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ADHD Diagnosis: Complexities and Caveats

The Philippines has made significant strides in mental health awareness, thanks to professionals, advocates, and service users’ efforts. Initiatives such as the Philippine Mental Health Act (R.A. 11036) and the recognition of the rights of psychosocial disabilities under the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons (R.A. 7277) have played pivotal roles in this progress. Advocacy groups are also pushing for legislation like the Neurodivergent People’s Rights Act (H.B. 9787).

Despite these advancements, stigma and misunderstanding surround neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This is a developmental disorder characterized by patterns of hyperactivity, inattention, or a combination of the two. A diagnosis is given based on the severity of symptoms, level of impairment, and the presence of symptoms since childhood. Globally, ADHD affects 5-7.2% of youth and 2.5-6.7% of adults ,,; but Philippine figures are unfortunately scarce and outdated.

Consider a young boy in his Grade 1 classroom, labeled as “makulit,” “pasaway,” and even “bad,” while he struggles with symptoms of ADHD that go unrecognized. Similarly, imagine a woman in a bustling high-rise building, where her difficulties staying organized lead to exclusion from important email correspondences and social gatherings, all because her colleagues are unaware of her ADHD diagnosis.

Unfortunately, ADHD is still so often shrouded in stigma. Those grappling with the disorder find themselves wrestling to keep pace with the demands of daily life, be it at school, work, or social settings.

Recognizing ADHD as a genuine challenge and not a character flaw, is vital for supporting individuals and dispelling misconceptions.This condition, when properly diagnosed, can be life-saving, paving the way for individuals to alleviate suffering and reclaim their power. But however well-intentioned, there is still a risk of overdiagnosis- an issue that is particularly prevalent in the realm of ADHD, but also within the realm of mental health diagnoses at large. Overdiagnosis can occur due to various factors, ranging from clinician practices to caregiver influences, but this often looks like overprescription of medications and unnecessary interventions. In the case of ADHD, changes in criteria in the

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders between its fourth and fifth editions have contributed to this concern- it added examples of symptoms seen in adolescents and adults, lessened impairment criteria, and revised the age of onset.

We must also remember that for children, a certain level of kulit is normal and developmentally appropriate. It is a quintessential part of childhood, after all — to dash around, create chaos, and indulge in one’s imagination. However, what distinguishes ADHD diagnosis is the severity and persistence of symptoms over time to the point that there is impairment.

Context also may play a role in facilitating overdiagnoses and misdiagnoses. While legislative progress and heightened awareness have improved access to care, our “digital by default” age has introduced new challenges, further complicating the diagnostic process for mental health disorders. For example, during the pandemic, the proliferation of misleading TikTok videos about ADHD posed a significant risk, as many individuals were facing attention challenges. A study revealed that over half of these videos were misleading, with non-healthcare professionals being the primary uploaders, potentially leading to widespread misinformation and self-diagnosis among their viewers.

On the other hand, many individuals may go undiagnosed until much later, their struggles well-masked by societal expectations and coping mechanisms. There exist gendered differences in the diagnosis of ADHD: boys are significantly more diagnosed with ADHD compared to girls due to differences in presentation. Girls with ADHD often exhibit the inattentive type, which may not manifest as disruptive behavior and consequently may be overlooked for treatment unless their symptoms significantly impact their daily functioning.

And with any diagnosis, whether physical or not, early intervention is crucial. Effective treatment during childhood can significantly improve symptoms and overall functioning, leading to better outcomes. Unfortunately, if left untreated until adulthood, ADHD can result in chaotic lifestyles, other co-occurring mental disorders, and challenges in various aspects of life.

The journey towards an ADHD diagnosis can be unexpectedly complex. For individuals who resonate with ADHD symptoms, every step of the way demands cautious decision-making. It is crucial to be discerning with the information you consume and the healthcare providers that you trust. Ensure that they are equally diligent.

Self-reflection is also essential. Clarify your “why” behind seeking a diagnosis—It could be that receiving ADHD treatment might help you lead a much more fulfilling life. It could also be that you want relief from years of overcompensation. Whatever your “why” is, seeking a comprehensive assessment is essential in this process to tailor-fit treatment to your unique brain. It is not a one-size-fits-all diagnosis, however general the diagnostic manual may make it appear to be; a detailed picture of how your mind works, pinpointing your strengths and challenges, will help specify what you need.

Seeking consultations from various professionals, such as clinical psychologists and psychiatrists, can offer valuable insights and interventions for managing ADHD. Therapy is a crucial component of tailored interventions—it provides individuals with a safe space to learn more about themselves, as well as equips them with essential skills and strategies to cope with their symptoms. Additionally, executive function coaching can further empower individuals with ADHD to navigate daily challenges effectively and achieve their goals. Executive function coaching focuses on enhancing skills like organization, time management, and task prioritization- these are skills that are often affected by ADHD symptoms. By addressing these areas, your quality of life may be significantly enhanced.

Despite the leaps and bounds in mental health perceptions, access, and service delivery, there is still much work to be done. Whether for ourselves or others, there is no time like the present to advocate for better education on mental health concerns like ADHD. Indeed, it is an ongoing journey to challenge misconceptions, develop discernment, and embrace the complexities of these issues. However, it is essential to see the merit in all this effort, to recognize that finally receiving the proper help can save lives. By advocating for improved access to accurate diagnosis and comprehensive treatment, we can empower individuals with ADHD to finally thrive in their communities.

For Executive Functioning (EF) coaching and other clinical services, contact us at clinic@wethriveinc.com.

Sources:

https://lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2018/ra_11036_2018.html
http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/research/Philippines/RA%207277%20-%20Magna%20Carta%20of%20Disabled%20Persons.pdf
https://hrep-website.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/legisdocs/basic_19/HB09787.pdf
Posner J, Polanczyk GV, Sonuga-Barke E. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Lancet. 2020;395(10222):450–462. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(19)33004-1.
 Song P, Zha M, Yang Q, Zhang Y, Li X, Rudan I. The prevalence of adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: A global systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Global Health. 2021;11:04009. doi: 10.7189/jogh.11.04009.
Thomas R, Sanders S, Doust J, Beller E, Glasziou P. Prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a systematic review and metaanalysis. Pediatrics. 2015;135(4):e994–e1001. doi: 10.1542/peds.2014-3482.
 Merten, E. C., Cwik, J. C., Margraf, J., & Schneider, S. (2017). Overdiagnosis of mental disorders in children and adolescents (in developed countries). Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health, 11, 1-11.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. DSM-5 Changes: Implications for Child Serious Emotional Disturbance [Internet]. Rockville (MD): Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US); 2016 Jun. Table 7, DSM-IV to DSM-5 Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Comparison. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519712/table/ch3.t3/ 
American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Neurodevelopmental disorders. In Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.).
Yeung, A., Ng, E., & Abi-Jaoude, E. (2022). TikTok and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a cross-sectional study of social media content quality. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 67(12), 899-906.
Bruchmüller, K., Margraf, J., & Schneider, S. (2012). Is ADHD diagnosed in accord with diagnostic criteria? Overdiagnosis and influence of client gender on diagnosis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 80(1), 128–138. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026582 
 Ginsberg, Y., Quintero, J., Anand, E., Casillas, M., & Upadhyaya, H. P. (2014). Underdiagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adult patients: a review of the literature. The primary care companion for CNS disorders, 16(3), 23591.

