Category: Mindfulness

To completely experience the here-and-now, truthful mindfulness is required

Mindfulness and honesty are intricately intertwined as you must be completely honest with yourself about what is going on at any given moment. Genuine honesty first relates to one’s inner truth about instincts and emotions—even when conflicting or involving ambivalence. Once this inner genuineness is addressed, it relates to congruence in action and speech toward others.

This sort of mindful honesty is easily recognized. For example, one can clearly tell the difference between the musician who has only perfected the technique, but not connected with the emotions within the music…until that is, that musician gets into their ‘groove.’  At that point, the audience feels or intuits a change in the meaning of both the music and the musician. Within that genuine groove, skill magnifies the enjoyment of music in a way that the less skilled musician who is in a genuine groove is no less enjoyable.

Furthermore, when we practice mindful honesty ourselves, somebody else’s lack thereof may still be a more tolerable experience.

In a nutshell, when angry, experience and respond appropriately to your genuine, legitimate anger; be honest with yourself about what you are feeling. Remember that those feelings are trying to redirect your intention to joy or contentment; balance. Same with sadness, frustration, happiness, etc.

Learn more about Mindfulness-based Counseling in Austin.

Jonathan F. Anderson, LPC-s has worked in the helping profession since he started college in 1990. After completing his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Texas, Austin in 1994, he attended the highly-regarded University of Minnesota to earn his Master’s degree in 1997. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor and is recognized as a Board Approved Supervisor by the State of Texas Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors. Jonathan has completed Level-2 of the Gottman Method of Couples Counseling, and in 1998 received training from the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation in Advanced Critical Incident Stress Management & Debriefing. To learn more about Jonathan’s practice, click here: Jonathan F. Anderson, LPC-s.

Begin personal change with mindfulness, discipline, and action

Learn more about Mindfulness-based Counseling in Austin.

Jonathan F. Anderson, LPC-s has worked in the helping profession since he started college in 1990. After completing his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Texas, Austin in 1994, he attended the highly-regarded University of Minnesota to earn his Master’s degree in 1997. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor and is recognized as a Board Approved Supervisor by the State of Texas Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors. Jonathan has completed Level-2 of the Gottman Method of Couples Counseling, and in 1998 received training from the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation in Advanced Critical Incident Stress Management & Debriefing. To learn more about Jonathan’s practice, click here: Jonathan F. Anderson, LPC-s.

Practicing Mindfulness: Balancing Intellectual Understanding and Experiential Knowing

When it comes to practicing mindfulness, it’s important to recognize the value of both intellectual understanding and experiential knowing. Intellectual understanding refers to knowing something ‘in-theory,’ while experiential knowing goes beyond theory and is actually experienced in reality. For example, you might intellectually understand what jumping out of a plane must be like, but you do not experientially know it. Your intellectual understanding may be enough to tell you, “Nope!” while your experiential knowing is grateful for listening to that intellectual understanding.

The intellect can be a wonderful teacher as long as you are open to the experiential knowledge it is trying to teach. If you are defensive and closed to the reality that you are experiencing, you’ll likely feel some form of suffering. Remember, according to many mindfulness teachers, including myself, suffering arises when we do not accept reality as it is. In psychology, this is called “Cognitive Dissonance.”

Reflecting on our experience with our rational mind (the intellect), without judgment, is a key aspect of practicing mindfulness. By using the “full” mind to know our reality, both the intellectual/rational mind and the emotionally-experiential mind, we can cultivate a sense of balance. This hybrid mind, which integrates both thinking and feeling minds, is called the Wise Mind. Accessing both intellect and emotion allows us to make wise decisions and gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and our experiences.

Learn more about Mindfulness-based Counseling in Austin.

Jonathan F. Anderson, LPC-s has worked in the helping profession since he started college in 1990. After completing his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Texas, Austin in 1994, he attended the highly-regarded University of Minnesota to earn his Master’s degree in 1997. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor and is recognized as a Board Approved Supervisor by the State of Texas Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors. Jonathan has completed Level-2 of the Gottman Method of Couples Counseling, and in 1998 received training from the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation in Advanced Critical Incident Stress Management & Debriefing. To learn more about Jonathan’s practice, click here: Jonathan F. Anderson, LPC-s.

