Image by Peggy & Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay
Pay close attention in conversation to what is being said, and to what follows from any action. In the action, immediately look for the target, in words, listen closely to what is being signaled.”
(Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 7.4)
The techniques and methodology of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) are designed to help clients/patients recognize patterns of behavior that are destructive and harmful with the goal of being able to gain control over these behaviors and steer them toward a more positive, wholesome outcome. Until recently, I didn’t know that CBT’s founder, Albert Ellis, was inspired by Stoic practices and principles in its creation.
Unbiased thought, our focus-goal for the month of April, and as such, has a direct connection to CBT’s practice of identification and positive influence. We don’t know how biased our thoughts are until we look back and see the results of those biases. Even those who claim to be and act without bias are full of it (bias, that is). One way to move from bias to unbiased is to place yourself in observer-mode (witness consciousness), and turn the power of that mode inward.
When we become the observer we can work toward knowing the origins of our thoughts, our biases, and our egoic mind. It’s in this knowing, and through this process, that we can find the interstitial space wherein cause and effect meet.
How can we know that we’re not bullshitting ourselves with more clever techniques? Like anything, it comes with practice.
(See y’all tomorrow)
Unbiased thought, our focus-goal for the month of April, and as such, has a direct connection to CBT’s practice of identification and positive influence. We don’t know how biased our thoughts are until we look back and see the results of those biases. Even those who claim to be and act without bias are full of it (bias, that is). One way to move from bias to unbiased is to place yourself in observer-mode (witness consciousness), and turn the power of that mode inward.
When we become the observer we can work toward knowing the origins of our thoughts, our biases, and our egoic mind. It’s in this knowing, and through this process, that we can find the interstitial space wherein cause and effect meet.
How can we know that we’re not bullshitting ourselves with more clever techniques? Like anything, it comes with practice.
(See y’all tomorrow)
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