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Blog Wellbeing Practices

Living The Way Of The Force: Fostering Mindfulness As Taught By Star Wars

Qui-Gon: “Do not center on your anxieties, Obi-Wan.
Keep your concentration here and now, where it belongs.”

Obi-Wan: “But Master Yoda says I should be mindful of the future.”

Qui-Gon: “But not at the expense of the moment. Be mindful of the living Force, young Padawan.”

*** 


Spoiler warning: This article contains references from scenes in the Star Wars movie franchise. Reader discretion is advised as these references may be spoilers for those who have yet to watch the movies.

The Force has always been an enigmatic, mysterious concept in the Star Wars universe harnessed by both Jedi and Sith alike that fuels their abilities and lightsabers; and has been thought of as an “invisible energy” that ties every being in the universe together. In order for The Force to be harnessed, one must look insightfully into themselves to find a balance between the light and the dark parts within; to attune oneself into the present moment; and expand one’s awareness of thoughts, emotions, and sensations, allowing them to simply “just be” without judgment  and letting go of them when need be.

The ways in which Star Wars’ The Force has been described and harnessed by its users can often be interpreted as a fantastical analog to the present-day concept and experience of mindfulness, a way of doing things and living life that has been practiced and used in different therapies (especially those of the Cognitive-Behavioral family of therapies such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) to help people live meaningful lives while acknowledging and tolerating suffering as an essential human condition, and accepting and enacting change within ourselves and with others.

It is a well-known fact that Star Wars hugely borrows a multitude of motifs and themes from different cultures and spiritualities. The nature of The Force and much of the Jedi way of life borrows their motifs from the spirituality of Zen Buddhism (“Zen”, for short)— not a religion or ideology, but a way of living and the manner by which a person thinks or does things mindfully. The Jedi Code, the code that guides the way of Jedi life and their morals, is closely inspired by The Four Noble Truths of Zen Buddhism.  These Noble Truths were taught by The Buddha himself and dissects upon the nature of suffering, how we may transcend beyond that suffering, and how we may live meaningful lives despite suffering: The First Truth, The Reality of Suffering; The Second Truth, The Cause of Suffering; The Third Truth, The End of Suffering; and the Fourth Truth, The Eightfold Path Leads to Nirvana (or simply called “enlightenment” or “awakening”,  freedom from suffering).

Zen considers suffering as a fundamental condition of humanity through The First Truth, where life is not without physical and mental suffering, and emotional stress. We simply cannot live perfect lives and run from suffering.  The Second Truth teaches us that suffering is not random at all, and comes from the attachment to desires, our moving goalposts— our should haves, would haves, and shouldn’t haves— and our pursuit of and hanging on to impermanent, fleeting pleasures. In this pursuit and effort to satisfy and hold on to our desires and material wants that are essentially impermanent, these desires and material wants are destined to be lost that would in turn, lead to our disappointment, regret and pain. We see this in the example of Anakin Skywalker, who would later become the infamous Darth Vader after he is consumed with his fears. He becomes extremely attached to Padme Amidala, and encounters a vision of her dying in the future. Consumed by the future and his fear of losing her, he seeks to become more powerful by heeding his Dark Side, allowing himself to be overridden by his emotions in an effort to prevent his fears. Out of his fear of losing who it was that he was most attached to, he stopped at nothing to attempt to prevent that from happening— even if he must upturn the galaxy and harm the innocent. 

***

Yoda: “Careful you must be when sensing the future, Anakin. The fear of loss is a path to the dark side.”

Anakin: “I will not let these visions come true, Master Yoda.” 

Yoda: “Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force… [Extreme] Attachment leads to jealousy. The shadow of greed, that is.”

Anakin: “What must I do, Master Yoda?”

Yoda: “Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose”

***

But if life is not without suffering, and that it is a fundamental, inevitable condition of humanity, how then, can we be freed from it? The Third Noble Truth answers this, as supported by Master Yoda’s wisdom above: by letting go. In order to alleviate the effect of suffering on our lives, we must first remember its source: attachment to impermanent desires and material wants. While it is perfectly human to desire and want, it is the tenacious chase over often-unrealistic desires and wants that we cannot fulfill as well as with the fear of losing already-attained pleasures that fills us with pain. We often mistakenly illusion ourselves that it is want and desire that holds on to us in a vice grip. We are conditioned that we must absolutely “get that job”, “own that big house”, “have a complete family”, or “make it big” in life. While these are ideal, can contribute to a meaningful life, and would be amazing to all have in our very own lives, we find that the world is never ideal. When despite our best efforts and resources we languish still chasing after these—perhaps, we can take a pause and discern with our wisdom if these goals still work for us realistically. Zen teaches us that it is we who clutch over these wants and desires— that we are indeed empowered to decide to loosen our own grip over them and ultimately let go of things that no longer work for us.  

Suffice to say, mindfully “letting go” can be easier said than done. It is not something we can do overnight. It is a habit, a process, a series of learned behaviors that we must cultivate over time and train ourselves that it all becomes easier in the long run. In the same vein, we look at when Master Yoda trains a young Luke Skywalker in Dagobah. Luke, being a new Force-user, attempts to Force-pull his crashed ship out from sinking in the swamps with little yield and readily gives up. Master Yoda admonishes him, “You must unlearn what you have learned. Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try.” Thereafter, Master Yoda shows what a lifetime (in his case, over eight hundred years) of practice of The Force, a lifetime of meditation and practice of The Jedi Code cultivates this ability in incremental steps. These incremental steps of practicing mindfulness and training our minds to let go more readily, when done daily, snowballs in weeks, to months, and to years of mastery. We then see Luke in the more recent The Last Jedi movie, now a Jedi Master as was once Yoda before him, with the ability to easily muster the power of his mind and The Force exponentially more than when he was first trained in Dagobah. We often stop ourselves short on our own journeys towards changing the way we think towards wellbeing, telling ourselves punitively, “I can’t change,” or that “I’ll always be like this”. To circle back on Master Yoda’s words: “Do, or do not.” Like Luke’s journey of mastering his own mind and The Force, we must start somewhere, anywhere and decide to take the first step, keeping one foot after the other day after day in training our own minds to be more mindful.

It then becomes a question of “how” we can cultivate a habit of readily and mindfully letting go of wants and desires that no longer serve us. This is where the Fourth Noble Truth of Zen comes in: The Eightfold Path. This Eightfold Path is a fundamental teaching in Buddhism that outlines the path towards the alleviation of suffering, consisting of eight interdependent and interconnected steps that guide us toward ethical conduct, mental discipline, and wisdom, ultimately leading us to health and well-being where we strike the balance between the extremes of self-indulgence and total self-denial (hence, The Eightfold Path also dubbed “The Middle Way”).  The Middle Way resonates powerfully with the canonical, alternate version to the original Jedi code (often criticized for having been written in an extremist perspective of only validating our “Light” sides) in newer Star Wars media, that establishes harmony with the Sith Code (which has also been written as an extremist perspective of only validating our “Dark” sides). In finding this synthesis with the Sith code, the existence of emotion is valued and heeded with peace, ignorance is forgiven and equipped with knowledge, passion is tempered by serenity, we find harmony with our chaos, and death or impermanence is accepted as a part of life. Hence, the balance between Light and Dark is struck, the duality of our persons and reality itself made meaningful and nuanced. 