The Practice of Mindfulness

The word “mindfulness” is becoming more familiar to the general public, and that’s a good thing. In a world full of violence and heartache, a mindful mind can help relieve suffering. Mindfulness is the practice of noticing what “is” without the addition of judgments of good or bad. For example, think of a time when you experienced physical pain but remained calm and found that the pain was not as bad as you would typically experience it. That was a moment of spontaneous mindfulness. We suffer when we are attached to things being “good” instead of “bad.” Eckhart Tolle, Wayne Dyer, Ram Dass, and others state that we suffer when we do not accept the current moment as it is – in other words, we suffer when we are not mindful. This is an important concept to understand.

It’s essential to become acquainted with mindfulness and the role it can play in your life. It’s also important to have an accurate understanding of what mindfulness means and how you can cultivate it based on your unique personality. For some, creativity is a path to mindfulness, while others find martial arts, meditation, focused curiosity, and asking certain contemplative questions throughout the day helpful in cultivating mindfulness.

Regardless of how you cultivate mindfulness, you’ll find that it starts to show up outside of your practice. At first, you may experience that flow state, sometimes called metacognition, in small flashes. With more practice, it will become more familiar and longer-lasting.

Mindfulness Practices

Like anything in life, we don’t just turn on mastery of mindfulness. Instead, we start with some concrete practices and gradually move towards mastery. Here are some practices to start with as you begin to explore your own self-awareness:

1. Meditation

Meditation is a mindfulness practice in and of itself. It’s important to note that the idea of meditation is not to make the mind stop thinking thoughts, as that would be mindlessness. Instead, the goal is to achieve a focused awareness of what thoughts are passing through your mind. When you start a mindfulness meditation practice, you may notice that all the noise in your mind appears to get louder. This is supposed to happen since you’re becoming more aware of that kind of noise. As you become more mindful of the noise, you get more accustomed to it, which in turn allows you to remain relaxed and aware of what “is” without judgments of good or bad.

A daily meditation practice should happen twice per day, once in the morning and once before bed, lasting about 3-5 minutes (longer is fine). To start, use a simple single-pointed meditation with your focus returning to your breath each time you realize that you have become distracted away from it.

2. Gratitude

When you take the time to notice what you are grateful for, you reward yourself with gratitude itself. This helps you train your optimism and repeat the mindful process.

3. Compassion

When you see somebody behaving poorly, such as being rude to a waiter or waitress, practice understanding that this is the behavior of somebody who is suffering. Gaining this perspective helps you tune into your authentic self where mindfulness comes from. Noticing that you care for others is a practice in cultivating mindfulness of compassion.

4. Kindness

Accessing your own kind nature is key to cultivating mindfulness through kindness. You can start by turning inwards and finding kindness within yourself, and then aim to extend that kindness towards others. Kindness can also be a result of compassion and gratitude.

5. Optimism

Optimism is a powerful practice that can be easily improved through repetition. The more you practice optimism, the better you get at it. Optimism can help cultivate mindfulness by tapping into the reward mechanisms of the mind. When you are optimistic and make changes that help you feel better (as a result of mindfulness), you reinforce mindfulness and the resulting optimism. This creates a great cycle that can help you cultivate mindfulness and positivity in your life.

By practicing kindness and optimism, you can cultivate mindfulness and create positive changes in your life. Give them a try and see how they can benefit you

Learn more about Mindfulness-based Counseling in Austin.

Jonathan F. Anderson, LPC-s has worked in the helping profession since he started college in 1990. After completing his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Texas, Austin in 1994, he attended the highly-regarded University of Minnesota to earn his Master’s degree in 1997. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor and is recognized as a Board Approved Supervisor by the State of Texas Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors. Jonathan has completed Level-2 of the Gottman Method of Couples Counseling, and in 1998 received training by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation in Advanced Critical Incident Stress Management & Debriefing. To learn more about Jonathan’s practice, click here: Jonathan F. Anderson, LPC-s.

Mindfulness: The Art of Being Present

When you look at the child in this picture, notice the 10,000-mile stare. This gaze is called the “10,000-mile stare,” and it happens when someone is totally absorbed in the moment. His eyes are open, but he is completely present with the smell of the flower. That’s mindfulness: absorption in the present moment. No judgment, just presence.

Mindfulness is simply noticing what is, without judging it or making assumptions as to why it is this way or that. It’s allowing your mind to do what it is designed to do at the most basic level: Notice reality, just as it is. Mindfulness master-teacher John Kabat-Zinn defines mindfulness as “paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally, to the unfolding of experience moment to moment.”

