What's with the attitude?

And when you're full. When you exercise, they tell the body how to consume energy stores. They control how you gain and lose weight. Essentially, they carry information from the body to the brain and back. As you can guess, these guys are very important. You don't want to mess with them. Think of your hormones as your body's bureaucrats. If you don't follow the specific guidelines required for them to function, like eating healthy, getting proper sleep and, of course, cutting down on stress, they will in turn, shut shop and promptly go on a six-hour tea break, crippling all further operations. Focus on emptying your lungs. Gently and calmly push out every last bit of air, until your lungs are completely empty and then allow them to fill by themselves. There's no need to take a deep breath in; See if you can simply allow this to happen, rather than forcing it. Observe your breathing as if you are a curious scientist who has never encountered anything like it before. Notice every little sensation: the air moving in and out of your nostrils; Notice how all these elements interact effortlessly. After the first ten breaths, allow your breathing to find its own natural rhythm. There's no need to keep controlling it. Your challenge is to keep the spotlight on your breath; MODIFYING BELIEFS In the previous article, we discussed how to identify important positive and negative beliefs, how to explain beliefs to clients, and how to motivate them to modify their beliefs.

When clients are in a maladaptive mode such as depression, it's important to In this article, you'll read about strengthening positive beliefs first and weakening negative beliefs second. In practice, you'll work on both kinds of beliefs at most sessions, either directly or indirectly. The techniques apply to both intermediate and core beliefs. Here are the questions that you'll find answers to in this article: How do you strengthen adaptive beliefs? How do you modify intermediate and core beliefs? STRENGTHENING ADAPTIVE BELIEFS Maternal depression: withdrawal from maternal role due to isolation, lack of social support, hormonal problems Maternal addiction to drugs or alcohol: maternal responsiveness reduced by mind-altering drugs Undiagnosed painful illness: conditions such as colic, ear infections, and so on Lack of attunement or harmony between mother and child: differences in temperament between child and parents Young or inexperienced mother: lack of parenting skills, including attachment skills These insecure relationships are not necessarily pure in their forms and may overlap one another. So to survive, the brain adjusts to insecurity in the attachment bond by developing in less-than-optimal ways. This readjustment to accommodate survival in less-than-secure situations, in turn, affects the way we feel about ourselves and how we communicate with others in the future. Symptoms of insecure attachment that carry over into adulthood include the following: Low self-esteem: needy, clingy, or I don't need anyone pseudoindependent behavior Now, the hormone for stress, as we learnt earlier, is called cortisol. To really understand how stress works on our body, let's go even deeper and look at the way cortisol works within us.

Cortisol is an important hormone that our body needs to function properly. It helps regulate blood pressure and the immune system and aids in the process of metabolizing proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. But if it is present in more than its normal quantity, it raises the blood pressure and results in stress-like symptoms like the vigorous pumping of the heart that can damage your arteries. This is the reason why it is most commonly known as the stress hormone. However, stress isn't the only reason for the body to produce cortisol. People who are depressed, pregnant, or very athletic will also have high levels of cortisol in their bodies. Chronic stress releases high levels of cortisol. This spikes up insulin levels, making you feel hungry. As you do this, let your thoughts float by like leaves on a stream. From time to time, your mind will hook you and pull you out of the exercise. You'll get caught up in everything and anything, from ancient memories to daydreams to what you're having for dinner. This is natural and normal, and it will keep on happening. Each time you realise you've been hooked, gently acknowledge it and refocus on your breath. If uncomfortable feelings show up, such as frustration, boredom, impatience, anxiety or backache, silently acknowledge them. Say to yourself, `Here's boredom' or `Here's frustration. Periodically your mind is likely to grumble or protest: `I can't do it', `It's too hard', `It's boring. But they are really not a problem. No matter how many hundreds or thousands of times your mind hooks you, as soon as you realise it, acknowledge it, unhook and refocus on the breath. Most people, unless they have strong personality disorder traits, have reasonably balanced, adaptive, realistic beliefs. But the schemas containing some of these positive beliefs become deactivated when clients are in the depressive mode.

It's important to reinforce these more positive beliefs (Ingram & Hollon, 1986; Padesky, 1994; Pugh, 2019) throughout treatment by helping clients engage in activities that could bring them a sense of mastery, pleasure, connection, and empowerment. Other important strategies include Eliciting Positive Data and Drawing Conclusions I started identifying and working to strengthen LENNY's positive, adaptive beliefs from the beginning of treatment, in many ways. In the following examples, I primarily address LENNY's core belief of incompetence/failure. Here's what I did when we initiated therapy and throughout our treatment: Inability to deal with stress and adversity: lack of self-control and inability to regulate feelings and emotions Inability to develop and maintain relationships: alienation from and opposition to parents, family members, and authority figures Antisocial attitudes and behaviors: aggression and violence Difficulty with trust: uncomfortable with intimacy and affection Negativity: hopeless, pessimistic view of self, family, and society Lack of empathy: absence of compassion and remorse Behavioral and academic problems: speech and language problems, difficulty learning Incessant chatter: can't listen or be still Depression: apathy, disinterest Susceptibility to chronic illness: always ill Cortisol also causes serotonin levels to fall, and depression, irritability, and unhealthy cravings set in. Proper exercise and healthy eating helps balance your cortisol levels.

Try and include whole grain bread, berries, mushrooms, green leafy vegetables, and casein-rich cottage cheese in your diet. But more on diet later. THE CORTISOL CONNECTION The bad news about cortisol The before and after of stress Stress causes physical changes to our body. So, while earlier your body and the different organs were functioning normally, now suddenly, when faced with a stressful situation, you feel you have more than normal strength and energy due to the presence of excess stress hormones in the body. Consequently, the blood flow to your brain and muscles increases up to 400 percent, your digestion stops, and muscles become taut and stiff, you breathe faster, and your heart rate increases to bring more oxygen to your muscles. Every time you do this, you are building a valuable skill: the ability to sustain focus. Once your time is up, expand your awareness to engage with the world around you. Keeping a spotlight on your breath, also bring up the lights on your body and your environment: push your feet into the floor, sit up straight, have a good stretch and notice what can you see, hear, touch, taste and smell. Once you have read the instructions at least twice, please do the exercise. Five minutes is a good length of time to begin with, but you can do more or less than that if you prefer. DID YOU GET HOOKED? How did you go with the exercise? If you've never done anything like this before, you are doing well if you last even ten seconds before you get hooked and pulled out of it. When we are new to mindfulness, most of are shocked at just how hard it is to stay focused. Of course, most of us have discovered certain activities in which we can maintain focus for long periods. At the beginning of each session, I asked LENNY, What positive things happened since I saw you last? What positive things did you do?