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Turning the Mind

Join the Turning the Mind newsletter every Saturday for insights on how to understand your emotions, not make them your enemy, and transform self-defeating beliefs, thoughts, and judgments into self-awareness.

Featured Post

Control: Helpful or Harmful?

Why Appreciating Life’s Unplanned Moments is Crucial (Even If Your Safety Once Hinged on Control) Hey Reader, You’re not owed a thing. A harsh truth, but a reality you must swallow. Does this mean you shouldn’t be kind, respectful, and of service to others? Absolutely not. It’s the opposite. It requires you to lean into the unknown. To gain control, you must first give it up. The harder you try to control things, the more chaotic they become. Here’s why. Life Doesn’t Always Work The Way You...

3 Big Emotional Myths People Unknowingly Accept in Their Lives That Prevents Flourishing Hey Reader, Your emotions don't always tell the truth. https://media.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExdXBtcTc5NGZmN3lxcndtdjMwYXlrNDF0ZmpyenNkdmFtc3J1NHYzNCZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/OdsLKAjOZn50MzGlJm/giphy.gif “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.” -Richard Feynman Mr. Feynman is right with this quote. He warns against...

How to Not Make Things Worse: 3 Strategies to Help You Cope with Painful Events and Emotions Hey Reader, Just like a printer endlessly shooting out paper, our emotions can be relentless. To manage them, I’ll share 3 key strategies to help cope with these painful events, emotions, and urges. https://media.giphy.com/media/yUrUb9fYz6x7a/giphy.gif When grappling with life’s challenges, three methods emerge as beacons of hope: ACCEPTS Self-Soothe Skills IMPROVE the Moment Knowing when to use these...

If You Want to Ruminate Less–Observe, Describe, & Participate More (The “What” Skills of Mindfulness) Hey Reader, This is uncomfortable. Negative thoughts would fill my mind when others talked about someone I knew behind their backs. Past mistakes would bombard my mind. Ego took slight control as I thought to myself, “If they only knew the mistakes I’ve made.” I was thrown out of the moment and into mental time travel. This mental time travel came from not practicing mindfulness’s 3 “what”...

Ready for Change? Why It All Starts with Mindfulness Hey Reader, I had butterflies as I walked through the door. https://giphy.com/gifs/reactiongifs-LRVnPYqM8DLag The previous meeting I had with the student and their team was tense. Her family, social worker, and advocate were all involved. And they grilled me like a hot dog with questions. They wanted the best for her and were determined to see results. I survived that meeting, but the situation was far from over. We would need to reconvene....

Why Do Emotions Feel So Intense? Hey Reader, The punch was caught on camera. On October 21st during a high school basketball game, a coach and referee got into a verbal altercation. This is not an uncommon scenario, except that this situation escalated quickly. The referee punched the coach without warning and threw a couple more strikes too. The referee has since posted bail of $65,000 and was charged with battery. Our emotions can get intense. Real intense. It makes you wonder why emotions...

How Your Feelings About Feelings Can Be a Personal Prison When you hear a loud noise, you jump. That’s your primary emotions working for you. Thought isn’t necessarily a part of the equation. But what happens when a mix of emotions and thinking is involved? Let’s dive in. Mixed emotions Water welled in my eyes like a cup overflowing. With the seat propped high, but my spirits low, I caved. “Not in front of my boss,” I thought to myself. The conversation centered around a recent observation,...