***

Emotion, yet peace.

Ignorance, yet knowledge.

Passion, yet serenity.

Chaos, yet harmony.

Death, yet the Force.

An alternate version of The Jedi Code from the comic, Star Wars: Kanan 7th issue

***

Among these steps in The Middle Way  or The Eightfold Path is The Right Mindfulness in cultivating this balance over our “Light” and “Dark” sides. What is mindfulness, exactly? Mindfulness has to do with the quality of awareness or the quality of presence one brings to daily living. In her Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Skills Manual, psychologist and Zen practitioner Marsha Linehan (2014) defines mindfulness as “a set of skills, a practice of intentional observing, describing, and participating in ‘what is’ nonjudgementally, without attachment in the moment, and with effectiveness”. Mindfulness as a practice is the repeated effort of directing the mind back to awareness of the present moment; a repeated effort of letting go of judgements and letting go of attachment to current thoughts, emotions, sensations, activities, events, or life situations.  To better understand mindfulness, we talk about “what” it is and “how” it is done. 

On “what” mindfulness is, it is:

  1. Observing. It is attending to events, emotions, and behaviors without necessarily trying to put a stop to them when they’re uncomfortable or painful, or trying to prolong them when they’re pleasant. It is allowing yourself to experience and tolerate with awareness, in the moment, whatever is happening, rather than leaving a situation  or trying to put an end or prolong an emotion. It also includes the ability to discern whether an event, an emotion or behavior is coming up and being able to decide to step back and let go if need be. 
  2. Describing. It is applying verbal labels to internal and external events that we’re able to exercise effective communication with others so that they may understand us, and allows us to recognize the happenings in our internal worlds— our thoughts, emotions, and sensations— so that when they’re recognized, we are then able to decide how to treat with them. 
  3. Participating. It is the ability to participate with our attention and being able to enter oneself completely into the goings-on and events of the current moment, without completely separating from them. 

On “how” mindfulness is done, we would think about how we can mindfully observe, describe, and participate:

  1. Nonjudgementally. It is quite human to judge, to evaluate things and events such as emotions or thoughts as “good” or “bad”. Instead, what mindfulness encourages us to do is to take a nonevaluative approach, wherein we drop our judgements of things and events as either falling in the binary of “worthwhile” and “worthless”; and rather see things happening as simply, outcomes or consequences of behaviors and events. Because of this shift in understanding, we learn to see that when these behaviors and events cause destructiveness and suffering upon oneself and/or others, we can uphold the space to decide on changing these behaviors or events. 
  2. One-Mindfully. This is about focusing the mind and awareness in the current moment’s activity, rather than splitting attention among several activities or between a current activity and thinking about something else in auto-pilot mode. Often, we’re distracted by thoughts and images of the past, worries about the future, relentless and punishing thoughts about our problems and our negative moods; that we forget to live in the present moment for what it is. When doing things one-mindfully, we focus our attention on one task at a time, engaging in it with alertness, awareness, and wakefulness.
  3. Effectively. Being mindful entails focusing on what works, rather than what is “right” versus “wrong”, or “fair” versus “unfair”. Being effective means allowing yourself to let go of the need to be or feel “right”. This determination to be “right” can in itself, be self-defeating, unrealistic, and sometimes harmful. However, we must strike a balance between validating our own perceptions, judgements, and decisions as “right” to an extreme, and giving in extremely such that we invalidate ourselves completely. 

An exemplary example of mindfulness being illustrated in the Star Wars franchise is when Rey meets Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi, coming forward under his tutelage and asking him about the true nature of The Force. She has very little idea of what harnessing The Force means, and so, he invites her to meditate and experience it for what it is. During this mindfulness exercise that he invites her to do, a meditative practice, she closes her eyes and attunes her full attention to what exists around her in the present moment— things often taken for granted when our attention is stuck thinking about the past and the future. Rey, during this meditative scene, perceives the world around her, accompanied by a visual montage that shows us that we can focus our attention to even the smallest and simplest of external things and events (such as the grass, the sunlight, the sound of the waves and creatures around her), and that doing so cultivates our ability to become mindful. 

***

Luke: Sit here, legs crossed [tapping to a rock]. The force is not a power you have. It’s not about lifting rocks. It’s the energy between all things, a tension, a balance, that binds the universe together. Close your eyes. Breathe. Just breathe. Reach out with your feelings. What do you see?

Rey: The island. Life. Death and decay, that feeds new life. Warmth. Cold. Peace, and violence. 

Luke: And between it all…?

Rey: …balance. Energy. A Force.

Luke: And inside you…?

Rey: Inside me, that same force.

***

When Luke invites her to look inward, Rey finds that she can also be mindful of her internal workings, an awareness of both her Light and Dark, her hopes and fears. As she sits in meditation, she’s slowly led by her mind into her dark place. The emotions of anger and fear are ushered into her consciousness as dark imagery overwhelms her. She doesn’t resist the Darkness within her, but still acknowledges it; rather than to turn a blind eye to it and deny its existence. At times, our Dark side exists and resurfaces, simply mechanisms that have protected us in the past hard-wired overtime. Like Rey, we can see our Dark sides as what they are, see them eye-to-eye, acknowledge them and discern what it is they are telling us. In the words of Master Luke, “It offered you something you needed.” 

While The Force doesn’t exist in our galaxy, we can still learn from how The Jedi use it to guide their lives. We can use these lessons about the Force as a gateway to studying mindfulness and putting practices into action.

Ready to live The Jedi Way and practice mindfulness in your everyday life? Here are some mindfulness practices that you can do:

In the words of Jedi master Qui-Gon Jinn, he reminds us, “Remember, concentrate on the moment. Feel, don’t think. Use your instincts.” He reminds a young Anakin before his podrace to be present in the current moment, to free his mind from distractions and overthinking. 

Practice

  • Choose one activity that you do daily. It could be preparing or eating a meal, drinking your favourite beverage, listening to music, taking a walk outside or doing an exercise.
  • For five minutes, use your senses— touch, taste, smell, sight, hearing— and focusing your full attention to notice the sensations around you, whether it be the temperature of your beverage, how the soles of your feet touch the ground as you walk, or the the flavor of what you’re eating. 
  • When you notice your mind wander to anything else that is not in the present moment, acknowledge the distraction briefly, and redirect your attention to the activity that you are doing and the sensations that come with it. 

Just like Jedi Masters who equip their Padawans (or students) with the practice of The Force, there are people in our lives that have helped us and made us who we are, supporting us along the way to become better and towards living a more meaningful life. For these things and people, we learn to count them as gifts that we may have taken for granted and only realize to give thanks when we pause. Remembering the people and things we are thankful for can help our minds mindfully attune to the positive things in our life.

