Halloween Edition

I was thinking of all things Halloween today and was reminded of a metaphor that explains the utility of mindfulness related to our mental health.

Think of the scariest movie you’ve seen. When we have disturbing thoughts and memories playing in our head, it can feel like we’re alone in a dark, old house in the middle of a storm watching a horror movie. Every noise outside the home, inside the home, and inside the movie makes us jump. We can feel our hearts pounding, our adrenaline is pumping - we’re too scared to move. That is one way to watch the horror movie. We can also think about the same movie playing in the corner of the room in the daytime with our friends and family around us laughing and having a good time. The movie hasn’t changed, but our focus on the movie has. Just like with our disturbing thoughts and memories - we may not be able to make them go away completely, but we can shift our focus onto other aspects of our life and let the movie play. (Harris, p.64-65)

As always, take what is helpful and leave the rest. I hope you have the week you need.

Adapted from: Harris, R. (2009). Act made simple. New Harbinger Publications, Inc.