Now, it’s worth pointing out that Kabat-Zinn is a highly educated and respected professional with a Ph.D. in molecular biology from MIT.

Mindfulness practice helps everything from stress, anxiety, and depression to motivation, frustration, and insomnia. A mindfulness-based approach gives you the ability to recognize your anxiety triggers and develop an intuitive method to relieve anxiety when it shows up.

Meditation is a powerful way to practice mindfulness because it focuses not on an outcome like “no thoughts, no mind,” but instead on simple awareness of what the mind is doing. This is also called Meta-Cognition, or Meta-Awareness. The idea of attaining “no mind” works well for some, but leaves others bewildered as to why they can’t ‘make’ their mind stop working. To be clear, we don’t say “mindlessness,” instead, we say “mindfulness” because we are increasing our awareness of the mind’s antics for a period so that we get accustomed to it.

Mindfulness Practice: So Simple, It’s Hard

Many people talk about practices like mindfulness and meditation (the two are not unrelated; in my approach, meditation is an exercise in mindfulness) as being quite frustrating in the beginning, like they just can’t get them “right.” This is the stumbling block for most of us. We think that mindfulness means that we are not distracted by anything and that we are 100% in the present, 100% of the time, with zero distractions. But that’s not true. Mindfulness is much easier than that. The practice of mindfulness can seem difficult because we are not used to things being as they are. We add judgment and assumptions — the distractions. However, these distractions can be used as leverage. If we use meditation practice to help us release attachments from being perfect, then we become mindful of what it feels like to be distracted. In other words, as soon as we realize that we are distracted by judgments, assumptions, etc., we simply breathe in and think, “Ah. This is what distraction feels like. Ok.” Then we move on, exhaling, grateful for the realization that there is no reason to judge judgment (but if we do, breathe in and notice what it feels like to judge judgment, then exhale).

Once you have formed the new habit of letting go of attachment to perfection, doing it “right,” etc., mindfulness does kick in as a second-nature skill. So, how do we cultivate it? Well, meditation is a good start.

Mindfulness Practices

There are countless ways to cultivate mindfulness, so it’s essential to find a practice that feels natural to you. Here are a few examples:

Mindful Eating

Mindful eating involves slowing down, eliminating distractions, and fully experiencing the act of eating. For instance, let’s consider a simple yet healthy snack such as raisins. Take one raisin and place it in your palm. Observe the texture, shape, and color. Is it shiny? Does it have a stem hole on the tip? Then, gently roll the raisin between your thumb and index finger, feeling the texture, grooves, and softness. Next, bring the raisin to your nose, inhale its aroma, and notice any associated feelings it may elicit. Afterward, place the raisin in your mouth, but don’t immediately chew it. Instead, explore its texture with your tongue, roll it between your cheek and gum, and savor the flavor. Finally, when you’re ready, bite down slowly and experience the explosion of flavor. Take your time to swallow, and feel how the raisin goes down your esophagus and into your stomach. This technique works well with any food and can help you eat slower, enjoy food more, and consume less because you’re not rushing or overeating.

Mindfulness with Nature

Take a walk or sit on your patio, and immerse yourself in nature. Use all your senses to notice what you see, hear, smell, and feel. Pay attention to your body’s sensations and how you’re feeling. Try holding each position until you feel a shift in the wind, a bird chirping, or when the sun peeks through. Allow mindfulness to guide your practice. Alternatively, sit and observe nature around you, feeling the waves, the breeze, and everything else.

Mindful Body Awareness

Mindful body awareness is often part of Progressive Relaxation. Begin by lying down with a pillow under your knees to relieve lower back pressure. Starting with your toes, scan your body for tension, relaxation, or any other sensations, and move up to your feet, ankles, calves, shins, and knees. Breathe in and flex your muscles if you feel tension, then exhale as you release them.

You can also use your pulse for body awareness. Begin by feeling your heartbeat in your chest or place your hand over your heart if you’re having difficulty finding it. Next, find your carotid pulse using your middle and ring fingers, located to the side of the windpipe, and try locating it with your mind only. Be patient, as the pulse gets harder to locate the farther away from your heart you get. There are several pulse points on the body, including the head, arms, thumbs, and index fingers. The hardest one to locate is usually in the big toe. If you feel frustrated, inhale gently, acknowledge your feelings, and return to your practice.

If you come across any unique mindfulness practices, please email them to me at jonathan@gatehealing.com, and I’ll add them to this list.