Practice:

  • Select any blank notebook as your gratitude journal. You may also use a document on a computer, or an app on your phone. 
  • Either just after you wake or right before bed, write down the date and at least three things or people you are grateful to have in your life, and write a sentence (or two) about why they make you feel this way. Your gratitude can be for something big or small. 
  • Occasionally look back through the journal and notice how much you have been grateful for. When you can, thank the people who have played a part in what you’re grateful for!

In a moment of redemption in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Kylo Ren converses with the memory of his father, Han Solo, and voices out about his struggle to let go of his extreme anger, that which fuels his Dark Side, “I know what I have to do [to let go], but  I don’t know if I have the strength to do it.” To which his memory of his father replies to him, “You do.” In the same way, when we feel extremes of emotion, we feel like we have no control over them and are gripped by them. Mindfulness enables us to acknowledge our extreme waves of emotion and allow us to ride them until they tide over, tolerating them until we return to equilibrium. 

Practice:

  • Whenever you think of an uncomfortable emotion, pause and notice it. Acknowledge what you are thinking (i.e. “I’m thinking that I’m not good enough”, “I’m having the thought that I might make a mistake.”) or what you’re feeling (i.e. “I don’t feel confident” or “I noticed I’m feeling anxious.)
  • As you notice your feelings, observe everything about it. How does your body react to it? What are the sensations you’re feeling? Perhaps you feel tension in your jaw, or your back muscles, or that you’re breathing much more quicker. Also notice how long you’re lingering on the thought or emotion. 
  • Ask yourself, “What are my feelings telling me? What is it that my body needs?” Perhaps it is to re-evaluate what we are doing, or to take a break and rest, or to advocate for ourselves and our needs.  
  • Remind yourself that feelings are temporary and will dissipate in due time, or can be likened like a wave that gets smaller as it reaches the shore. You may remind yourself, “This feeling will pass.” while stepping back and practicing techniques that help your body reach equilibrium (see: body scan and mindful breathing below).

The Jedi practice being attuned to the sensations of their body, with their body to keep them in fighting fit form in protection of the innocent. With this attention to the state of their body and cultivating a more in-touch relationship with it,  we are more able to notice the way our body reacts to certain events and emotions, and when we’ve acknowledged these, we are signaled to listen to what it is we need to care for ourselves. 

Practice: 

  • Sit down on a chair in your most relaxed position. Take deep breaths, inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth slowly to center yourself. You may close your eyes or open them— whatever is most comfortable for you. 
  • Starting with your left foot, scan every part of your body— each toe, each joint— with your mind. The speed at which you scan depends on how much time you have, but the slower, the better. 
  • As you scan, note any sensations you feel, without focusing on why you might feel them. You may also sense nothing more than your internal systems doing their thing. That’s okay.
  • After you’ve scanned your body from your toes to your scalp, expand your awareness to your body as a whole. Focus on your breath, and gently open your eyes if they were closed, and bring yourself back in to the present. 

As Master Luke trains Rey in harnessing The Force, he instructs her to, “Breathe. Just breathe.” While breathing is an automatic thing that our body does, we forget that it is something readily accessible to us to focus our minds on, with concentration and attention that helps us build our ability to become more mindful. Mindful breathing can help us concentrate and center ourselves in moments of emotional distraction and turmoil. Taking a moment for a few, deep, calming, oxygenating breaths can be useful before, during, and after situations that may be stressful to bring us back to balance. 

Practice:

  • Sit with your back supported in a comfortable chair and your feet on the floor. Place your hand on your stomach. Close your eyes. 
  • Breathe in through your nose in four counts, feeling your stomach instead of your chest rise.
  • For the next four counts, hold the breath in your lungs, then for the next four counts, exhale through your mouth with pursed lips. Feel your stomach deflate slowly as you exhale. 
  • As you’ve completely exhaled, count to four before taking an inhale once more.
  • Repeat at least three more cycles of this. Notice the sensation of the air going through your nose, through the back of your throat and into your lungs. Notice as well the rising and falling of your hands on your stomach, keeping your attention to the act of breathing. 
  • Should your mind start to wander, notice it wandering and acknowledge the distraction, gently bringing back your attention to your breath each time. 

Throughout the earlier movies (original and prequel trilogy) and media of the Star Wars franchise, The Force was thought to only be an ability that could only be accessed by a few gifted individuals who were taken to train under the Jedi or the Sith. In the newer movies (sequel trilogy), this is re-written. Luke teaches Rey under his tutelage in the sequel trilogy’s The Last Jedi that The Force is not a superpower, it is an energy that she can harness and has no owner; it moves freely within and among the beings of the universe. The Force belongs to every being. It is no longer about genetics (or midi-chlorian count), no longer about intelligence. It is simply anyone’s ability to notice without judgment, exactly like mindfulness. It is simply an ability that can be honed in due time when practiced. Like a muscle trained to lift in increasing incremental amounts, we, too— regardless of background, of stature, of origin— can train our own minds to become more mindful.  Luke’s messages are powerful, in the same way that we are empowered knowing our thoughts, feelings, and impulses are simply material that flows within us and do not define us.

And like every Padawan in the quest of seeking mastery of The Force under a Jedi Master; we too, can seek help to empower ourselves in strengthening our capacity for mindfulness, either through reading books or articles, watching videos or documentaries, attending workshops and seminars, and enlisting the help of a trained mental health professional to help us train ourselves to become mindful in daily practice. With commitment to making it a habit like how the Jedi practice meditation daily, and allowing ourselves to acknowledge both our Light and Dark sides, we, too, can harness The Force, the mindfulness to overcome the challenges that we face in our lives while making it meaningful. May The Force be with you! 

Sources:

  • Feichtinger, C. (2014). Space Buddhism: the adoption of Buddhist motifs in Star Wars. Contemporary Buddhism, 15(1), 28-43.
  • Friedberg, R. D., & Rozmid, E. V. (Eds.). (2022). Creative CBT with Youth: Clinical Applications Using Humor, Play, Superheroes, and Improvisation. Springer Nature.
  • Fuyu, & Fuyu. (2023, April 11). What is the Eightfold Path? | Zen-Buddhism.net. Zen Buddhism | SIMPLE WISDOM FOR HAPPY LIVING. https://www.zen-buddhism.net/what-is-the-eightfold-path/
  • Hayes, S. C., & Hofmann, S. G. (Eds.). (2018). Process-based CBT: The science and core clinical competencies of cognitive behavioral therapy. New Harbinger Publications.
  • Linehan, M. M. (2014). DBT Skills Training: manual. http://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BB18848503
  • Ratcliffe, A. (2020). The Jedi Mind: Secrets from the Force for Balance and Peace. Chronicle Books.
  • The Human Condition. (2021, June 11). An Introduction to Zen Buddhism. https://thehumancondition.com/an-introduction-to-zen-buddhism/
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Blog Everyday Thriving Thrive at Work

Creating workplaces where “care” matters

The month of October is Mental Health Month, and this year we are focusing on how to build workplaces that embody wellbeing. To learn more about our ongoing work with organizations to create these cultures of care in their workplaces, stay tuned for our upcoming activity Leading with Care: The Neuroscience and Practice of Leading a Culture of Care in the Workplace on 07 November 2023.

