What are you in the mood for, here and now?
Welcoming messages?
Smiles?
Validation?
Reality?
Being a follower?
Cats?
Flowers?
Food?
Mindfulness?
Are you in the mood for the rest of my photos from yesterday?
Are you in the mood for “In the Mood?”
As always, I’m in the mood for your comments.
I hope you’re in the mood for my gratitude!
Regular readers of this blog know I often write about the cognitive distortions described by Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, including overgeneralization, mind reading, catastrophizing, personalization, comparisons, shoulds, and labeling/name-calling. Regular readers of this blog do NOT know that I soon will be performing my latest original song (titled “Nobody’s Perfect” and co-written with a Social Work intern at work named Nat) with other musicians, and we’re thinking of calling ourselves “The Cognitive Distortions.”
Last night, my boyfriend Michael and I were experiencing cognitive distortions when we were both making overgeneralizations about human beings. Our cognitive distortions have increased since the last U.S. Presidential election as we both try to make sense of the human behavior described in the media, by cognitively debating and trying to understand what people are really like and why they say what they say and do what they do.
Do you see any cognitive distortions in this part of our discussion last night?
Michael: I think people who say “I believe in him” or “I believe in that” know, on some level, that those things are not true.
Me: Michael, this is the same disagreement we constantly have. I think that a lot of people really believe what they say. How do you know what they really believe? That’s overgeneralization and mind reading.
Michael: How do YOU know what they really believe?
Me: I don’t really know, but I’ve encountered so many people in individual and group therapy who seem to really believe what they say they believe.
Michael: And I’ve encountered thousands of people through my work in the food industry.
Me: THOUSANDS?
Michael: Let me tell you a story that sums up my experience of people. There was this woman I used to work with. One day, somebody asked her if she believed in ghosts. She said, “No.” And then she added, “But I’ve seen one.”
Me (laughing): I’m putting that in tomorrow’s blog.
Do you see any cognitive distortions in today’s photos?
I just searched YouTube for “cognitive distortions” to see if any musical group already has that name. This is what I found:
Feel free to express your cognitions and feelings about Cognitive Distortions, below.
Thanks and appreciation to all who helped me express the cognitive distortions in today’s post and — of course! — thanks and appreciation to YOU.
Yesterday, in a therapy session, somebody talked about feeling expendable. When someone labels themselves in a painful way, I write the word up on the board, to get it out of the person’s head and so that we can look at the label with different perspectives, perhaps making the unhelpful label expendable.
A definition of “expendable” may be expendable, but I’m sharing it anyway.
ex·pend·a·ble
/ikˈspendəb(ə)l
adjective
of little significance when compared to an overall purpose, and therefore able to be abandoned.
“the region is expendable in the wider context of national politics”
synonyms: dispensable, able to be sacrificed, replaceable
(of an object) designed to be used only once and then abandoned or destroyed.
“the need for unmanned and expendable launch vehicles”
As I read that definition, it occurs to me that many people might be feeling expendable, as the current U.S. government shutdown drags on and on.
In that therapy session yesterday, I invited the expendable-feeling person to name what is opposite to expendable. Here’s one non-expendable word:
Another opposite-to-expendable word was “valuable.” Apparently a picture of that word was expendable.
Wait! I found “valuable” on this scale, which I drew on the board:
It might be valuable and appreciated, here and now, if I ask my readers these questions: Do you ever feel expendable? Appreciated? Valuable? Where are you on that scale, as you read this? What helps you feel less expendable and more valuable and appreciated?
I wonder if any of the photos in this post are expendable, appreciated, and/or valuable.
It’s always appreciated when my non-expendable boyfriend Michael asks me to dance, and last night, after his very appreciated and valuable dinner (pictured above), we danced to this music, which is the opposite of expendable to me.
I really appreciate that Michael danced with me for the full eight-and-a-half minutes of that highly valued McCoy Tyner tune.
I hope you know that your comments are very valuable and appreciated.
Finally, here is some non-expendable gratitude for all who helped me create this post and — of course! — for YOU.
The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally 