if you engage in activities or thoughts that raise your mood. In other words, serotonin production varies depending on what you’re experiencing and how you react to it.

This is why psychotherapy can successfully raise your serotonin levels naturally as you work through issues and feel better emotionally (Young, 2007). Any sustained mood-raising activity can do the same.

2. Increase your intake of tryptophan.

Serotonin is made from the amino acid tryptophan. It’s not produced on its own. For serotonin in the brain, tryptophan has to pass through the blood-brain barrier, where it can convert to serotonin.

Foods that contain tryptophan are:

• Firm tofu & edamame
• Sweet potatoes
• Leafy greens
• Chickpeas
• Pineapple
• Bananas
• Squash & pumpkin seeds
• Oatmeal
• Poultry
• Salmon & tuna
• Eggs
• Milk & other dairy products

One thing to remember is that the absorption of tryptophan requires carbohydrates to release insulin, so a meat-based, high-protein, no-carb diet can leave you depressed over time. You need complex carbohydrates in addition to protein to help regulate your mood.

3. Do aerobic exercise regularly.

Research has shown that regular aerobic exercise improves mood. In one study, exercise increased serotonin in the hippocampus and cortex, and in another study, there was an increase in tryptophan in the brain that remained after exercise (Young, 2007).

Aerobic exercise includes walking, jogging, swimming, skating, or any activity that raises your heart rate and increases your oxygen intake. Aerobic exercise is also an effective method of raising dopamine in your brain.

4. Get more sunlight.

There’s a positive correlation between sunlight and the synthesis of serotonin. In one study, “the mood-lowering effect of acute tryptophan depletion in healthy women” was “completely blocked by carrying out the study in bright light” (Young, 2007). Pretty amazing!

Our modern, computerized culture has us living indoors with little time in natural sunlight. Who knows how much that affects our moods! Try to get outside more to get that exposure, and take a walk while you’re at it. Not only will you increase your serotonin synthesis, but you’ll also increase your levels of Vitamin D.

5. Try meditation.

There’s evidence that meditation increases serotonin and dopamine levels in the brain (Sharma, 2000). Specifically, it encourages the production of new neurons and the formation of new connections between neurons. The impact over time is reduced anxiety and better mood (Krishnakumar et. al., 2015).

6. Increase your gut health.

Gut health affects the health of the brain and vice versa. The gut is referred to as the “second brain” because, like the brain, it functions as an autonomous system (” enteric nervous system”). The gut communicates with the brain via the vagus nerve, immune system, hormones, and bioactive microbial metabolites (McKay, 2018, Part 2).

That’s a mouthful, but all you need to know is that you need to keep your gut in good shape. That means creating a “microbiome” (gut environment) with the proper bacterial balance to promote healthy digestion and regulate the immune system. To do this, you must stick with a clean diet comprised of whole foods, including foods containing pre-and probiotics.

Some dieticians and physicians recommend taking probiotics to assist with gut health. Research has found that the consumption of probiotics increases blood levels of tryptophan. You might want to try them if you haven’t.

What about SSRIs?

SSRIs (serotonin reuptake drugs) are a classification of antidepressants that increase the availability of serotonin in the brain.

Here’s how they work:

When serotonin transmits messages from one neuron to another, it’s absorbed after transmission by a neuron. SSRIs prevent that reabsorption, so the serotonin remains available for use, thereby upping serotonin levels in the brain.

If you’re significantly depressed, you may wish to try an antidepressant to put the ground back in. However, it’s important to identify the stressors that led to your drooping mood and work through them. Try the activities above, and if need be, engage in therapy.

There’s so much more we could talk about on this subject, but I just wanted to give you a quick look at what serotonin does and doesn’t do and how you can increase it.  If you want to read more, check out my footnotes below.

That’s all for today.

Hope you have a great week!

All my best,

Barbara

_FOOTNOTES

_{Andrade, C, & Rao, N. S. (2010, October). How antidepressant drugs act: A primer on neuroplasticity as the eventual mediator of antidepressant efficacy. Indian J Psychiatry. 52(4):378-86. doi: 10.4103/0019-5545.74318}

_{Finders University (2022, March 23). How the gut communicates with the brain. Science Daily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220323130316.htm}

_{How SSRis work. OCDUK. https://www.ocduk.org/overcoming-ocd/medication/how-ssri-work/}

_{Krishnakumar, D., Hamblin, M. R., & Lakshmanan, S.(2015, April). Meditation and yoga can modulate brain mechanisms that affect behavior and anxiety: A modern scientific perspective. Ancient Science, 2(1), 13-19 doi: 10.14259/as.v2i1.171}

_{Liang, S., Wu, X., & Jin, F. (2018). Gut-brain psychology: Rethinking psychology from the microbiota–gut–brain axis. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2018.00033}

_{McKay, S. (2018, February 15). The Neuroscience of the gut-brain connection (Part 1). Dr. Sarah McKay. https://drsarahmckay.com/neuroscience-gut-brain-connection-part-1/}

_{McKay, S. (2018, February 22). How does the microbiome influence our health (Part  2.) Dr. Sarah McKay. https://drsarahmckay.com/microbiome-influence-brain-health-part-2/}

_{McVey Neufeld, KA., Bienenstock, J., Bharwani, A. et al. (2019, October). Oral selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors activate vagus nerve dependent gut-brain signalling. Sci Rep 9, 14290. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-50807-8}

