Creating more moments of attention

July 9, 2024

You obviously only have a certain number of hours in your life - but what's slightly less obvious is that you have a limited number of moments of attention in your life. When you pay attention to one thing, there is an opportunity cost - you could be paying attention to something else, like one of your loved ones, a meaningful project, your source of income, or a hobby you love. When you get sucked into a dumb argument online or read an upsetting news story (that will never lead you to ta...

Dealing with chronic pain: it’s in the way you move

August 7, 2023

Image made by Spencer using Midjourney in the style of Leonardo da Vinci

I've come to think that you can somewhat reduce your chance of chronic injury (and improve chronic pain you already have) by learning to notice and pay close attention to pain right at the moments when it crops up. By doing so, you can learn to immediately adjust how you move to take the pain into account (not avoiding the action, but changing the way you engage in the action). The goal is to make your movements as smooth and natural as possible. If avoiding the pain is causing you to make l...

The ten most important components of self-compassion

October 20, 2021

Self-compassion is an essential skill - it helps us overcome personal hardship, recognize what we want, and learn how to better support others who are struggling. Inspired by Dr. Kristen Neff’s work on this subject, we’ve put together a list of ten components that we think make up a truly self-compassionate mindset. Regardless of whether or not you try to practice self-compassion in your daily life, this list may be valuable next time you’re finding it difficult to be kind towards you...

Eight ways you can get more enjoyment from the same activity

February 7, 2021

A. FOCUS 1. Attention: focus on every detail of the experience much more intently than normal. Ex: with each bite, notice as much as you can about the flavor and texture Ex: try to hear every distinct instrument in the music as it comes in and fades out 2. Savoring: try to extend and enhance enjoyable moments by using "metacognition" - become aware of how much you're enjoying the thing and how great you feel it is, even as you're experiencing it. Ex: rem...

On How to Process Your Emotions

December 20, 2020

We’ve all heard that you should take time to “process your emotions” and not “repress them.” But after a bad event occurs, what exactly does it MEAN to process your emotions? I think that, ideally, it involves a mix of these components: (1) Noticing: paying close attention to your negative thoughts instead of pushing them away or trying to ignore the bad feelings. What are the EXACT words running through your mind? How does it feel right now to be you? What do your body and mind feel li...

The Inner Why Technique

October 5, 2018

Here is a simple technique I really like using that I think can help us (a) better understand ourselves and (b) have more say over how we react in response to our emotions. I call it the "Inner Why" technique. How to do it:When you notice a sudden change in your emotional state (e.g., you start becoming anxious, sad, frustrated, or angry), immediately give yourself the best quick explanation you can for WHY you think that change in your emotions just occurred. The sooner you can do it after ...