GenInv – Health and Wellness

At the Center for Mindfulness Psychotherapy in Boulder, Colorado, its founder Peter Strong has developed a unique strategy for working with persistent emotional problems such as depression, anxiety and trauma-related anxiety called Mindfulness Meditation Therapy (www.mindfulnessmeditationtherapy.com).

Emotions like depression and anxiety, or excessive worrying and fear, depend on negative core beliefs and ruminative negative thinking. Ultimately, we need to neutralize these negative beliefs an

d replace them with more functional positive and life-supporting beliefs and thinking. The issue, of course, is how do we do this? It is not sufficient to simply tell yourself to stop worrying or to stop having negative thoughts. If it was that easy then you would have corrected the problem long ago. We must take a deeper look at the mechanics of depression and negative beliefs if we are to make a beneficial change.

Fundamentally, negative thinking and associated beliefs are a form of habitual

mental reactivity that has become established and that operates unconsciously, without our choice or input. An event happens and a thought or emotional reaction arises in consciousness and then we automatically believe and identify with the reaction. He says such and such and a reaction of anger or hurt or disappointment arises in the mind. We then become the anger or hurt or disappointment. This is the nature of habitual reactivity: There is a trigger, which is an objective phenomenon; there i

s a subjective reaction to that phenomenon; and then there is identification with the subjective cognitive or emotional reaction followed by becoming the emotional reaction. This whole reactive sequence from trigger to becoming depends on two factors: Ignorance, or unawareness, and blind identification, or attachment with your subjective reactions.

The first step in Mindfulness Meditation Therapy (MMT) is to develop a clear and profound understanding that you do not have to become your reactions, and that you do not have to be victimized by your mental reactions. There is no law that condemns you to feel depressed because a depressing thought arose in your mind; or worried, because a worrying thought arose; or angry, because an angry thought arose. It is only because of our blind habitual identification with these mental objects that we become their victims. Therefore, the first and most important task is to awaken to what is going on and become aware of mental reactions as and when they arise. This is the first function of mindfulness training: learning to become vigilant and recognize a reaction as a reaction and stop right there, before it has the chance to proliferate into a full blown cognitive and emotional reaction. Catch the reactions at their initial stage, when they are still little more than an impulse. Learn to recognize the anger impulse and stop at that flash of recognition and before the impulse has a chance to manifest as a bodily reaction with accompanying angry thinking, angry speaking and angry actions. This is a skill that has to be developed, and success depends on catching the reaction early enough. But with practice, you will become more and more familiar with the subtle undercurrents and signs of an impending emotional reaction.

Depression feeds on negative thoughts that generate anxiety and a feeling of helplessness or loneliness or emptiness. Don’t be a victim of these mental objects, but take the initiative to learn to cultivate mindfulness of these mental reactions and catch them before they take hold. The same with fear reactions, worry reactions, stress reactions; reactions of disappointment, loss, sorrow, regret; anger, envy and jealousy; dislike, hatred, disapproval; or insatiable longing and wanting things to be a certain way. Rather than being a victim of your thoughts and emotions, learn to become an expert in recognizing what arises in your mind.

The second part of MMT is to learn how to respond to all these mental reactions after you have learned to recognize them when they arise. After Recognition comes Response and after Response comes Relationship.

The response phase of mindfulness starts by understanding that thoughts, emotions, beliefs, memories, perceptions, and, in fact, any contents that arise in the mind are simply that: contents, mental objects, things that take on a particular form depending on past conditioning. Ultimately, you are not your thoughts or emotions or any other of the bewilde