_{Moncrieff, J., Cooper, R.E., Stockmann, T. et al. (2022) The serotonin theory of depression: a systematic umbrella review of the evidence. Molecular Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01661-0}

_{Newman, T. (May 2018). Boosting memory: Serotonin may be the key. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321774}

_{Overview – Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). (2021, December 8). NHS UK. https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/talking-therapies-medicine-treatments/medicines-and-psychiatry/ssri-antidepressants/overview/}

_{Ratey, J. J. (2008). Spark: The revolutionary new science of exercise and the brain. Little, Brown Spark.}

_{Serotonin: Overview. (2022, March 18). Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22572-serotonin}

_{Sharma, Avdesh (2000). Meditation: The future medication.}

_{University College London (2022, July 20). No evidence that depression is caused by low serotonin levels, finds comprehensive review. Science Daily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/07/220720080145.htm}

_{Young, S. N. (2007). How to increase serotonin in the human brain without drugs. Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience, 32(6), 394-399. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2077351/}

Photo by nullplus, Courtesy of iStock Photo

In our continuing exploration of cognitive distortions, today we’re tackling “jumping to conclusions.” These distortions lead you down the wrong path because they’re based on erroneous assumptions.

There are two of them. They are:

1. Mind-reading
2. Fortune-teller error

Let’s start with definitions and examples, and then I’ll provide some strategies to help deal with them.

Mind-Reading

Mind-reading means assuming that you know what someone’s thinking and then reacting to your assumptions as though they’re true.

You’re at a social event, and an acquaintance doesn’t say hello when you make eye contact with her. You assume she’s upset with you or doesn’t like you.

Your partner meets you for lunch, and you’ve already ordered for him because you’re sure you know what he’ll want to eat.

In both these cases, assumptions are made and then treated as if they’re accurate.

Outside the fact that these assumptions are often inaccurate, the real danger is that acting on them as if they are true can create a self-fulfilling prophecy that ultimately reinforces the belief you’ve constructed in your mind.

For example, if you’ve decided someone’s upset with you, you might react by becoming defensive, retaliatory, or maybe shut down. Your behavior then affects the other person, and they become upset the more you react. You say to yourself, “See, she’s angry. I knew it!”

This type of interaction happens more often with people you know well. Couples can argue over nothing simply because one of them decided the other was upset or angry and personalized it.

Strategies for Mind-Reading

There are two strategies you can use to help dispel your “mind-reading” assumptions. Both of these come from David Burns, who wrote Feeling Great.

1. Inquiry

Very simply, ask! Don’t assume anything, even with people you know well. You may be right in your assumptions, but don’t guess. Inquire what the other person is thinking, feeling, or wanting. Let’s go back to the two scenarios described above.

With the acquaintance who didn’t acknowledge you, you could make your way over to her, say hello, and ask how she is. She might respond by being very friendly, and you’ll realize she wasn’t upset with you. You might find out she has something on her mind that’s holding her attention, and although she looked at you, she didn’t register it.

When your partner arrives at the restaurant for lunch, you might say, “I thought about ordering for you because I think I know what you’ll want, but I thought I’d better wait and be sure. You might want something entirely different.”

There’s always the possibility that you read someone correctly, but you won’t know that for sure unless you investigate. Sometimes those answers are cleared up just by making contact, and you quickly realize your assumptions were way off. Other times you may need to ask directly. “Are you upset with me about something?”

2. Self-Disclosure.

Self-disclosure’s a little more intimidating, and you should approach it thoughtfully based on your level of trust with the person involved. Instead of inquiring how the other person feels or thinks, disclose how you feel or what you think.

You might say to the person at the social event:

“Hey, when we saw each other a few minutes ago, you didn’t speak. I was worried that you might be upset with me about something. Are you?”

You’re inquiring, but you’re doing it by revealing your assumption. It’s direct and more intimate and makes more of a connection. If the other person is upset about something, it provides an opening to say so and discuss it. If their behavior had nothing to do with you, they’d likely appreciate the opportunity to clear that up.

Self-disclosure is personal and lets people in, and the benefit is more meaningful contact. Most people appreciate that opening. You can usually tell if someone will feel uncomfortable with this approach. In those cases, stick with inquiry only.

Now let’s take a look at the fortune-teller error.

The Crystal Ball

The fortune-teller error is the basis for catastrophic thinking. You have a fantasy about a future event and predict what will happen without corroborating evidence. Usually, what you envision is either wildly negative or wildly positive. Generally, it leans negative.

Your boss asks you to stop by his office after lunch, and you assume he’s going to fire you even though you’ve not experienced any problems with your job.

You’ve been invited to a party by a good friend. You won’t know everyone attending, and you assume that the people you don’t know won’t like you, although you have no evidence to back that up.

You’ve been depressed for several days and decide you’ll feel this way forever. You conger up dismal pictures of your future and assume nothing will help you.

Scenarios like this last one can gain power and grow. You might begin isolating yourself from friends, become more anxious, get less sleep, start making errors at work, and become more depressed. The more you sink into your predicted fantasy, the more you set yourself up to experience it.

Fortunately, fortune-telling doesn’t always end in self-fulfilling prophecies. Sometimes you imagine a catastrophic event, and when you get there, it doesn’t happen. You recognize that your emotions ran away with you.

Most of us have this experience periodically. It’s more problematic if it’s your go-to mindset. People with generalized anxiety can find themselves thinking catastrophically more often, as can those who experience panic attacks or OCD.