In We Thrive, we look at mental health as the coming together of many different factors which determine the capacity of a person to live in a way that allows them to reach their fullest potentials. Of course, our individual exercise of our faculties is critical: how we cope with difficult experiences and savor positive ones; how we pay attention to how we feel and think about ourselves and the world; how we interact with others and take part in their lives; and so on. Nowadays, we refer to things like this using the umbrella term “self-care” (ISF, 2023). But as we probably already know, individual efforts are sometimes not enough to reach. We don’t always cope particularly well; we aren’t always able to stop and smell the roses; we aren’t always able to pay attention to what’s happening; and our ability to be part of other people’s lives, or let them be part of ours, is not always at its best. Sometimes, you need help. “The ability to ask for and obtain help is a valuable life skill,” as psychologist Debbie Sorensen puts it, partly as a comment to our culturally-ingrained hyper-focus on independence (Sorensen, 2022). So besides “self-care”, realizing our potentials includes the essential component of togetherness, where interdependence is just as prized as independence, and where reaching one’s potentials is not simply an individual effort. We can call this “community care”: as author and psychotherapist Minaa B. defines as “[using] our power, privilege, and resources to better the people who are both in and out of our scope of reach” (Minaa B., 2021). 

The idea that “our wellbeing is contagious” gives us a sense of how embedded the impulses of community care actually is in our human makeup, and how our own health and flourishing depends as much on others as it does on our own efforts in ways that sometimes surprises us (Suttie, 2020). And in relation to workplace stress and one of the primary mental health challenges of “[managing] the pressures so that life is productive and enjoyable” (Teasedale, 2006), the idea of community care can provide a more integrative approach to ensuring the wellbeing of people in the context of groups and institutions. We know for example the consequences of a lack of consideration of wellbeing can be, with losses in the millions whether we’re referring to potential profits or working days lost to attrition or sick leaves (Graveling et al., 2008). Conversely, we know about the even greater benefits taking wellbeing seriously has to all kinds of organizational and business outcomes (Sears, Shi, Coberley, & Pope, 2013). But where do you begin? In this article, we want to share some advice about how to apply the concept of “community care” to thinking about how organizations can build up its practices towards creating workplaces where “care” is integral rather than supplemental to the overall business strategy.

Thanks to some clever analysis of the literature, researchers were able to offer a more condensed definition of this widely and wildly defined idea of self-care: “The ability to care for oneself through awareness, self-control, and self-reliance in order to achieve, maintain, or promote optimal health and well-being” (Martínez, Connelly, Pérez, & Calero, 2021). Using these three concepts, we can organize our thinking about wellbeing along these lines and how they might apply to community care. How can workplaces create spaces and relationships where people can support each-other’s capacities for awareness, self-control, and self-reliance?

  1. Awareness. This is about the ability to monitor, measure, and interpret one’s experiences (or “symptoms”, as used in their paper). This awareness is the natural first step to achieving wellbeing: after all, you cannot act wisely without the appropriate information. Applied to community care, this means helping each-other bring attention to our concerns, whether this means identifying specific forms of support or simply articulating some difficulty in or out of work in order to have some much-needed emotional release. Besides this, it also means helping each-other bring attention to our wins, allowing us to become more present to moments worth celebrating and appreciating. And building on the idea of interpretation, awareness is about bringing attention to the “meaning” of experiences, and helping each-other discern how our experiences at work match up with our values, beliefs, goals, and how we want life to be in general.

Reflection: Are employees afforded the necessary resources, opportunities, and structures to cultivate greater awareness? Do the relationships between peers and between team members and team leaders foster a sense of safety and security where people are not only able but encouraged to work together to identify, articulate, and respond to their experiences as a community?

  1. Self-control. In the words of Martínez and colleagues, self-control is the “product of a person acting as a unitary being and engaging in regulation and control of their self and emotions”. Achieving wellbeing, whether we like it or not, requires perseverance, sustained effort, and more than a little strategizing. Applied to community care, this means helping each-other initiate and build on the habits necessary for regulation, maximizing our individual abilities to contain and ground ourselves. It also means creating relationships and systems within the workplace that don’t unnecessarily tax these abilities. Borrowing the researchers’ use of the term, self-control in the context of community care means thinking of the community as a “unitary being”, where each person must in some ways exercise responsibility for another’s capacity to recover and return to states of calm and ease.

Reflection: Are employees afforded the necessary resources, opportunities, and structures to cultivate greater self-control? Do the relationships between peers and between team members and team leaders foster that sense of trust that, to the extent possible, we can rely on one-another as a means of regulating when things get tough? 

  1. Self-reliance. Though not defined directly in the study, the researchers offered a case study about a man who “sustained a wound to his right leg when he slipped in a canyon” but that, while he “was aware of the injury”, the man “did not treat the wound, and his entire leg became swollen, red, and hot”. So while taking consideration of the case study’s particular context, we can think of self-reliance as our ability to initiate the appropriate actions by ourselves, which requires a level of self-efficacy, self-trust, and a general belief that we can do something with our circumstances. Applied to community care, this means helping each-other create the necessary cognitive and behavioral scaffolding in our work to both have the appropriate level of trust in our own abilities (remember: asking for help is an important skill) and the necessary skills for acting on that self-confidence in productive and meaningful ways. Using the case study, self-reliance is both about trusting that your team will help you with the wound and also about your team trusting you enough to at least clean and dress the wound first.

Reflection: Are employees afforded the necessary resources, opportunities, and structures to cultivate greater self-reliance? Do the relationships between peers and between team members and team leaders create an environment that is not only challenging but also encouraging? 

For mental health support services, email us at resilientteams@wethrivewellbeing.com or contact us to sign-up for sessions with our mental health clinicians.

References (in order of appearance)

  1. https://isfglobal.org/what-is-self-care/ 
  2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8488814/ 
  3. https://psyche.co/guides/how-to-ask-for-help-without-discomfort-or-apology 
  4. https://www.wellandgood.com/what-is-community-care/ 
  5. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_taking_care_of_your_own_well_being_helps_others 
  6. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1476179306000188 
  7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK75294/ 
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/pop.2012.0114
Categories
Blog News & Events

Thrive! is one of Anvil Publishing’s MIBF Bestsellers

We’re delighted to share that “Thrive! A Parent’s Journey to Resilience” is part of the top 10 bestselling books of Anvil Publishing at the Manila International Book Fair 2023!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CxsYW1ZB3Dy/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Copies of Thrive! are available at the We Thrive Clinic in Tektite and online through Lazada and Shopee.

Categories
Blog Everyday Thriving Thrive at Work Thrive in School Wellbeing Practices

To hear and be heard: ideas for meaningful conversations for nurturing life

The month of September is celebrated globally as Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month. To learn more about suicide and how we can support each-other, see this article. If you need to talk to someone or if you are in need of urgent help, please proceed to the nearest hospital emergency room, or proceed to the end of this article for the contact numbers of various local 24/7 crisis lines.

