{"id":534514,"date":"2010-04-19T10:22:12","date_gmt":"2010-04-19T14:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/notsalmon.com\/?p=306"},"modified":"2010-04-19T10:22:12","modified_gmt":"2010-04-19T14:22:12","slug":"happiness-tip-learn-how-to-ride-the-elephant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/534514","title":{"rendered":"Happiness Tip: Learn how to ride the elephant!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"elephant\"<\/p>\n

“Controlling the mind is a lot like riding an elephant,\u201d<\/strong> says Dr. Jonathan Haidt<\/em>, author of The Happiness Hypothesis.<\/em> \u201cThe elephant represents the powerful thoughts and feelings\u2014mostly unconscious\u2014that drive your behavior. Humans, although much weaker, can exert control over the elephant, just as we exert control over negative thoughts and feelings.\u201d
\nTo control your elephant, you must identify behaviors that get it feeling twitchy and thunderous.<\/p>\n

Are you kicking your elephant because you\u2019re not recovering fast enough from a challenge?<\/p>\n

Are you nagging him with upsetting, pessimistic ruminations\u2014you know, going over and over something in an attempt to make sense of it?<\/p>\n

When bad things happen, it\u2019s natural to overanalyze and obsess. But rumination keeps you stuck.<\/p>\n

As Albert Einstein said, \u201cWe can\u2019t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.\u201d<\/p>\n

To move forward, you need to switch mental tracks.<\/p>\n

\u201cContinually mulling over failure creates chronic stress,\u201d warns psychologist Everett Worthington. \u201cRumination is the number-one mental health bad boy;<\/strong> it\u2019s associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, anxiety and probably hives, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

BOUNCE BACK ASSIGNMENT:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Buy a journal. Write on the front: ELEPHANT RETRAINING JOURNAL.<\/strong> Every time you kick your elephant with a negative thought, write it down. After a week, look at your list. Notice anything? Are the same 3 (or 10) thoughts coming up again and again? If so, write down a persuasive rebuttal to dispute those thoughts — and make your elephant a gentler beast.<\/p>\n

THE ABOVE IS ADAPTED FROM MY ANTHONY ROBBINS’ LOVED BOOK: THE BOUNCE BACK BOOK! FOR MORE RESILIENCY PSYCHOLOGY TIPS, CHECK OUT THIS BOOK BY CLICKING THIS LINE-RIGHT HERE -RIGHT NOW! xoKaren<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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“Controlling the mind is a lot like riding an elephant,\u201d says Dr. Jonathan Haidt, author of The Happiness Hypothesis. \u201cThe elephant represents the powerful thoughts and feelings\u2014mostly unconscious\u2014that drive your behavior. Humans, although much weaker, can exert control over the elephant, just as we exert control over negative thoughts and feelings.\u201d To control your elephant, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-534514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534514\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}