Part of the treatment is questioning these distortions regularly until you can turn your mind back to a more stable view of the future without focusing on worst-case scenarios.

Strategies for Fortune-Teller Error

1. Examine the facts.

What evidence do you have to support your predictions? Are these strictly a function of your fears? Are there other explanations for your assumptions?

To use this strategy, you must step outside your emotions and objectively consider real evidence or lack thereof. Writing it down helps because when you transfer thoughts (and especially emotions) from your mind to paper, you gain some distance. There are always “what-ifs,” but if you sift through them for factual backup, you can dispel most of them.

2. Imagine the worst-case scenario.

Sometimes it helps to imagine the worst-case scenario and explore what you would do if it should come to pass. Recognizing alternatives helps dissipate the intensity of your fears or anxiety, and you can back off jumping to conclusions.

Alternatively, you can also imagine the best-case scenario to help balance your worries and create a more realistic approach.

3. Take action.

Make inquiries, run your thoughts by someone you trust who can be objective, or take steps to change the experience you’re currently having that’s influencing your thoughts.

Back to our person who’s depressed, he could take some steps to help move him out of his current state of mind and expand his view. He might contact friends or family rather than isolate himself, engage in activities that help create energy, like exercise, or contact a therapist and make an appointment. All of these would alter his current state of mind and reduce his pessimistic predictions of the future.

Last Note

Predictions that assume the worst often originate in other self-defeating thought patterns. As such, they reflect negative beliefs you hold and nurture through repetitive affirmations.

It’s essential to get to the bottom of these beliefs and hold them up for examination before you can successfully stop predicting or thinking catastrophically. Therapy is the best option because someone can help you through this process.

If you like to read, you might enjoy Feeling Great by David Burns, or if you struggle with anxiety, try A Liberated Mind by Steven C. Hayes.

That’s all for today.

Hope you have a great week!

All my best,

Barbara

Photo byKateryna Onyshchuk, Courtesy of iStock Photo

Is there ever a time when lies are okay?

Some people believe white lies told to protect someone’s feelings are okay, and others think we should never lie, no matter the situation.

You have to decide for yourself whether lies are okay in certain circumstances. Brutal honesty is often not the right choice. I lean towards being truthful yet using tact in situations where total honesty could be hurtful.

Today I’ll give you a list of strategies to avoid lying or stop lying if it’s an issue.

A Little Understanding

For starters, if you find that lying is something you engage in more than you’d like, and it’s habitual in some circumstances, take some time to review your history. Many people learn to lie growing up.

For example, when I was growing up, avoiding hurting someone’s feelings was a desirable value, and telling white lies for that purpose was acceptable and encouraged. If someone asked you if you liked their new haircut, you would say it looked great even if you didn’t think so. Lying, in this case, was considered being kind.

You might also have learned to lie as an adaptive strategy to avoid conflict. People who grew up with a volatile or abusive parent lied to avoid severe punishment or physical or emotional abuse. It was a safety measure in these cases.

Others learned to lie because they perceived their parents didn’t want to know the truth. These kids recognized that their parents weren’t able to handle problems and often reacted to them with significant anxiety. They’d rather not know.

In all these cases, lying was an adaptive strategy in childhood but is no longer effective as an adult.

Habits take significant effort to undo and replace, and chronic lying requires consistent efforts. The first step is to recognize the problem and commit to changing it. Don’t spend time being hard on yourself about it, but take action instead to correct it.

Strategies to Try

Step 1: Figure out why you lie.

Using our list from last week, which you can access here, identify why you lie. Ask yourself these questions:

1. Under what circumstances do I lie?
2. What’s the purpose of the lies in each of these circumstances?
3. What do I gain?
4. What prevents me from telling the truth?

People who lie habitually sometimes lie for no apparent reason. It’s a habit that occurs almost involuntarily. Research, however, has shown that most people attempt to be truthful and are honest most of the time. You might find that one or two specific areas compel you to lie, and it’s good to identify what they are.

Step 2: Make a plan to focus on truth-telling.

There are two parts to this:

1. Make honesty a part of your identity. Get specific, and avoid exaggeration, embellishing, fibbing, or distorting. Work on being accurate when talking or telling someone something.
2. Secondly, pay particular attention to those circumstances where you’re more prone to lie. You could plan ahead for them. If hurting someone’s feelings is one of those, decide what else you could do to get around lying while still not causing someone pain. You may choose to tell white lies anyway but work towards not doing that if possible while being tactful.

Step 3: Set boundaries.

A common reason for lying is to get out of something you don’t want to do, or that’s awkward. Here are some examples.

Someone’s holding you hostage.

A work friend is chatting your ear off and won’t let you get a word in. You had planned to leave the office early to get home and relax before dinner. It’s okay to say, “I’m sorry, I’ve got to go. I need to be home earlier today. I’ll chat with you tomorrow.” That’s all true. You don’t need to explain any more than that.

You’re afraid someone will become angry with you.

Your partner spoke to you harshly in a social setting where other people heard. You’re upset but don’t want to say so because you’re afraid he’ll get angry and defensive.

You have a right to your thoughts and feelings and to be treated well. It’s necessary to learn to bring up upsetting or contentious matters.

You can wait a bit or do it when you think the receptivity is better, but it’s not good to let it go.