Stereotypes aside, as an organization providing psychological care, We Thrive’s work admittedly has a lot to do with conversations. It is something we take for granted, not always realizing that this very peculiar human capacity is one of the building blocks of human civilization (Crystal et al., 2023). Conversations are also one of the building blocks of human life: as psychologist Lucy Foulkes puts it, when conversations “allow us to learn something important about ourselves, about the other person, or about the world” (Foulkes, 2021), truly remarkable things happen. Such conversations, when they are “meaningful”, can turn even otherwise mundane chatter (what we label “small talk”) into subtle gateways for deeper interactions (Macquire, 2023). They make possible the flourishing of all those aspects of being human: sensing and holding our emotions (Lieberman et al., 2007), articulating the various aspects of the self (McLean and Morrison-Cohen, 2013), developing new behaviors and perspectives (Albright et al., 2016), relieving and easing painful experiences (Kardas, Kumar, and Epley, 2021), making sense of life as a whole (Tarbi et al., 2021), and much more. Speech of this kind has a literal healing effect, hence the well-earned stereotypical predominance of “talk therapy” methods in clinical psychological practice (Lindberg, 2023).  As social beings, as author Arthur Dobrin puts it: “With conversation, we find a place where we belong” (Dobrin, 2011).

In our ongoing observance of Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month, we want to offer some practical points for reflection for having meaningful conversations, particularly those you want to check in on and support through difficult experiences.

The look and feel of a meaningful conversation

The main feature of a meaningful conversation is the experience of being “heard” — an experience which is, without exaggeration, “one of the most basic, yet potent needs we have as social beings” (Fowler, 2022). Most of us know from personal experience how painful not being heard can be, and how influential it can affect our own ability to hear others. Not being heard can have many precipitating factors: maybe there are basic differences in communication style (Khiron Clinic, 2021); or maybe the capacities of one or both people in the conversation to hold big or uncomfortable feelings are limited (Brosch, 2015). It could be some other factor, like adverse childhood experiences (Zlate, 2020), which are not within our present control. Whatever the case, when we are not heard, some of our most fundamental needs — the needs to feel that “we are taken seriously, that our ideas and feelings are acknowledged, and that we have something to share” (Nichols, 1995) — cannot be met.

So how do we get to meaningful conversations where we feel taken seriously, acknowledged, and feel that what we share has value? We may be tempted to offer advice right away or resort to offering affirmation.

But “problem-solving” is not the same as “hearing”, and our impulse to give instructions or shoo away difficult feelings with aspirations of pleasantness, while usually very well-intentioned, may not reflect the other person’s true needs. This is what is often meant by “toxic positivity”: when the resolution to be quote-unquote “happy” is not grounded in the present reality which might demand more emotional complexity.

So having said that, what does “hearing” actually look like? Thankfully, a few scholars have looked into this. In a series of studies, the concept of being “heard” — described by the authors succinctly as “a key variable of our time”, given our modern propensities for distractions — was operationalized according to five components (Roos, Postmes, and Koudenburg, 2021). Here, we will present how these were understood and some points for reflection to guide how we apply these to making our conversations truly meaningful. 

  1. Recognizing our “voice”. This is about “being able to express myself freely, that is, being able to say what I want to say.” In meaningful conversations, there must be that sense that, while some social filters might be appropriate in any given situation, we are able to say what we think or feel without fear of being criticized, demeaned, or thought poorly of. It is the sense that, right or wrong aside, what we say is welcomed.

Reflection: In our conversations, do we offer a sense of security that allows the other person to say what they need to say, and that we are willing and able to welcome what they say — even if they’re about something difficult and uncertain?

  1. Receiving “attention”. This is about feeling that the other person “focused their attention on what I said”. In meaningful conversations, there is a conscious effort to home in on the details, verbal or otherwise. It is the sense that what we say merits curiosity, and that there is a richness in what is being said that is worth patiently drawing out.

Reflection: In our conversations, do we offer expressions of interest that communicate to the other person that what they have to say is important, and that we really want to understand them?

  1. Receiving “empathy”. This is the perception that “the other tried to take my perspective and emotionally understand me.” In meaningful conversations, the affective contents of what we say — not just the words, but the conditions that led us to say what we say — are appreciated. It is the sense that the other person is resonating with us at a level that is deeper than the dictionary definitions of our statements, and that we are allowed to speak with more vulnerability, confident that, at the minimum, our vulnerability will be cared for.

Reflection: In our conversations, does our presence invite the other person to let their guard down, even a little, so that what they say communicates more truthfully what their hearts dictate? (At least to the extent possible, given the circumstance. Emotions are complex, after all!)

  1. Receiving “respect”. This is the feeling that the other person “valued what I said (my voice) and me as a person”. In meaningful conversations, while all human activity is prone to human errors of misunderstanding, we are taken and honored as we are. It is the sense that whatever prejudices there may be are set aside — or at least owned up to, honestly — and that the interaction is grounded in a commitment to the fact that we are human beings deserving of compassion.

Reflection: In our conversations, does our approach show the other person that we accept and honor them as they are, however and whatever they may be?

  1. Experiencing “common ground”. This is the perception that we can “understand each other’s point of view”. In meaningful conversations, there is a kind of exchange that allows both people’s perspectives to be influenced in a constructive way, allowing not just greater understanding of the nuances of these differences, but a greater appreciation of how such differences can lead to the same goals of cultivating a more meaningful life. While there may be significant divergences in the way we come to our conclusions, these conclusions are ultimately grounded on a desire for the greatest good — and that our conception of the “good” can be deepened and strengthened by one-another.

Reflection: In our conversations, do we communicate an openness to hearing the other person’s views, and an openness for our own views to be positively influenced by them?

Being able to initiate and sustain such a potent human activity is one of our best means for promoting healing for ourselves and one-another. By cultivating these five components, we can be better placed to leverage the power of conversations to cultivate human flourishing both within and beyond our difficult experiences.

For mental health support services, email us at resilientteams@wethrivewellbeing.com or contact us to sign-up for sessions with our mental health clinicians.

If you need to talk to someone or if you are in need of urgent help, please proceed to the nearest hospital emergency room, or call these 24/7 crisis lines:

DOH-NCMH Hotline

0917-899-USAP (8727)

0966-351-4518

0908-639-2672

(02) 7-989-USAP (8727)

1553

Hopeline PH

0917-558-HOPE (4673)

0918-873-4673 (HOPE)

(02) 8-804-HOPE (4673)

2919

In Touch Crisis Line

0917-800-1123

0922-893-8944

(02) 8-8937603

References (in order of appearance):

  1. https://wethrivewellbeing.com/world-suicide-prevention-day-responding-to-suicide-with-resilience-and-compassion/ 
  2. https://www.britannica.com/topic/language 
  3. https://psyche.co/guides/how-to-have-more-meaningful-conversations 
  4. https://carolinemaguireauthor.com/how-to-make-small-talk/ 
  5. https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/talk-therapy#how-effective 
  6. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17576282/ 
  7. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15283488.2013.776498 
  8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5344154/ 
  9. https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/psp-pspa0000281.pdf 
  10. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0738399121003335 
  11. https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/am-i-right/201112/conversation-makes-us-human 
  12. https://thedmcclinic.ie/blog-the-importance-of-being-heard/ 
  13. https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/listen-up-why-you-dont-feel-heard-in-your-relationship-0810154  
  14. https://www.pacesconnection.com/blog/adverse-childhood-experiences-and-interpersonal-relationships 
  15. https://www.compassionate.center/docs/Why-listening-is-so-important.pdf 
https://psyarxiv.com/73jgn/
Categories
Blog Everyday Thriving

Pag-unawa sa ating layunin: mga ideya mula sa Sikolohiyang Pilipino

Isa sa mga pinakaimportanteng aspeto ng trabaho namin sa We Thrive ay ang

pagsuporta sa sa mga indibidwal at mga organisasyon para mas mabuo ang kanilang kakayahang intindihin, himayin, at isakatuparan ang kanilang mga layunin.

