The One You Feed - Mini Episode 7- Positive Concentration

Episode Date: September 13, 2014

This week Eric discusses positive concentration techniques to counteract rumination.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Follow The Big Take podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Hey, everybody. It's Eric from The One You Feed Again, recording another mini episode. I am recording from a remote location. I am in upstate New York at Camp GLP for Good Life Project. It's something that Jonathan Fields, he's a guest we had on a few weeks ago. It's a camp he puts on up here and it's been pretty fun and I've been interviewing a lot of different people, shorter interviews that we'll start sharing here over the next couple months. So last week we talked about rumination and how negative rumination can be, how self-reinforcing it is, and that the best strategy to avoid ruminating is to give your brain something to concentrate on. So we want to stop the rumination as soon as it starts because it feeds on itself,

it creates stronger neural pathways, and we're more likely to do it again. So the most important thing is simply divert your brain in some way. And we talked last week about whatever it is will work. But there are some strategies, at least for me, that seem to be, I'd call them more positive concentration strategies that I use. So I'll talk about a couple of general ones that are out there. And then I'll also talk about a couple that I like a lot that I found to be pretty interesting. So a real basic one is to simply try and count backwards. So from 100 to one, we'll give your brain something to concentrate on and we'll build your mental strength a little bit. You can also start trying to count backwards with a different interval, say by three, so 197, 94.

You get the idea. And a couple other exercises that are interesting is one is to find an object, an apple, a tree, a bass guitar, which I happen to be staring at, and just really focus in on it and try and really notice and notice what it looks like. Focus in on it and try and really notice and notice what it looks like. And then the next step you can take from that is to close your eyes and try and vision what you were just looking at. So those are all concentration exercises that are going to build your concentration and are going to get your mind off of rumination. A couple of my very favorite ones, though, I think combine an element of positivity along with concentration. So one of them I do, I call alphabet gratitude. And I start with the letter A, and I try and think of something that I am grateful for that starts with the letter A. So

being alive. So there's A. Now I go on to B. What would B be? And I think, and I go, well, Beansy, my dog Beansy. And then I would go on to C. What am I grateful for that starts with a C? Chris, et cetera. So that is a fun way to do it. It gets challenging, and if I do it, I try and think of different things. But it is a really great way to get my brain off of negative thoughts and on to positive thoughts. off of negative thoughts and onto positive thoughts. The thing about, for me, with rumination is that it's really easy to say, well, if you're thinking negative things, just think positive

things. But that doesn't really tend to work because the brain really wraps itself around those things. So we have to give the brain something to do that it can really grasp onto and hold onto. And that's what the concentration does. But then by also adding in the gratitude piece, it seems to really work well for me. Because if I'm really feeling lousy and I just start trying to think about gratitude and gratefulness, it doesn't really, before I know it, I'm back on the negative thinking. So the having the letters and a path really keeps it going for me. The other one that I like to do, and I sometimes do it along with the alphabet gratitude, or I can do it separately, is to try and think of a song I like that begins with every

letter of the alphabet. So, and then try and get a little of that song in my head, sing it a little bit in my head. And it just gets me thinking about that. And I love music so much that again, it's bringing some positive feelings along with the concentration. So that's a very, it's a very short episode. Don't have a lot of time, but those are a couple of techniques that really, really work well for me to get out of rumination, to give my brain something to concentrate on and also reinforce some positive feelings at the same time. So hopefully those will be helpful to you and I will talk with you soon. Bye.