If you’re involved with someone with significant anger issues, get some help and let them know it’s not okay and can’t continue. If safety is an issue, then, by all means, get help before tackling this.

But if you generally tend to give in to other people to avoid upsetting them, work on setting boundaries rather than lying or omitting important information.

Step 4: List all the negative consequences of lying.

How does lying work out for you? It might get you off the hook for something temporarily, but it has a residual effect that stays with you. Some possibilities are:

• Loss of trust. When you lie to a partner, friend, boss, or work colleague, the experience remains in everyone’s mind. You lose some credibility that’s hard to recoup.
• Lying creates internal anxiety. If you have an intact conscience, lying creates an internal dissonance between your behavior and what you value. When this happens, there’s a hit to self that manifests as anxiety and sometimes depression.
• The more you lie, the easier it is to do it. Chronic lying reduces your brain’s natural warning signals that something’s amiss. Specifically, your amygdala (the brain’s alarm system) becomes less reactive to lying the more you do it and doesn’t signal that you’re headed for trouble.
• Heavy lying can confuse you as to what’s true. People can start to believe their lies. They engage in self-deception.

Step 5: Make a distinction between self-deception and deceiving others.

Self-deception is a particular type of lying that most people don’t put in the same category as lying. Yet it is a type of dishonesty that’s detrimental to you and ultimately to your relationships with others.

Identify ways you deceive yourself. It’s easier to be truthful with others if you’re first honest with yourself.

Step 6: Make this vow to yourself.

Make a vow to become someone who tells the truth, is known for being honest and forthright, and can be counted on to do what they promise.

How to “Lie-Proof” Your Relationships

This is a more extensive subject, but I’ll give you a quick list of characteristics that apply.

• Make honesty a primary expectation for all parties. As a parent, that was one of my rules with my child. Lying will make whatever you did wrong much worse than the thing itself. Always tell the truth, so we know what we’re dealing with and can decide what to do about it. Trust is a must!
• Practice talking about things that matter. A lot. This requires exposing your most vulnerable feelings and thoughts and getting comfortable verbalizing and exposing them. It’s good to be choosey about doing this based on the trustworthiness of the other person involved, but for close, intimate relationships, it’s necessary. Honest conversation and self-exposure encourage truth-telling and inhibit lies of commission and omission.
• Be clear on expectations, so everyone knows what they are and is in agreement. Know your deal-breakers.
• Practice empathy. Honesty is good, but being brutal about it is not. Make sure you approach honesty with care and understanding.

For more on relationship building, I refer you to John Gottman, an expert in this area.

I’ll close today with a quote from William Shakespeare:

“Honesty is the best policy. If I lose mine honor, I lose myself.”

That’s all for today.

Hope you have a great week!

All my best,

Barbara

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Have you ever told a lie? Of course you have! Everyone has.

But not all lies are equal. Some lies are told to avoid hurting someone’s feelings or to be polite. At the other end of the spectrum, the purpose is to manipulate and take advantage of someone for selfish gain.

Does that mean that lies are all right in some cases?

Some think not, and others believe yes. Regardless of where you land on that question, it’s best to strive for honesty.

Researchers classify lies by looking at two factors:

1. The purpose of the lie.
2. The volume and prevalence of lying.

I was surprised at some of the findings, and I’m betting you’ll be surprised too.

Today I’m reviewing the most common reasons people lie, along with some statistics regarding the prevalence of lying. Next week I’ll talk about how to stop lying and review relationship practices that help prevent lying.

Let’s start with the statistics.

How often do people lie?

These stats come from a major study examining 116,366 lies told by 632 participants over 91 days. Here’s what they found:

• Around 75% of the respondents told between zero and two lies per day, much less than you might have thought.
• These were mainly little white lies or “inconsequential,” meaning there was no intent to cause harm.
• Another 6% had low levels of lying on average but had days where they lied with greater frequency.
• Another 1% rarely lied.
• Prolific liars, the last group, had a much greater frequency of lying, and their lies were more consequential. This was especially true for the top 1% of liars who lied on an average of 17 lies per day.

I found these statistics surprising because I think the general perception is that people lie much more than that. It’s encouraging that the majority of people still honor being truthful.

Who do people lie to?

Another statistic has to do with who people lie to. This one seems more in line with what you might think. Here they are:

• 51% – friends
• 21% – family
• 11% – school/business colleagues
• 8.9% – strangers
• 8.5% – casual acquaintances
• We lie more to people we know well. That would make sense because we have more interaction and intimacy with them. We care more about what they think of us.

Now let’s go on to why people lie.

9 Reasons People Lie

1. Avoid punishment or repercussions for a wrong action.

You tell your boss you finished the report he asked you to do and mailed it off on time even though you haven’t finished it and are scrambling to get it done so you can get it in the mail tomorrow.

Your teen skips school, and when the school calls, you tell them he stayed home today and isn’t feeling well.

Lies to avoid punishment can apply to you or someone you wish to protect. In both cases, you’re hoping you (or they) won’t be found out and can save face or avoid negative consequences.

2. Get out of an awkward situation, or be polite.

You use this one when you want to avoid a situation or avoid hurting someone’s feelings unnecessarily. You might say you have an appointment and need to be on time in order to extricate yourself from a long-winded conversation. Or if your friend asks you what you think of her new dress, you say, “It looks great!” even though you don’t particularly like it.

3. Make yourself look good.

There are many versions of this one. You might exaggerate your performance, embellish a story, boast, or purposely leave out details that make you look bad.

