This is a fantastic post, that contains about 50 great ideas. I want to supplement it with a simple thought that I made in a comment yesterday. Our evolutionary history has set us up to notice the bad more than the good.
Combining the insights of psychology and evolutionary anthropology, it is clear that human beings have a deep prejudice for noticing what is going wrong over what is going right. The fact that everything is okay is not in a threat to our existence. But failing to notice any negative, such as tiger or a snake or even overly spoiled food, could quickly lead to your demise. Thus, we are exquisitely attuned to what is going wrong.
Even though there are so many fewer mortal threats in our modern lives (most of us will die very old and quite fat), we still remain attuned to the negative. That is why anxiety and depression are the most common mental illnesses. One of the most effective treatments for both is cognitive therapy which helps people decrease their focus on the negative and increase their focus on the positive thereby achieving a more realistic outlook.
This is a fantastic post, that contains about 50 great ideas. I want to supplement it with a simple thought that I made in a comment yesterday. Our evolutionary history has set us up to notice the bad more than the good.
Combining the insights of psychology and evolutionary anthropology, it is clear that human beings have a deep prejudice for noticing what is going wrong over what is going right. The fact that everything is okay is not in a threat to our existence. But failing to notice any negative, such as tiger or a snake or even overly spoiled food, could quickly lead to your demise. Thus, we are exquisitely attuned to what is going wrong.
Even though there are so many fewer mortal threats in our modern lives (most of us will die very old and quite fat), we still remain attuned to the negative. That is why anxiety and depression are the most common mental illnesses. One of the most effective treatments for both is cognitive therapy which helps people decrease their focus on the negative and increase their focus on the positive thereby achieving a more realistic outlook.
Yes yes yes. I love how you think. Here is the psycho babble. Proceed w caution, lol! 🤣
We need sympathetic tone (fight flight fright) for survival.
Parasympathetic tone for connection and ease when we determine, is that a snake or a hockey stick?
And freeze (also called dorsal vagal), which I discussed in the piece as dissociation, to manage overwhelm.
yes, anxiety and depression are ubiquitous in society as we live out of our window of tolerance and CBT is a well researched antidote.
I wish we valued rest and compassion more as a society.
lol on the old and fat.
Here’s to a life well lived. 💝
And thx for reading, Kathleen.