This is a FREE workshop originally presented at The Boulder Fusion Academy in April 2023 by Dr. Lisa Templeton, Ph.D.
Empowering Yourself With Mindfulness
Follow along with the free PowerPoint Presentation offered below!
At this workshop, you will learn about how to create more mindfulness in your life and how it can empower you to manage thoughts, feelings and behaviors more effectively. Check out the video presentation below and/or read through the PowerPoint Presentation
Rumi Poem Referenced in this class:
The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
— Jellaludin Rumi
Cognitive Distortions - AKA Weeds in your mindgarden
Although some automatic thoughts are true, many are either untrue or have just a grain of truth. Typical mistakes in thinking include:
1. All-or-nothing Thinking (also called black and white, polarized or dichotomous thinking) – you view a situation in only two categories instead of on a continuum. Example: “If I’m not a total success, I’m a failure.”
2. Catastrophizing (also called fortune telling) – you predict the future negatively without considering other, more likely outcomes. Example: “I’ll be so upset, I won’t be able to function at all.”
3. Disqualifying or discounting the positive – you unreasonably tell yourself that positive experiences, deeds, or qualities do not count. Example: “I did that project well, but that doesn’t mean I’m competent; I just got lucky.”
4. Emotional Reasoning – you think something must be true because you “feel” (actually believe) it so strongly, ignoring or discounting evidence to the contrary. Example: “I know I do a lot of things okay at work, but I still feel like I’m a failure.”
5. Labeling – you put a fixed, global label on yourself or others without considering that the evidence might more reasonably lead to a less disastrous conclusion. Example: “I’m a loser. He’s no good.”
6. Magnification/minimization – when you evaluate yourself, another person, or a situation, you unreasonably magnify the negative and/or minimize the positive. Example: “Getting a mediocre evaluation proves how inadequate I am. Getting high marks doesn’t mean I’m smart.”
7. Mental Filter (also called selective abstraction) – you pay undue attention to one negative detail instead of seeing the whole picture. Example: “Because I got one low rating on my evaluation (which also contained several high ratings), it means I’m doing a lousy job.”
8. Mind reading – you believe you know what others are thinking, falling to consider other, more likely possibilities. Example: “He’s thinking that I don’t know the first thing about this project.”
9. Overgeneralization – you make a sweeping negative conclusion that goes far beyond the current situation. Example: “Because I felt uncomfortable at the meeting, I don’t have what it takes to make friends.”
10. Personalization – you believe others are behaving negatively because of you, without considering more plausible explanations for their behavior. Example: “The repairman was curt to me because I did something wrong.”
11. “Should” and “must” statements (also called imperatives) – you have a precise, fixed idea of how you or others should behave and you overestimate how bad it is that these expectations are not met. Example: “It’s terrible that I made a mistake. I should always do my best.”
12. Tunnel Vision – you only see the negative aspects of a situation. Example: “My son’s teacher can’t do anything right. He’s critical and insensitive and lousy at teaching.”
Three Column Journaling Format
Column 1: Event/Situation Thoughts about event - thoughts move fast so write every thought you are having down sequentially.
Column 2: Feelings and Body sensations Rating of feeling intensity - go through each thought and identify how each thought makes you feel in your body.
Column 3: What thoughts are really true? Go to the courtroom of your mind and challenge. Reframe with a more true, balanced thought that is believable/statements that can be uplifting and realistic