Lying to look good can get serious, depending on what you’re lying about. A typical example is putting something on your resume that’s not true. It’s a misrepresentation, no matter how you cut it.

4. Maintain privacy.

There are things you want to keep to yourself for whatever reason, and you tell a lie to avoid exposing them.

Maybe you started a new diet and are out to lunch with your friends. You order a salad with no-fat dressing, and one of your friends asks you if you’re on a diet. You say, “No, I’m just not all that hungry today.” You don’t want to share that you’re dieting because you don’t anyone to observe your progress or lack of.

5. Be safe.

If someone comes to your door selling something, but you get a bad feeling about them, you mention that your husband’s at home even though he isn’t, so they don’t know you’re alone.

These lies feel necessary. You don’t bat an eye at telling them because it’s a matter of safety.

6. Fear of disappointing or angering someone.

You lie to avoid a conflict or cause disappointment. The lie can be benign, like forgetting to make dinner reservations for date night with your partner. Or it can be serious, like cheating on your partner.

In the latter case, you’re also avoiding the consequences of your behavior if it’s exposed.

7. Cover a previous lie.

This is when things get messy. You’ve lied about something else before, and now you have to lie again to cover that lie. Prevalent liars are more likely to find themselves in this situation, but not always.

What if you have a credit card bill you’re keeping from your partner and previously told him you were managing your spending well? Later, he asks you if you wouldn’t mind using your credit card to purchase the new couch you’ve both chosen, and he’ll pay the bill when it comes in. Now you have to make up a story because you don’t have enough credit available on your card for that purchase.

Covering a previous lie is anxiety-provoking and harder to keep straight if you lie a lot.

8. Experience the thrill of it.

Some people want to see what they can get away with and take some pleasure in succeeding.

An extreme example would be someone dating two people simultaneously without either of them knowing about the other. It would involve lots of lying to make it work.

A less extreme and more normal example is a 9-year-old child lying to his parents about brushing his teeth before bed. He’s testing the waters to see if lying is a viable behavior.

9. Get someone to do what you want them to.

In other words, manipulate for your gain at their expense.

This type of lying is calculated and often predatory. There’s a lack of concern for the other person.

On a large scale, marketers, politicians, and corporations may lie to sway you and get what they want. On a personal level, a seeming friend might purposefully manipulate you to do something that will benefit them, even if it doesn’t help you or does you harm.

Two Last Things

You’ll note that some reasons for lying are more focused on preserving your reputation or good standing. Although this lying is dishonest and not something to do habitually, the intent is not to cause harm.

The last category we discussed is devoid of concern for the person being lied to. These lies have a sociopathic quality. The sole aim is to get something regardless of whether or not someone gets hurt in the process.

One other item of note is that research has shown that the more someone lies, the easier it is to be dishonest over time. Changes occur in the brain that quiet the signaling of danger when you’re lying. Like any habit, lying gets easier with repetition.

I’ll talk more about that next week.

That’s all for today.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

All my best,

Barbara

_FOOTNOTES

_{Garrett, N., Lazzaro, S., Ariely, D., & Sharot, T. (2016). The brain adapts to dishonesty. Nature Neuroscience 19(12), 1727-1732. DOI:10.1038/nn.4426}

_{How often do people lie? (2021, November 17). Currents, University of Wisconsin-LA Crosse Blog. https://www.uwlax.edu/currents/how-often-do-people-lie/}

_{Serota, K., Levine, T. & Boster, F. (2009). The Prevalence of Lying in America: Three studies of self-reported lies. Human Communication Research, 36(1), 2 – 25. DOI:10.1111/j.1468-2958.2009.01366.x}

_{Serota, K. & Levine, T. (2014). A few prolific liars. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 34(2) 1-20. DOI:10.1177/0261927X14528804}

_{Serota, K., Levine, T. & Docan-Morgan, T. (2021). Unpacking variation in lie prevalence: Prolific liars, bad lie days, or both? Communication Monographs, National Communication Association, 89(3), 307-331. https://doi.org/10.1080/03637751.2021.1985153}

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A couple of weeks ago, we went over two cognitive distortions that paint the world negative. This week I’m describing two more that are known for piling on the guilt.

They are:

1. Should Statements
2. Personalization

You’ll easily recognize them. Let’s start with “should statements.”

Should Statements

You might be thinking that “should statements” (the “shoulds” for short) are normal and necessary, so why are they classified as a type of cognitive distortion? Good question.

The answer has to do with their rigidity and punitive nature. I’ll explain that in a minute.

“Should statements” pertain to things you “should” do, “ought” to do, or “must” do. They represent expectations that apply pressure to comply.

“I should lose a few pounds.
“I ought to read more.”
“I must budget my money better.”

The issue is that all these statements imply that you’re lacking in some way. There’s something you should be doing but aren’t, and you “should” feel some guilt or shame about it.

They’re also very all-or-nothing. Each one leaves no room for other considerations that might impact your ability to perform them. The distortion is in the “pass-fail” aspect of these statements. If you don’t comply, you fail. There’s no in-between.

Our natural response is either to sidestep the issue to avoid feeling guilty or rebel (even if we agree) and not cooperate.

What to Do

There’s a better way.

Turn your “shoulds” into “wants” and “goals.” Instead of “I should lose a few pounds,” you could say, “I want to lose ten pounds. Let me figure out how I might tackle that and set up a reasonable system I can follow.”

