The most popular episode of the Mary Tyler Moore Show (and my favorite) was titled Chuckles Bites the Dust. The main character (Mary Richards) of the sitcom worked as a news producer at a TV station where a TV show host named Chuckles the Clown was serving as grand marshal of a parade when he was attached and killed by an rogue elephant. Throughout the episode, Mary complained about everyone in the office making jokes at the poor man’s expense. She took his death seriously.. until the start of the funeral. Everyone’s role reserved. Mary tried but couldn’t suppress her urge to giggle at the clown’s comedic demise during the eulogy. The scene is considered one of the most memorable in TV sitcom history.
Ever tried NOT to laugh at church? The more you fight it, the stronger the urge becomes. Ever had a crazy thought pop in your head about disrupting a meeting? Ever wondered what would happen if you stood up in a restaurant and started yelling? Or started a food fight? Or thought about what it would be like if you jumped out of a window in front of you and fell ten stories?
That contrary thought can become an outright urge. Suddenly, you are wondering if you can prevent yourself from doing something completely outrageous and inappropriate. The more you try to avoid the idea, the stronger the desire becomes to do it. Anyone who’s tried to quit smoking or stop drinking knows the feeling.
A new paper in the Journal Science tries to explain the phenomenon. Harvard psychologist Daniel Wegner says if you keep ruminating on the idea of something bad happening, it can actually make it more likely to occur.
That’s because our brains are busy suppressing impulses all the time. We use a great deal of energy keep inclinations in check. The effort usually takes place without conscience thought. But when we focus intensely on avoiding errors and taboos, the impulse can be strengthened because the brain is conscience and locked on the event.
Just try not thinking of a blue goat. Are you not thinking of it?
In sports, a player may be told not to swing his bat or golf club a certain way. Soon, he can barely avoid doing it and feels obsessed and distracted. Especially under pressure.
Once the idea has been consciously suggested to us, it’s hard to lose it until something new shoves it out of the way. And therein lies the key for moving away from unwanted thoughts. Instead of trying to keep it down, put something else in its place. Ball players are more successful when they focus on visualizing the ball going through the hoop and the process that works to get it there. Thoughts of suicide may be squeezed out by changing our focus to taking care of someone.
Just don’t forget about the blue goat.
Stephen Goforth
Showing posts with label anxiety. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anxiety. Show all posts
A Pipeline to Greener Sewers
Researchers in Portugal were able to stress rats until they fell into a vicious cycle of clinging to familiar routines and rote responses to their environment. The rodents became predisposed to doing the same things over and over. Even worse, the parts of their brain associated with goal-directed behaviors shriveled. At the same time, the sectors linked to habit forming grew.
Ever find yourself in a rut, digging yourself deeper? We often don’t recognize when our normal coping mechanisms aren’t working. Instead of trying something new, we bear down and repeat the same routine, thinking that if we just try harder, we’ll make it work.
Maybe it's time to break out of the box.
The study is detailed in the journal Science.
Stephen Goforth
Ever find yourself in a rut, digging yourself deeper? We often don’t recognize when our normal coping mechanisms aren’t working. Instead of trying something new, we bear down and repeat the same routine, thinking that if we just try harder, we’ll make it work.
Maybe it's time to break out of the box.
The study is detailed in the journal Science.
Stephen Goforth
Fuming and Fretting
A physician gave some rather whimsical advice to a patient, an aggressive businessman. Excitedly he told the doctor what an enormous amount of work he had to do. "If I write you a prescription will you follow it?" asked the doctor, realizing his state of mental tension.
This, believe it or not, was the prescription: The patient was to take off two hours every working day and go for a long walk. He was to take off a half-day a week and spend that half-day in a cemetery.
In astonishment, the patient demanded, "Why should I spend a half-day in a cemetery?"
"Because," answered the doctor, "I want you to wander around and took at the gravestones of men who are there permanently. I want you to meditate upon the fact many of them are there because they thought even as you do, that the whole world rested on their shoulders. Meditate on the solemn fact that when you get there permanently, the world will go on just the same and, important as you are, others will be able to do the work you are now doing."
Norman Vincent Peale
The Power of Positive Thinking
This, believe it or not, was the prescription: The patient was to take off two hours every working day and go for a long walk. He was to take off a half-day a week and spend that half-day in a cemetery.
In astonishment, the patient demanded, "Why should I spend a half-day in a cemetery?"
"Because," answered the doctor, "I want you to wander around and took at the gravestones of men who are there permanently. I want you to meditate upon the fact many of them are there because they thought even as you do, that the whole world rested on their shoulders. Meditate on the solemn fact that when you get there permanently, the world will go on just the same and, important as you are, others will be able to do the work you are now doing."
Norman Vincent Peale
The Power of Positive Thinking
The Less Traveled Road
More briers below. More limbs above. It slows your walk. There are logs to step across as well. But with each step brings the possibility of seeing wonders most people will never see experience.
The question is: Will getting past those obstacles really be worth the surprising revelations you'll encounter? The strain is so much less when you go along with the crowd and give up decision-making. Choosing to walk the less traveled road may mean periods of intense loneliness and nagging doubt.
One path offers comfort and conformity, the other adventure and self-definition.
Stephen Goforth
The question is: Will getting past those obstacles really be worth the surprising revelations you'll encounter? The strain is so much less when you go along with the crowd and give up decision-making. Choosing to walk the less traveled road may mean periods of intense loneliness and nagging doubt.
One path offers comfort and conformity, the other adventure and self-definition.
Stephen Goforth
Thinking Too Much
When a person gets nervous about performing, he naturally becomes extra self-conscious. He starts to focus on himself, trying to make sure that he doesn't make any mistakes. He begins scrutinizing actions that are best performed on autopilot. This kind of deliberation can be lethal for a performer. The opera singer forgets how to sing. The pitcher concentrates too much on his motion and loses control of his fastball. The actor gets anxious about his lines and seizes up onstage. In each of these instances, the natural fluidity of performance is lost. The grace of talent disappears.
Jonah Lehrer
How We Decide
Jonah Lehrer
How We Decide
Ambiguity's Anxiety
A Dutch experiment gave subjects a series of 20 jolts of electricity. The group was divided between those who knew they were getting 20 strong shocks and those who were told they would receive 17 mild shocks and 3 intense jolts. The second group wasn't told which shock was coming when.
The researchers found the group that did not know what was coming had a higher level of anxiety - even though they received fewer hits than the other group. The uncertain group sweated more and their hearts beat faster.
Oddly enough, the anticipation of the unknown creates more stress for us than knowing something bad is going to happen to us. We prefer knowing the bad news is a sure thing over suspecting there may be bad news to come. It’s hard to come to terms with the unknown. When we know what we are facing, we can go ahead and grieve and move forward. But when we don’t know whether to grieve or not, or how much to grieve, we are stuck in the land of uncertainty.
Stephen Goforth
The researchers found the group that did not know what was coming had a higher level of anxiety - even though they received fewer hits than the other group. The uncertain group sweated more and their hearts beat faster.
Oddly enough, the anticipation of the unknown creates more stress for us than knowing something bad is going to happen to us. We prefer knowing the bad news is a sure thing over suspecting there may be bad news to come. It’s hard to come to terms with the unknown. When we know what we are facing, we can go ahead and grieve and move forward. But when we don’t know whether to grieve or not, or how much to grieve, we are stuck in the land of uncertainty.
Stephen Goforth
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