Mindfulness through Study

Reading authors like John Kabat-Zinn, Eckhart Tolle, Wayne Dyer, Tich Naht Hahn, Alan Watts, and Ram Dass can help cultivate mindfulness. Check out my book list for more ideas.

Learn more about Mindfulness-based Counseling in Austin.

Jonathan F. Anderson, LPC-s has worked in the helping profession since he started college in 1990. After completing his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Texas, Austin in 1994, he attended the highly-regarded University of Minnesota to earn his Master’s degree in 1997. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor and is recognized as a Board Approved Supervisor by the State of Texas Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors. Jonathan has completed Level-2 of the Gottman Method of Couples Counseling, and in 1998 received training from the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation in Advanced Critical Incident Stress Management & Debriefing. To learn more about Jonathan’s practice, click here: Jonathan F. Anderson, LPC-s.

I’ve discussed the importance of mindfulness in almost every post on my blog, so I figure that doing a brief series on mindfulness would be helpful.

Visit the Mindfulness Archives to see all articles about Mindfulness.

Learn more about Mindfulness-based Counseling in Austin.

Jonathan F. Anderson, LPC-s has worked in the helping profession since he started college in 1990. After completing his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Texas, Austin in 1994, he attended the highly-regarded University of Minnesota to earn his Master’s degree in 1997. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor and is recognized as a Board Approved Supervisor by the State of Texas Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors. Jonathan has completed Level-2 of the Gottman Method of Couples Counseling, and in 1998 received training by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation in Advanced Critical Incident Stress Management & Debriefing. To learn more about Jonathan’s practice, click here: Jonathan F. Anderson, LPC-s.

How Mindfulness Practice Cultivates Metacognition

Metacognition is a valuable outcome of mindfulness practice. Mindfulness is the practice of noticing what is in your awareness without judging it as good or bad. For example, consider the mild pain associated with a splinter in your finger. Mindfulness of the mild pain would simply acknowledge the pain signal and suggest removing the splinter to relieve the pain. In contrast, suffering would involve negative self-talk and worry about potential infections.

Mindfulness is an example of being aware of what you are aware of, which is a form of metacognition. Practicing mindfulness can help you develop metacognition.

Cultivating Metacognition in Daily Life

1. Meditation

Regular meditation stimulates the pre-frontal cortex, which is responsible for metacognition. The diaphragmatic breathing technique, which can be found in this meditation article, helps stimulate this part of the brain. A specific focus, such as focusing on the breath, helps to keep the mind focused on mindfulness and tame the “monkey mind.” Giving the mind the task of observing the breath helps it stay grounded and focused on the present moment. If the mind wanders off, bring it back to the breath.

2. Ask Yourself Good Questions

Throughout the day, ask yourself questions that encourage introspection and inner focus, such as:

• How do I know I’m awake right now (vs being in a dream)?
• Who am I showing up as right now? My best self? My outgoing self? My shy self? Etc.
• Is what I am doing right now an example of my authentic self?
• What is each part of my body feeling right now?
• What emotions am I feeling right now?
• Any other questions that move you towards an inner focus on your experience of this present moment?

Notice that these questions all emphasize the present moment. Mindfulness and metacognition happen in the present moment. Your answers may shift from moment to moment, and that is okay. Just observe the shift and consider how it feels. Writing down your thoughts can be a helpful tool for introspection.

3. Journal

Cathartic writing can be a powerful way to express your metacognition regarding your thoughts about your daily experiences, your inner life, and how you write your “life script.” Focus on the present moment when journaling. Stay with whatever catches your attention and move to the next moment’s experience. If you find yourself writing about experiences from earlier in the day or about things that may happen in the future, make sure to capture your thoughts and feelings in the present moment as you contemplate those non-here-and-now moments.

Remember that cultivating metacognition is a process of practice and patience. You will gradually notice progress.

Learn more about Minfulness-based Counseling in Austin.

Jonathan F. Anderson, LPC-s has worked in the helping profession since he started college in 1990. After completing his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Texas, Austin in 1994, he attended the highly-regarded University of Minnesota to earn his Master’s degree in 1997. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor and is recognized as a Board Approved Supervisor by the State of Texas Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors. Jonathan has completed Level-2 of the Gottman Method of Couples Counseling, and in 1998 received training from the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation in Advanced Critical Incident Stress Management & Debriefing. To learn more about Jonathan’s practice, click here: Jonathan F. Anderson, LPC-s.

