Three moves to train your brain to come to your rescue!!!!

original post by

Three Moves to Train Your Brain to Come to Your Rescue
By: Bean Jones

Anyone up for karaoke therapy? An upbeat tune such as "Walking on Sunshine" can help you see the silver lining. (At the very least, it'll take your mind off your worries for a few minutes.)

If you're feeling down and out, it doesn't necessarily mean that you're doomed to be in a depressive rut. In his book The Brain That Changes Itself, Dr. Norman Doidge points out that you can train your brain to help you snap out of your funk. Here are some of the mental moves that he highlights:

1. Smoke out the blues. You can effectively avoid depressive thoughts if you know what triggers them. Dr. Doidge advises: "Determine exactly when your funk began." If the source isn't obvious, get a notebook and write down what's going on inside your head. Doing so will help you come to deal with your "emotional demon" in your own terms. You'll find that it's not as scary as it seems once you've brought it out in the open.

2. Own up to your anger. Denial of your anger will only stress you out. "Chronic suppressed anger can turn off one of the brain's major anti-anxiety switches," says Dr. Doidge. When this happens, you anger can literally eat you up inside and, pretty soon, you're getting sick. Excess stress often leads to psychosomatic ailments.

3. Substitute your obsessions. "Everyone has a mechanism to notice mistakes, an anxiety center to prompt responses and a gearshift that pushes the brain to move on," states Dr. Doidge. "In worry-prone people, that gearshift gets stuck." Thus, when you feel the urge to obsess, you can distract yourself with things that you enjoy doing or tasks that will make you feel productive, such as reading a book or organizing your closet.

Barring any hormonal imbalance or diagnosed disorders, you can usually use positive thoughts to help you get through tough situations. At times, it's really just all in your head and your brain may very well be the only "rescue party" you'll ever need.

Care to find out what other cool moves the human brain can do? Sign up for Catalog of Esoteric Psychological Lore (The Most Comprehensive Collection of Forbidden Psychological Tricks, Tactics, and Techniques Ever Assembled).