Lahat tayo ay may sarili nating layunin, at lahat tayo ay may sarili nating paglalakbay patungo kung saan-man tayo pinapadala ng layunin na ‘to. Ang pagtuklas nito ay pwedeng mangyayari sa pagsusuri sa kung ano ba talaga ang mahalaga sa sarili nating buhay; sa pag-unawa ng ating mga kakayahan natin, at kung para saan ba talaga yung mga nasasabing “skills” and “talents” na ‘yon; at sa pagbibigay ng oras at lakas sa serbisyo ng tinatawag na “greater cause”, katulad ng relihyon, kabansaan, at iba pa (Suttie, 2020). Kung anuman yan, alam natin na yung pagkilala ng ating layunin sa buhay — or sa ibang salita, “sense of purpose” — ay nakabuti sa ating kabuoang kalusugan (Whitbourne, 2023). Sa sarili nating salita: ang “sense of purpose” ay nakakabuti sa ating “pagkatao”, o ang pagkakila at pag-isabuhay ng ating “shared humanity”; at ang ating “pakikipagkapwatao”, o ang pagpapakita ng ating pag-unawa ng pagkatao ng iba sa ating pakikipag-ugnayan sa kanila (Lagdameo-Santillan, 2018). Sa ating kultura, importante ang dalawang aspeto na ito sa ating pang-araw-araw na pagbubunyag ng ating layunin sa buhay.

Ang kagandahan sa ating wika ay pwede pa nating mas laliman ang ideya na ito. Sa mga pag-aaral sa Sikolohiyang Pilipino, isa sa mga natunan natin ay kayang ibuod ang usapan tungkol sa layunin sa buhay sa ating karanasan ng pagkatao at pakikipagkapwatao. Sa kulturang Pilipino, ang “shared humanity” — ang ideya na nakasalalay ang ating karanasan bilang indibidwal sa konsepto na tayo ay isang bahagi na bumubuo sa isang mas malaking nilalang — ay hindi lamang natutunan pero sinasabuhay. Isa pang tawag sa oryentasyon ng isang kultura tungo sa pangkalahatan ay “collectivist” (Suh and Lee, 2020). At kitang-kita ito sa wika natin mismo. Sa isang pag-aaral na sinulat ng propesor ng pilosopiya na si Jacklyn Cleofas: “The focus on kápuwâ is so important that it is a central feature of the language; the prefix ka- specifically derives from kápuwâ and is used to form nouns that denote companion or fellow in some specific domain or activity” (Cleofas, 2016). Ka-patid, ka-klase, ka-biyak, ka-irog, — ang aspeto ng “kapwa” o “kapuwa” ay isa sa mga nagbubuo ng konsepto natin ng ating mga kaugnayan sa iba at sa ating sarili. Karagdagan sa puntong ito, sinipi ni propesor Jacklyn Cleofas sa kanyang pag-aral ang iba pang mga sikolohista na umakda sa librong “Social Psychology in the Philippine Context”, kung saan sinabi na: “the core descriptive concept for Filipino psychology is relational rather than personality or value-laden” (Macapagal et al. 2013, 13). Sa ibang salita: ang puso ng sikolohiya ng Pilipino ay nasa ating pakikipag-ugnayan sa iba.

Maliban sa paghatid at pagtanggap ng impormasyon, isa sa mga pinakaimportanteng tungkulin ng wika ay bilang instrumento sa pagkikilala sa ating sarili at sa ibang tao — sa ating pagkatao at sa pagkatao ng iba (Britannica, 2023). Kung makikinig tayo sa bigat na binibigay nito sa konsepto at karanasan ng “kapwa”, ano kaya ang pwede natin matunan sa sarili nating wika tungkol sa ating layunin sa buhay at yung bumubuo sa ating “pagkatao”? Para sa Buwan ng Wika, magbibigay tayo ng tatlong maiikling pagninilayan ukol sa ating mga “paninindigan” o “convictions” na inilista ng tinatawag na “Father of Filipino Psychology” na si Dr. Virgilio Enriquez sa isang papel na pinamagatan “Filipino Psychology in the Third World” na inilathala nuong 1977 (Enriquez, 1977):

Paggalang” o respect

Sa pang-araw-araw, tayo ay nagbibigay-galang sa mga iba’t ibang mga tao (katulad sa mga mas nakakatanda sa atin sa pamilya), mga bagay (katulad ng mga mana’t manang gamit o “heirloom”), at mga pinaniniwalaan (katulad ng relihiyon). Ginagalang natin ang mga ito kasi, sa iba’t ibang paraan, importante sila. Kaya gusto natin siyang ingatan, ayaw natin siyang sayangin, at iba pa. Pwede natin tanungin ang ating mga sarili kung bakit nga ba natin ginagalang ang mga ito. Bakit nga ba sila importante? Paano ba natin ito ginagalang? At ang paggalang ba natin sa mga ito ay nakakabuti sa ating buhay, o kaya’y ang ating paggalang ay posibleng humahadlang sa ating tunay na layunin sa buhay?

Pagdamay” o helping

Sa orihinal na papel ni Enriquez, ang pagsasalin sa “pagdamay” ay “helping”. At totoo naman na ang pagtulong ay isang aspeto ng pakikiramay. Pero sa ating wika, pag sinasabi na “damay” tayo sa isang tao o sitwasyon, hindi lang ibig-sabihin na nagbibigay tayo ng suporta sa usapan ng pera o gamit lamang. Ang pagdamay ay mas malalim pa dun, sapagkat ang binibigay natin ay ang ating oras at lakas — ang ating pagkatao. Pwede natin tanungin ang ating mga sarili kung paano ba tayo nakikiramay. Bakit ba tayo nakikiramay, at paano ba natin pinagdedesisyunan kung kanino tayo makikiramay? At anong mga aspeto ng ating pagkatao ba yung ating inaalok pag tayo ay nakikiramay?

