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Mojo Monday - Try This Technique To Help With Overthinking and Rumination With Carly Taylor · Hardiness with Dr Paul Taylor

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hey everyone, it's Carli here and welcome to you. This
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: week's Mojo Monday. So this week I wanted to give
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  Speaker 1: you a technique that can help you get out of
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  Speaker 1: your head and into life. And it's particularly helpful if
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  Speaker 1: you have a lot of mental intergestion, which you would
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  Speaker 1: relate to if there's a problem in your life at
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  Speaker 1: the moment and you're really ruminating over it, it's taking
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  Speaker 1: over a lot of headspace for you. So it's around
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  Speaker 1: working with our attention. There's no magic pill here. And
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  Speaker 1: if anyone tells you there is any technique to stop
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  Speaker 1: you from thinking, then they're either trying to sell you
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  Speaker 1: something or it's just a complete cham because our thoughts
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  Speaker 1: are there for a reason. Our mind is very problem
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  Speaker 1: solving machine. It's very protective of us, and so when
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  Speaker 1: we tend to overthink stuff or ruminating about stuff, it's
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  Speaker 1: because our mind's doing its job. It's just that it's
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  Speaker 1: not always helpful because what it can do is get
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  Speaker 1: in the way of us living well. And so what
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  Speaker 1: we want to do is use our skill of attention
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  Speaker 1: to take the focus away from the thoughts and onto
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  Speaker 1: the outside world. So it's going from internal to external
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  Speaker 1: because if you think about it, like just imagine you
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  Speaker 1: are having a conversation with a friend and you're really
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  Speaker 1: intent on the conversation. On the You're paying attention to
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  Speaker 1: the words that your friend is saying, the meaning, the
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  Speaker 1: little micro expressions of your friends. So you're very absorbed
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  Speaker 1: in the conversation. So your attention is very narrowly focused there.
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  Speaker 1: And so what happens is there's a whole lot of
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  Speaker 1: stuff going on around you that you're not going to
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  Speaker 1: notice because your attention is so focused on your friend
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  Speaker 1: and on the conversation. You know, that could be like
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  Speaker 1: a fly that goes past or you know, somebody coughs
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  Speaker 1: next to you, and but you're not noticing that stuff.
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  Speaker 1: So the same thing happens when our attention is on
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  Speaker 1: our thoughts. We're so focused on our thoughts and the
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  Speaker 1: problem and the pain that comes with it that we
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  Speaker 1: end up not noticing the world around us. And what
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  Speaker 1: it can do is when we switch that attention from
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  Speaker 1: the internal to the external, it means there's a bit
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  Speaker 1: of a reprieve there. It just is like the thoughts.
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  Speaker 1: What you want to aim for really is not to
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  Speaker 1: get rid of the thoughts. But what can happen over
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  Speaker 1: time is the thoughts become a bit like a radio
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  Speaker 1: playing in the background, where the volumes just turned down
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  Speaker 1: and your attention is so focused elsewhere that you might
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  Speaker 1: not even notice it. So it's a really simple technique,
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  Speaker 1: and it is around looking for the color blue. So
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  Speaker 1: you can look for anything the color blue. So it
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  Speaker 1: can be something big, like the expansive sky. It can
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  Speaker 1: be something small like a feather on a bird, or
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  Speaker 1: it can be a child's bike, or someone's shoes, or
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  Speaker 1: someone's shirt, anything the color blue, different shades of blue.
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  Speaker 1: You can get creative about and get curious about all
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  Speaker 1: things the color blue. And this really simple technique what
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  Speaker 1: it does is it just switches that attention away from
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  Speaker 1: those thoughts and onto the outside world. Now, if you
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  Speaker 1: get sick of the color blue, you don't have to
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  Speaker 1: stick with that color. I had a client who decided
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  Speaker 1: she wanted to look for purple, and that was really
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  Speaker 1: challenging because there are actually not many things around that
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  Speaker 1: are the color purple. So try this technique. As simple
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  Speaker 1: as it sounds, it's really effective for controlling where your
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  Speaker 1: attention is in any moment. And then once you've done that,
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  Speaker 1: then you take that next step towards action. So what
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  Speaker 1: needs to be done in this moment? Do you need
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  Speaker 1: to get a draw tidied up? Do you need to
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  Speaker 1: get those dishes done? Do you need to pay a bill?
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  Speaker 1: Do you need to spend some time with the kids? Okay, always, always,
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  Speaker 1: When you switch that attention, then there's the action part
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  Speaker 1: of it. And you may have to keep going back
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  Speaker 1: to the color blue because those thoughts are going to
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  Speaker 1: keep popping up, especially if you're going through a pretty
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  Speaker 1: intense time at the moment. Then you just notice those thoughts.
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  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, there it is again. There's those thoughts again.
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  Speaker 1: And then switch to the outside world. And another tip
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  Speaker 1: which I actually got from a Zen Buddhist was around
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  Speaker 1: using your hands, using your fingers, because when you are
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  Speaker 1: doing something practical like cooking or gardening, or maybe it's
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  Speaker 1: a hobby like knitting or working with clay or anything creative,
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  Speaker 1: you have to have your attention on what you're doing.
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  Speaker 1: And there is something about that space between the mind
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  Speaker 1: and the hands that helps really helps direct that attention
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  Speaker 1: to the outside world. And I know this because last
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  Speaker 1: night I actually tried a different recipe which I hadn't
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  Speaker 1: done for a long time. And I really noticed my
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  Speaker 1: attention was very focused on what I was doing, So
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't even give you time to think about your
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  Speaker 1: problems or to even engage in any sort of thought
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  Speaker 1: that isn't about what you are doing. So try that
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  Speaker 1: as well. Do something that works with your hands. So
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  Speaker 1: I hope those tips are helpful for you if you
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  Speaker 1: are struggling with overthinking or ruminating thoughts, so you look
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  Speaker 1: for the color blue, or just look for your favorite
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  Speaker 1: color and then take some sort of action, preferably using
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  Speaker 1: your hands. So have a great week everybody, and I
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  Speaker 1: will catch you next week. Seeya