When you set a goal, you create energy and motivation to work toward it. When you hammer yourself with a “should,” you’re more likely to push back. You’re also more likely to feel anxious or depressed when you hit a roadblock. Not always. A stick works better than a carrot for some, but there’s a greater sense of failure when you don’t succeed.

“Shoulds” don’t allow for roadblocks, pivots, or mistakes. They’re punitive.

Try this:

If you’re hounded by a list of “shoulds” right now, list them. Take each one and reframe it as a goal. Make it specific and list what actions you can take to meet that goal without putting yourself under great stress. Allow for pivots and roadblocks in your plan, and make a commitment to keep going in spite of them.

Doing that makes you far more likely to meet your objectives and expectations while preserving your self-esteem.

The Worst “Should”

The worst “should” is telling yourself how you should or shouldn’t feel.

You can decide how you want to behave or how you want to react, but how you feel is how you feel. Let your feelings come up, and sit with them for a while. After taking some time to think them through, you can channel them productively.

Suppressing feelings doesn’t work and isn’t healthy. Working with them is. “Should” has no place in that equation.

Personalization

When speaking of personalization, David Burns, who wrote the book Feeling Good, describes it as “the mother of guilt!”

Personalization can take two forms: self-blame and other-blame.

Self-Blame

You see yourself as the cause of someone else’s behavior, or you find fault with yourself for things that may not pertain to you or that you have no control over.

Here are a few examples:

A friend doesn’t have a good time at a social event you planned, and you decide it’s your fault. It doesn’t occur to you that something else may have been bothering her.

You see two of your work colleagues talking in the hall, and you decide they don’t enjoy talking to you and avoided you on purpose.

A friend you know drinks and drives and has an auto accident, and you beat yourself up for not getting her some help, even though she refused it multiple times when you mentioned it to her.

Self-blame is focused on either your perceived character flaws or on feeling responsible for other people’s struggles and happiness.

Other-Blame

In this case, you see other people and circumstances as the cause of your feelings of guilt and shame. You’re the victim of their character flaws and behavior.

Using the examples above, we can turn them around to fit.

Even though your friend was suffering from an argument with her spouse, she didn’t need to make you feel bad by not showing a little more excitement and appreciation for all you did to put on a good party. (It’s her fault.)

Your work colleagues shouldn’t exclude you by talking in the hall without inviting you into their conversation. They’re making you feel left out. (It’s their fault.)

Your friend shouldn’t drink and drive and shouldn’t put you through worrying about her and making you feel guilty by continuing to do it even after all you’ve tried to do to help her. (It’s her fault.)

You’ll notice in the “other-blame” examples that the word “shouldn’t” comes up several times. Should statements and personalization overlap and work together. Both lead to the same feelings of guilt and shame aimed either at yourself or projected onto someone else.

What to Do

1. Review and reframe.

Review your thoughts objectively and ask yourself if other explanations might exist for your assumptions.

Are your colleagues leaving you out of their conversation? Is it possible they just happened to find each other in the hall simultaneously and stopped to converse? Isn’t it likely they would have included you in the conversation if you’d been in the hall?

2. Set boundaries.

The boundaries, in this case, are for you, not for the other person. There are two of them.

Misplaced responsibility. When you extend your sense of responsibility to someone else’s circumstances, you’re the one who needs the boundary. It could be challenging to recognize this because of your need for control.

Let’s go back to our scenario with the friend who drinks and drives.

Your need to have control is initiated partly by concern for your friend and fear that she could be seriously hurt. But you’re also personalizing her actions as something aimed directly at you because you’ve invested yourself in helping her. If something happens, you’ll end up feeling significant guilt and anguish. You’re carrying her responsibility and, along with it, the emotional consequences. You can offer help, but you can’t control the outcome.

Owning your reactions. The second boundary is accepting your thoughts and feelings as your responsibility. If you blame others for your emotions or circumstances, ask yourself what your part is in that equation. Keep asking until you recognize that you have control over what you think and feel, and be proactive in taking responsibility for that.

3. Recognize.

Keep in mind that people are not thinking about you as much as you think they are. If you could see the thoughts going through everyone’s minds, you’d find that they’re thinking about themselves much of the time. We think about other people, but the primary focus is on our own lives, problems, relationships, work, kids, what we’re doing this weekend, and who knows what else. It’s freeing to recognize that, and it helps you reduce personalizing.

Keep This in Mind

Cognitive distortions involve engaging in runaway emotions that obscure your ability to think objectively and see the big picture. It’s like being in a dark room with a single beam of light that allows you to see only a tiny portion of what’s in the room. Think of reframing them as turning on the lights so you can broaden your perspective.

That’s all for today!

Have a great week!

All my best,

Barbara

PS – David Burns has a new book out called Feeling Great, which I like even better than Feeling Good. If you’re interested in delving more into cognitive distortions, it’s an excellent read.

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If you were to ask me, “What’s the most important thing you’ve learned?” here’s what I would say:

I’ve learned that I am not my thoughts, feelings, or actions. I’m the one who engages in them.

Sounds like double talk, doesn’t it? It isn’t. It’s simple but profound. It’s also nothing new, although it feels fresh when you get it in a way that changes your overall perception of things. Once you know it, it affects everything else. It’s self-awareness, but not just in thought. It’s self-awareness in action.

Let me go through the benefits and how it works.

