Therapy session yesterday, feeling better

[manuel_moe_g]

The biggest takeaways from my therapy session yesterday.

[1] People have flashes of "being a five year old". I often have them - they make me want to procrastinate and web browse. If I know I will regularly have "flashes of being a five year old", I can prepare and I can react calmly when it happens. No reason to beat up the five year old inside me, just calmly remind him that self-discipline now means comfort later, and indulgence now means suffering later. Just be an awesome parent to the five year old inside me.

[2] My vision of a perfect present and my vision of a perfect future have the primary effect of depressing me and making me break down. I don't like breaking down, so when I start thinking about a perfect present or a perfect future, just distract my mind to think about just being non-judgmental and being mindful of my present. For example, if I am working with a tool, and the tool breaks, and I get angry about how that tool should have never broken, that is a dangerous place, and I just have to shift into a non-judgmental awareness and mindfulness of my surroundings and my mental state.

[3] My parents modeled catastrophizing situations and falling into self-pity and misery and being totally incapable. So, my natural reaction to a lot of things is catastrophizing and falling into self-pity and misery and being totally incapable. Not surprising, so notice that tendency, and strive to know the best case scenario, the worst case scenario, and the most likely scenario. Then concentrate on actions I can take now to deal with the worst case scenario and the most likely scenario, in a spirit of capability and being non-judgmental and using controlled breathing exercises. If there is no action I can take, then let it drift out of my mind, because I should only care about what I can reasonably positively effect in a spirit of capability and knowing my limits.

[jenloiacono]

so happy for you that your therapy session helped you feel a little better. it's amazing how much just naming your feelings can help

Jennifer

[inmymind]

Manuel,

You Take Away's from therapy were wonderful jewls. I enjoyed hearing about them. I think it is good to feed our minds with that kind of advice every single day. I congratulate you on the insight you have developed, and I am sure if you keep those take-aways in mind, you will have an easier time of things.