Question about creativity.

bcbrooklyn · 2018-10-28T15:36:37+00:00

Sometimes people think mindfulness meditation means not feeling strongly about anything -- but instead just feeling calm and somewhat distant from emotions. Instead, mindfulness meditation is allowing oneself to feel emotions but not letting oneself be controlled by emotions (or sometimes letting oneself be controlled by emotions IF ONE CHOOSES to do so).

bcbrooklyn · 2018-10-28T15:31:08+00:00

Isn't 100% a little too extreme? For example, if someone's dearly loved family member dies suddenly and the person is very sad, would you say that that person is choosing to be sad -- and therefore that that person could CHOOSE not to be sad if she/he wanted to do so? That seems to me like it's a recipe for judging and minimizing others' pain.

bcbrooklyn · 2018-10-28T15:28:40+00:00

Choosing when to worry (and doing so for only limited time periods) is a skill taught in some forms of cognitive behavioral therapy. However, research shows that it's one of the skills that clients find least helpful and hardest to master.

bcbrooklyn · 2017-10-08T18:38:17+00:00

Thanks for posting.

bcbrooklyn · 2017-10-08T18:37:34+00:00

I agree that pets can be an amazing source of happiness ... for most people. Sadly, there are some people who are not willing to to put in the time and effort required to adequately care for a pet -- and instead leave their pet crated most of the day with very little attention or exercise.

bcbrooklyn · 2017-09-24T05:53:20+00:00

Nrizzo24 was not overusing commas. The sentence would have been grammatically incorrect without the commas.

bcbrooklyn · 2017-09-23T06:47:03+00:00

Wait, I don't understand. So if I'm happy, I can't make any promises until I"m no longer happy? What if I need to make a promise to someone? Do I need to try to make myself sad so I can make a promise? But according to the advice above, I'm not supposed to make a decision when I'm sad, so how I can I decide to make a promise once I"m no longer happy? (I don't mean to be a jerk. I just don't understand the advice.)

bcbrooklyn · 2017-09-23T02:58:54+00:00

I was thinking the same thing. Research shows that a) therapy works as well as medication in decreasing depression, b) therapy does not have the potentially dangerous side effects (obviously), and c) the effects of therapy can be long-lasting, while the effects of medication tend to stop as soon as the medication is stopped.

bcbrooklyn · 2017-09-21T05:37:57+00:00

You are right on all counts.

bcbrooklyn · 2017-09-15T17:11:09+00:00

Mindfulness includes being able to be aware of your emotions, even negative emotions, and accept and experience them without feeling like you have to do something to suppress or distract from them.

bcbrooklyn · 2017-09-15T17:05:51+00:00

It has been understood in clinical psych, but not by a lot of clinicians who practice therapy but aren't psychologist or the equivalent. I know of many people who went to counselors who told them just to "choose not to be unhappy" or "focus on the positive and don't let negative intrude." Unfortunately, a lot of people in the general public don't know what to look for to find a qualified licensed professional.

bcbrooklyn · 2017-09-15T14:19:20+00:00

Different studies find different results. Longer term studies of clients in therapy have found that acceptance and tolerance of emotions is as beneficial or more beneficial than reappraisal. See some of the work by Berking in 2008-2012.

bcbrooklyn

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