1. Creates Space Between You and Your Reactivity

I’m starting with this one because it’s the most valuable benefit.

I imagine you’ve tried several strategies to separate yourself from your emotions when they get out of hand so you don’t overreact. Some common ones are taking deep breaths, getting some time alone, taking a break, exercising, talking yourself off the ledge, and temporarily distracting yourself.

All of these are helpful, but they’re after the fact. They’re things you do to bring down your reactivity.

When you focus instead on the space between you and the reaction, you step in front of the reactivity, which allows you to head it off before it gets rolling.

Here’s how you do that:

As soon as you feel yourself ramping up, ask yourself, “Who’s having this reaction?” or “Who’s feeling this?” The answer, of course, is “I am.”

So what? What’s that going to do?

Upon asking the question, your attention diverts back to you, which separates you from the emotional reaction you’re moving into. It creates this little space between you and those emotions.

It’s subtle but powerful. And if you keep asking the question as the emotions try to move in, you keep that space. You don’t stop the feelings, but you interrupt your engagement in them – a little at first and more as you practice.

This process is like mindfulness, but it goes a little further. It’s not just watching your emotions and thoughts but disowning them in a sense, even as they march on.

Practicing this regularly will make that space more accessible and prominent. Eventually, you don’t have to work at finding it. It’s just there.

You can use the same question when thoughts arise, or you need to make decisions or feel compelled to act or behave in a particular way. The question is always the same:

“Who’s having this thought? Who’s making this decision? Who wants to do this or act this way?”

These questions are not literal but rather a device to bring your attention back to you – the “you” who’s engaging or not engaging in any of these activities.

2. Increases Your Ability to Act Deliberately

When your sense of self moves back into your feeling of “I” instead of being pulled outward by your thoughts, emotions, and actions, you have more room to make decisions deliberately rather than compulsively. You can stand back, evaluate, and decide the best course of action because you have that space between you and what you’re doing or choosing.

That space you gain by asking the question “Who’s deciding?” or Who wants to do this?” allows you to be more objective and intuitive because you feel more grounded in yourself.

3. Inhibits Overthinking

The other great thing about this continued questioning of who is thinking is that it cuts right through runaway thought trains. Instead of getting sucked into a circular labyrinth of overthinking that you can’t seem to stop, you bring yourself back to your sense of “I.” You lift yourself above the maze.

You get lost if you try to think your way out of it. More thinking increases overthinking – it doesn’t stop it. By asking, “Who’s thinking?” you halt it. You may have to ask a few times. Our minds are very pushy and will persist toward our established habits. But you can successfully create the habit of focusing on “I” instead of being pulled into other thoughts. You focus inward instead of outward.

4. Intention without Attachment

This one’s a more subtle effect that occurs after more practice, but it’s interesting. The more you ask the question, the more you become aligned with that sense of “I” outside of what you do. So when you do engage in something, you do it with some detachment. However, because you’re calmer and have that emotional space, you can exert more focus and act with greater intention. It’s a paradox that allows you to perform better.

Aids to Help You With this Practice

The calmer you are in general, the easier it is to use this practice. Three habits help: meditation, exercise, and a clean diet.

Meditation

No other practice can help you manage your mind like meditation. The positive effects of meditation are quickly felt when you begin. But with regular meditation over time, you acquire a blanket of calm that lies underneath the surface of your mind and is always there regardless of what you do or what comes your way. It’s subtle and powerful. Simply watching your breath for 10 to 20 minutes daily will quiet your mind and leave you less vulnerable to stress.

There are other types of mediation, and I encourage you to research them if you’re interested, but you can always start with watching the breath. Click here for instructions on how to do that.

Exercise

Besides all the physical benefits of exercise, regular aerobic exercise (walking counts) increases your stress threshold while also helping you recover from stress faster (Ratey, 2008).

When you exercise – especially when you get out of breath – your body mimics the physical symptoms of anxiety or stress. Your heart rate and blood pressure increase, breathing speeds up, and you’re in a state of arousal just as you are when you’re stressed or anxious.

When you stop exercising, your body recovers and returns to a relaxed state. And the more you exercise, the faster it recovers.

Regular exercise allows you to practice experiencing and recovering from stress, thus increasing your ability to handle it and recover more quickly.

Clean Diet

A clean diet means opting for whole foods prepared with small amounts of non-saturated or mono-saturated fat, and including an abundance of plant food, including fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and legumes.

Eat real food without all the additives and chemicals, and keep it clean. A high-fat, heavily processed diet creates mental sluggishness, intolerance to stress, and energy drain. Working with difficult emotions, thoughts, or situations is much more challenging when you feel that way. More importantly, a poor diet can lead to states of depression and anxiety without any other stimulus. A clean diet creates a quiet mind.

Last Note

Each practice augments the effects of the others. If you try them all, you’ll find you can handle stress more easily and experience a stable and reliable mood, which we all would like!

That’s all for today.

Have a great week!

All my best,

Barbara

_{FOOTNOTE
Ratey, J. and Hagerman, E. (2008). Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. Little Brown, Spark.}

Photo by mohd izzuan, Courtesy of iStock Photo

If you’re interested in psychology, you’ve likely heard of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy – CBT for short. It’s a method of uncovering distorted thought patterns that affect your emotions and perceptions.

That’s a quick definition and doesn’t include anything about the process, but it gives you the basic idea.

