When running up a hill, it is all right to give up as many times as you wish–as long as your feet keep moving.-Shoma Morita
I love this quote; it gets right to the heart of both Morita therapy and CBT, namely that our behavior, not our feelings, is the key to reaching our goals.
But what about thoughts? They’re not quite behaviors; thoughts will arise (and stick with us) in a way that even the most habitual actions will not. But we can control them to a degree; we can meditate or concentrate them away… at least for a short time.
The key to thoughts seems to be this: Thoughts with awareness act like behaviors, thoughts without awareness act like feelings.
Today’s practice is about creating that awareness of our thoughts, and it’s drawn from both Morita therapy and CBT.
1- Set a watch timer to go off every hour or so, the less predictable the better. Mine has an interval setting, so it goes off after 47 minutes, then 43, then repeats. If you don’t have a watch timer, you can use cues in your environment. Does it seem like car alarms are always going off outside your building? Are other people’s cell phones ringing?
2- When your cue goes off, pull out your journal (or whatever you’re using for this exercise–make sure it’s something you can carry with you) and write down your answers to these three questions:
What am I thinking? Alternately, you can ask yourself, where is my attention focused?
What am I doing? Be as specific as possible. Something like, “sitting at the kitchen table with my left let crossed over my right, hunched forward a little, staring at my computer screen and typing a blog entry.”
What am I feeling? It’s okay to use emotion-words (happy, angry, etc.) but also make sure to note the feelings in your body. Are your shoulders tense? Your stomach? Maybe you feel a sense of ease in your breathing, or the sun feels warm on your skin.
At the end of each day (and then at the end of the week, if you decide to continue this practice), take a moment to review what you’ve written. Did anything surprise you? Did your attention shift naturally in anticipation of the exercise? Feel free to share any thoughts that arise.
Subscribe!
Oh, I’d be afraid to do this one!
I did it yesterday, starting every 47/43 minutes, and it did get a bit overwhelming (for example, I had to pull over my car once to write my answers). By the afternoon, I’d added an hour onto each segment. That made it more manageable.
I think I’ll skip it over the weekend and give another go starting Monday. It’s been revealing so far, though–for example, though I do get up and do things, I continually came back to the same spot, even sitting in the same position. I had no idea I sat with my left leg crossed over my right for so many hours a day. That can’t be good for circulation, right?
Can you say “varicose veins?”
[...] What Were You Thinking? [...]