
Self-care:
- True self-care is about constructing a life narrative that allows us to see what's gone wrong, what's gone right, and the best path forward.
- It involves fostering a sense of self-awareness within a framework that is known to work.
- Self-care goes beyond pampering oneself and includes taking care of basic needs such as nutrition, sleep, hydration, and healthy relationships.
- It also involves understanding one's own mind and asking specific questions to explore conscious and unconscious parts of ourselves.
- Self-inquiry can be done through journaling, meditation, structured thought, or in therapy with a licensed professional.
- Unprocessed trauma can inhibit our ability to practice effective self-care, so it's important to address and process traumatic experiences.
- Friendships and relational support systems play a role in the journey of self-exploration for mental health.
Self-Awareness and Salience:
- Self-awareness is an essential part of self-care and involves asking good questions about oneself.
- Exploring one's personal narrative through journaling or talking with others can lead to insights and understanding.
- The unconscious mind may work on unresolved issues during sleep or quiet moments, bringing revelations or insights to consciousness.
- Conflict between self-awareness practices and salience can arise when focusing on challenging thoughts or traumas. However, avoiding these topics may limit growth and healing.
- Addressing underlying issues that are salient but not consciously acknowledged can lead to greater peace, contentment, and agency.
Agency and Gratitude:
- Agency is an active process of engaging with oneself, others, and the world through clarity and understanding. It involves empowerment and humility.
- Gratitude is another verb state that arises from being present in the moment. It brings pleasure by appreciating safety, absence of pain, friends, romance, sex, food etc
- Both agency and gratitude contribute to the generative drive within us - the desire to make a positive impact and create a better life.
- Building self-awareness, addressing personal narratives, and fostering empowerment and humility can optimize agency and gratitude.
Generative Drive:
- The generative drive is the underlying motivation to improve oneself and contribute positively to the world.
- It involves taking care of oneself, engaging in healthy relationships, understanding one's role in the world, and striving for peace, contentment, and delight.
- Optimizing the generative drive leads to greater health on individual, relational, cultural levels.
- Healthier individuals collectively create healthier societies that prioritize well-being over rushing forward at the expense of others.
Defense mechanisms in action:
- Defense mechanisms are unconscious processes that protect us from anxiety or distress.
- Recognizing patterns of behavior can indicate the presence of defense mechanisms.
- Exploring narratives and understanding past experiences can help uncover defense mechanisms.
Salience:
- Salience refers to what we pay attention to internally and externally.
- Practices that shift focus between internal and external perception, such as visual exercises, can influence salience.
- Grounding oneself in the present moment can help manage salience and prevent panic attacks.
Function of self:
- The function of self includes elements such as self-awareness, defense mechanisms in action, salience, behavior, and strivings.
- Each element interacts with one another within the structure of self to shape our engagement with the world.
- Exploring each element individually can lead to a better understanding of oneself and facilitate personal growth.
Affect:
- Affect is the initial arousal of emotion in response to a stimulus
- Anger is an affect that can be aroused in us often without our conscious control
Feeling:
- Feeling occurs when we relate the affect to ourselves
- It involves matching the anger to self and internalizing it Emotion:
- Emotion occurs when we relate the affect and feeling to others in the world around us
- It involves directing the anger towards others through actions or words
- This can lead to anti-social behaviors and negative interactions with others
Managing Anger:
- Taking care of ourselves can decrease arousal of anger
- By tending to pillars of mental health, we can reduce anger levels and cope better with it
- Lower levels of anger are healthier and allow for pro-social behaviors
Impact of High Levels of Anger:
- High levels of anger lead to volatility and confusion
- They hinder our ability to be effective and make good decisions
- Online platforms like social media can exacerbate high levels of anger by providing constant access to triggering content
Importance of Self-Care:
- Engaging in self-care helps reduce arousal of anger and improve coping mechanisms
- Understanding ourselves and making choices based on self-improvement leads to healthier responses to anger
- Curiosity about self and life is key in navigating emotions and improving overall well-being