Most clinicians agree that there are fifteen cognitive distortions that people most commonly use. Knowing them is helpful so you can be aware of when you use them and how they color your world. If you catch them as they come up, you can correct them and get a more accurate picture of how things are.

Today I’m going over two of them that paint life in a negative light. If you’re familiar with Saturday Night Live, you’ve likely seen an older skit with a character named “Debbie Downer” played by Rachel Dratch. She’s the poster child for these two distortions!

They’re called “mental filtering” and “disqualifying the positive.” Let’s take them one at a time.

Mental Filtering

Mental filtering means picking out a single negative detail in any situation and focusing on it exclusively so that your overall perception is colored by it.

You sleep through your alarm and arrive late at work, so you decide the entire day is a wash.

You go out to dinner with friends, and one of them seems more distant than usual. You decide none of them actually like you and probably wish you weren’t there.

You give a talk to your colleagues at work. You stumble once during the presentation but recoup quickly. After the talk, everyone tells you how helpful the presentation was and what a good job you did, but you’re stuck on the single stumble you made, and ask people if they didn’t notice how you screwed up.

In these cases, you’ve honed in on one negative event or detail and used it to color the entire experience. A common metaphor is watching a single drop of ink released into a glass of water darken all of it.

Mental filtering is most apt to occur when you’re already in a bad mood or feeling depressed or anxious.

Another cause can be an underlying belief that filters through most of your perceptions. For example, you might believe you’re not good enough, not likable, or competent, and these beliefs alter your perceptions of events. You’re more likely to interpret details that confirm and magnify your views rather than see the bigger picture.

Now let’s go to the second cognitive distortion.

Disqualifying the Positive

With mental filtering, you focus on something negative to the exclusion of the positive. “Disqualifying the positive” is just the opposite. You start with something positive and discount it as though it doesn’t matter or hold any weight. It’s an underhanded way of leaning into the negative.

You get a coveted promotion at work and explain it as “My boss felt sorry for me” or “He didn’t have anyone else to hire.”

Someone compliments you on how articulate you are, and you pass it off with, “Oh, they’re just being nice.”

You get an A on an exam you studied diligently for and say, “I lucked out. It was easy. I bet everyone got an A.”

In each case, the positive is minimized and discounted. Sometimes people use this distortion as a means of staying humble. However, this is different than genuine humility. Being truly humble includes affirming your strengths and achievements, but without inflating your ego.

Disqualifying the positive is essentially removing it instead of a direct negative take. There are several reasons you might do that. For example:

1. To avoid disappointment in the future.
2. Not having to live up to the same expectation again.
3. To reflect a negative view of yourself or a belief you hold.

In all of these cases, the underlying cause of engaging in the distortion is to protect yourself from either fear, disappointment, or expectations you might not be able to fulfill.

So what should you do to counteract?

Before I talk about strategies, let’s outline a few essential points.

1. Sometimes situations are negative. Should I ignore that and always try to be positive?

No, and this is an important point. You should seek reality, meaning getting the broadest picture of what is. If something is adverse, you need to see that. And if something is positive, you also need to see that. But that’s not all: You must also see all the grays in between. Seeing “what is” is the best and healthiest option. The key is to avoid looking at things through your preconceived notions or current emotional status.

2. Cognitive distortions can be positive as well as negative.

We usually go more toward the negative because of our natural negativity bias, but we can also get caught up in positive distortions. A good example is magical thinking, where you ignore alarming facts of a situation and pretend everything is rosy.

The goal is to see what’s accurate as best you can and react with deliberation rather than reflexively.

The strategies below will help you with that.

Strategies

The primary strategy is something called cognitive restructuring. It’s a more involved process than I’m giving you today, but here’s the gist of it.

Step 1: Be aware.

When you’re aware that you’re using a cognitive distortion, stop yourself momentarily and label it. Catch yourself in the act and interrupt your train of thought.

Step 2: Challenge it.

Next, challenge the accuracy of the distortion. Go through your thought processes and ask yourself how valid your assumptions are. Measure them against facts. If you sleep through the alarm and arrive late to work, ask yourself what else happened that day. What went right? Were there positives as well as negatives? What did you get done or accomplish? Asking questions that challenge the initial thought usually alters your perception based on the new information.

Step 3: Reframe it.

Now that you’ve taken a closer and broader look at your thought(s), reframe it to include the new evidence you’ve uncovered during your investigation. You might say, “Well, I did have a late start, but despite that, I got a significant amount done today. Maybe not as much as I might have, but I feel good about what I did.”

Reframing helps you formulate a realistic and more accurate picture of what occurs, which also keeps your emotions in check and appropriate to the reality of the situation. When done correctly, this process helps you see your thought processes and feelings from a distance so that you can evaluate them for accuracy and take actions more deliberately based on what you find out.

When to Get Help

If you use either of these cognitive distortions often, it’s a good idea to try some therapy. You need to uncover the issues and beliefs underlying your regular use of them. The distortions are not the source of the problem. The cause is more likely trauma of some sort, relationship issues, historical problems growing up, or other experiences you’ve had that have left an imprint. This is where CBT has limitations. It’s great for working on the distortions but not so much for uncovering and working with underlying issues and triggers.

That said, I’ll go through the rest of the cognitive distortions over the next several months because I think it’s beneficial to know about them and become familiar so you can catch yourself when you use them and make corrections.

That’s all for today.

Hope you have a great week!

All my best,

Barbara