The Difference between Pain and Suffering

When you stub your toe, you feel pain physically. Suffering, on the other hand, is the mental turmoil that arises when you judge the pain, the situation, or even yourself. For instance, when you blame a sidewalk for your clumsiness or call it stupid, you are only causing more suffering for yourself. The sidewalk is just being a sidewalk and is not trying to hurt you. When you become aware of the difference, you can practice mindfulness to help you remedy pain and discomfort, rather than making it worse by overthinking and causing yourself more suffering.

In Pain? Show Up Anyway!

During a martial arts class a few years ago, I resisted a fall and ended up breaking my tibia. The pain was excruciating, and I was suffering even more by getting tensed up. My teacher came over and reminded me that I had one injury in my leg and didn’t need to make it two by hurting my head with my negative thoughts. He stabilized my leg and took me to the ER. After getting my super-cool space boot, I decided not to attend the next class because I had broken my tibia. However, my teacher advised me not to skip class just because of an injury.

If you are tired of suffering from pain, contact us at jonathan@gatehealing.com. We can help you learn how to practice mindfulness and deal with your pain.

Learn more about Counseling in Austin.

Jonathan F. Anderson, LPC-s has worked in the helping profession since he started college in 1990. After completing his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Texas, Austin in 1994, he attended the highly-regarded University of Minnesota to earn his Master’s degree in 1997. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor and is recognized as a Board Approved Supervisor by the State of Texas Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors. Jonathan has completed Level-2 of the Gottman Method of Couples Counseling, and in 1998 received training from the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation in Advanced Critical Incident Stress Management & Debriefing. To learn more about Jonathan’s practice, click here: Jonathan F. Anderson, LPC-s.

In dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), there is a wonderful explanation of how the best of our thinking and feeling minds can be accessed. This “Wise Mind” is based on the idea that the thinking brain and feeling brain both have validity and can be used to inform each other during difficult times.

Read about Flow Theory for another take on how the Wise Mind is a balance of two dynamics.

Thinking mind

The thinking mind does just that: It thinks thoughts. It uses logic, experience, etc. to make decisions. Very factual-based. For example, if you know you have six people eating dinner at your house, then you know that you’ll need 6 plates. The thinking mind also brings some much-needed logic to emotionally fueled decisions like how to handle a situation where somebody brings up a topic that isn’t really appropriate. Your feeling mind may feel embarrassment and/or anxiety; your thinking mind can help you improvise by gracefully changing the subject.

Feeling mind

The feeling mind does just that, too: It feels emotions. Eckhart Tolle teaches that emotions are the physical manifestations of thoughts; we feel them physically. When you have a stressful thought (thinking mind), like having too much work to get done in one hour, you feel your shoulders tense up, you may clench your jaw, etc. The common thread is tension in the physical muscle tissue. You feel the stress.

Wise mind

The combined experience of cognitive stress and emotional stress, plus some other factors, gives us a more inclusive experience of stress. If you ignore either side, you will have less information to help you decide your next move.

The Wise mind can be seen as the overlapping area between the Thinking and the Feeling minds. The amount of overlap, and which side has more influence changes with each situation.

“You think too much”

Ever been told that you think too much? You might experience this as “analysis paralysis;” this is when you see so many options that you try to think your way through the ins and outs of each and every option, to the point that you just short-circuit and don’t make a decision at all. Here’s a great parable demonstrating analysis paralysis:

A centipede is walking along and comes across a frog. Mr. Frog asks the centipede, “How do you know when to move each of those 100 legs? It seems quite confusing.” Mr. Centipede stops and responds to Mr. Frog, “Ya know, I’ve never really thought about it . . .” and then he thinks about it and says, “I guess I just do it.” Mr. Frog then says, “Ah. Good to know. Carry on.” Mr. Centipede then tries to walk away with his 100 legs, but cannot move. He looks at Mr. Frog and says, “Crap! Now that I’m thinking of what leg to move, I cannot move any of them!!”

GULP! Mr. Frog eats Mr. Centipede.

Sometimes, we need to use a great deal of the thinking mind, but in a tense situation, our ability to make a fast decision will involve intuition, which is a balance of thought and emotion.

Exercise

If you feel like you think too much, try practicing mindfulness of what your emotions are telling you in various situations. Don’t worry about accuracy, just notice your feelings, then allow your thinking mind to assign a word to that feeling (sad, glad, mad, scared, confused, etc). Writing these feelings down is just fine. Many find that very helpful.

“You’re too emotional”

Ever had people wonder why you get so upset at something? It may show up as road rage, or it could be that you take constructive criticism as a personal attack and break down into tears. Either way, the feelings are fine; it’s the intensity of the behavior that follows (uncontrollable sobbing, for example) that people are really noticing.

Let’s say the constructive criticism is from your boss. If you find yourself breaking down into sobbing when your job is not in jeopardy, etc., then your emotions may be leading your behaviors and your thoughts will help you keep things in perspective. In this example, being able to improvise (a fluid thought process) will help you let your boss know that you understand the issue and that you’re on top of it. Your heart may still be pounding, but your calmer response shows your boss as you’re somebody that can remain calm during emotionally intense situations.

In personal relationships, conflict can lead to very intense emotions. Being able to balance those emotions with effective thoughts helps you hear and understand the other person, which will help keep them calm and better able to hear and understand you. The wise mind is an important tool in communication.

Exercise

Notice what emotions come up in different situations (mindfulness). Jot down any patterns that stand out to you. Where do you remain calm, but could freak-out? Where do you freak-out, but probably don’t need to? Use your thinking mind to help you learn from those situations where you keep your cool. Begin to consider how you can use your thinking mind to counterbalance the situations where you may overreact. With road-rage, for example, you can practice realizing that the other driver may be racing to the hospital, etc. While it may not justify their dangerous driving, it helps you keep calm and not join in the danger by adding road rage.

Learn more about Mindfulness-based Counseling in Austin.

Jonathan F. Anderson, LPC-s has worked in the helping profession since he started college in 1990. After completing his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Texas, Austin in 1994, he attended the highly-regarded University of Minnesota to earn his Master’s degree in 1997. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor and is recognized as a Board Approved Supervisor by the State of Texas Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors. Jonathan has completed Level-2 of the Gottman Method of Couples Counseling, and in 1998 received training by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation in Advanced Critical Incident Stress Management & Debriefing. To learn more about Jonathan’s practice, click here: Jonathan F. Anderson, LPC-s.

Flow Theory is an integral part of Positive Psychology. It refers to a zone where you lose track of time, experience yourself on “auto-pilot,” etc. We’ve all been there, and we can recreate it!

When you’re “in the zone,” or “feeling the groove,” or just “flowing,” you are in a state of balance between traits like skill and challenge. When these traits are balanced, you feel like you’re on autopilot, though fully present with what you are doing. You may even feel a sense of timelessness where you start doing something and are enjoying it so much that when you look up, hours have passed; yet it only seems like minutes. We can harness this. Learn more about this flow zone.

Mihály Csíkszentmihályi is a renown psychologist at the University of Chicago and is responsible for a way of approaching psychology involving “Flow Theory” which uses tenants of Positive Psychology as its foundation.

If you’ve ever been “In the Zone” while playing a sport, for example, or “In the Groove” while playing an instrument, or “In the Flow” while dancing or practicing Tai Chi, then you have experienced the almost timeless experience of Flow Theory. As its name suggests, it refers to a balance of qualities that leads us to feel at our very best, in a natural state of enjoyment, with seemingly minimal effort, even if great focus and ‘effort’ is required.

Flow and balanced traits

Thinking Mind and Feeling Mind

What we see here is the relationship of 2 variables, in this case, the Thinking mind and Feeling mind. Too much thinking with not enough emotion leads to anxiety/stress, whereas too much emotion with not enough thinking leads to emotional burnout. But in a happy medium, we experience the flow-state of Wise Mind.

The 2 variables can be replaced with a variety of traits that when balanced lead to different flow-like experiences.

It’s really about enjoyment

Regardless of the balanced traits, most people report that they are absolutely enjoying themselves when in the flow/zone/groove state. When you apply Flow Theory to whatever part of your life that brought you to this website, you can see the value in the simple approach of finding what areas/traits are needing some balance.

Learn more about Counseling in Austin.

Jonathan F. Anderson, LPC-s has worked in the helping profession since he started college in 1990. After completing his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Texas, Austin in 1994, he attended the highly-regarded University of Minnesota to earn his Master’s degree in 1997. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor and is recognized as a Board Approved Supervisor by the State of Texas Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors. Jonathan has completed Level-2 of the Gottman Method of Couples Counseling, and in 1998 received training by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation in Advanced Critical Incident Stress Management & Debriefing. To learn more about Jonathan’s practice, click here: Jonathan F. Anderson, LPC-s.