Pagpuno sa kakulangan” o understanding limitations

Isa sa mga punto ng ating pagkatao ay meron tayong mga limitasyon. May mga limitasyon tayo sa ating mga kakayahan, kaalaman, at kagalawan. Meron din tayong mga limitasyon sa atin kaisipan, karamdaman, at kiling. At siguro ang pinakaimportanteng limitasyon: balang araw, magtatapos ang ating buhay. May hangganan hindi lamang ang mga bagay na kaya nating baguhin o likhain, pero pati na rin ang ating oras mismo sa mundo. Pwede natin tanungin ang ating mga sarili kung paano ba natin nauunawan ang ating mga kakulangan. Ano ang mga kakulangan sa ating buhay na pwede nating asikasuhin tungo sa ating layunin? Paano natin malalaman kung anong mga kakulangan sa atin ay dapat sikapin nating ibago, o dapat sikapin nating tanggapin? At ano nga ba ang kailangan nating maranasan at matupad sa buhay nating may hangganan?

Para sa mga serbisyo ukol sa ating mental health at pangkabuoang kalusugan, mag-email sa resilientteams@wethrivewellbeing.com at kausapin para makilahok sa aming mga aktibidad kasama ang aming mga mental health clinicians.

References (in order of appearance)

  1. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/seven_ways_to_find_your_purpose_in_life 
  2. https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/fulfillment-at-any-age/202305/what-gives-your-life-a-sense-of-purpose 
  3. https://www.pressenza.com/2018/07/roots-of-filipino-humanism-1kapwa/ 
  4. https://archium.ateneo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1012&context=philo-faculty-pubs 
  5. https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-319-24612-3_2017 
  6. https://www.britannica.com/topic/language 
  7. https://www.pssc.org.ph/wp-content/pssc-archives/Philippine%20Journal%20of%20Psychology/2002/07_Filipino%20Psychology%20in%20the%20Third%20World.pdf
Categories
Blog Everyday Thriving Wellbeing Practices

Eating to enrich life: understanding and responding to emotional eating

In We Thrive, we work with people becoming their best selves by working with different aspects of who they are. There are the big-picture things: our sense of purpose, for example, which in Dr. Gabrielle Pfund’s research is composed of things such as how our future plans match our interests, how engaging we feel life is as a whole, and so on (Psychology Today, 2023). But there are also the big things when you zoom into that picture: the finer details of life, emerging from moment to moment, which compose the movements towards what we want life to be. These include the patterns of our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, but also the things which give us the energy to, well, move. Specifically, we get this energy through food, “a fundamental human need that influences both physiological and emotional states” (Hamburg, Finkenauer, & Schuengel, 2014). Nutrition looks different from person to person, but generally speaking, the task of ascertaining life’s movement can be more difficult than it has to be when our bodies aren’t getting the food and drink it needs (MSD Manual, 2023). And as we’ve probably all experienced, those aforementioned patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior can lead us into patterns of eating that can deprive rather than enrich us. In this article, we will talk a bit about what such a pattern of eating is; how we might end up moving in this direction; and what we can do to direct, rather than be directed by, our eating habits.

What is “emotional eating”?

Eating is, as nutritionist Amelia R. Sherry puts it, “an intrinsically emotional experience” (Psychology Today, 2022). Hamburg, Finkenauer, & Schuengel expressed this intuition in concrete terms: “eating behavior goes beyond nutrition and alleviating hunger; family, friends, and cultural heritage shape individual food preferences” (Hamburg, Finkenauer, & Schuengel, 2014). All of life, both the pleasant and the unpleasant, is threaded with the experience of eating. So the term “emotional eating”, while widely used, does not necessarily give us the clearest idea, and might also give the wrong impression that eating in response to our feelings is necessarily a bad thing. Choosing to eat can be a perfectly reasonable way of grounding us, whether by supplementing our present positive emotional states, reliving a positive memory associated with certain foods, or dealing with the occasional difficulty (Rachael Hartley Nutrition, 2016).

The difference between “good” or “bad” emotional eating is in the word “choice”. Whether responding to our emotions by eating deprives or nourishes us depends on the intentions we have (or haven’t) set when we eat. Besides determining how nutrient-dense our diets are, how do we clarify our intentions with eating? Here are some helpful guide questions:

  • How aware are we of the reasons why we choose a particular food at a particular time?
  • Are we eating in a way that aligns with a particular goal we have, such as a health goal?
  • When faced with stressful situations, have we considered whether there may be better ways of coping or resolving these situations other than with food? 
  • To what extent do we actually savor or enjoy the food we are eating, when we do choose to eat at that moment?
  • As a whole, does our experience of eating delight us, or leave us with a lingering sense that something is not quite right?

What moves us towards “eating emotionally”?

“Emotional eating” is also known by at least two other names: “stress eating”, and “comfort eating”. These terms might be preferable, because it gives a better sense of the context in which these patterns of eating emerge. At the minimum, when people use the term “emotional eating”, they are generally referring to food intake as a means of grounding us when we feel overwhelmed, disrupted, or out-of-balance — in other words, eating as self-soothing (Psychology Today, 2023). If, while going through the guide questions, you realize that the intent of your emotional eating appears to be mostly about self-soothing, then you may be emotional eating in a way that might not be serving your best interests long-term. But this happens to almost everyone, and it is not necessarily about willpower. The research of Dr. Tatjana Van Strien found at least three determinants for emotional eating (van Strien, 2018):

  • Poor interoceptive awareness. This means a person has difficulty distinguishing feelings of hunger and satiety, which can lead to difficulties with determining whether one has eaten too little or too much. For example, this can be due to dietary factors such as regularly eating foods that are high in sugar, which can exacerbate hunger because of the rapid increases in blood glucose (Penaforte et al., 2013).
  • Poor emotion regulation strategies. This means, for example, that a person becomes over-reliant on a particular coping mechanism (in this case, food) to deal with stressful situations. It can also mean that emotional eating becomes the result of an inappropriate coping mechanism, such as when avoidance of stressful situations ultimately leads to more of the stress occurring later on, making one more likely to rely on emotional eating.
  • Disruption of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Among other things, the HPA axis is responsible for regulating appetite. Under normal circumstances, the stress response would be a loss of appetite, but due to various factors (e.g. incredibly stressful experiences, childhood trauma, abuse, or other underlying health conditions affecting the HPA axis), this is reversed and the stress response instead leads to increased appetite.

Keeping these three in mind, we can reflect on a few more questions:

  • What might be causing your urge to eat at a particular time? Is it because of what or how you may be used to eating? 
  • What difficult or stressful situations are you currently experiencing that may be better served by something other than food?
  • Aside from providing nutrition or sustenance, in what ways has food been present in your life growing up? Did you have an abundance of food or a scarcity of it? 
  • When you think of food, what memories are usually associated with it? Were there certain negative and possibly intense experiences in your life which food used to help you get through?

How do we direct our eating?

Eating plays a vital role, not just in the maintenance of regular bodily functioning, but in our journey towards living a purpose-driven life. But eating can either deprive us or enrich us with the energies, both physiological and psychological, necessary to live out such a life. So how do we eat in a way that is more enriching? Depending on your answers to the questions mentioned earlier, co-authors Dr. Gia Marson and Dr. Danielle Keenan-Miller offers some ideas for how best you can set the direction for the way food moves your life (Psychology Today, 2023):

  • Acceptance. This means becoming more accepting of your body and how it reacts to food. This means less judgment, which often leads to guilt and shame, and more kindness, which can lead you to a better sense of how the food actually feels for you.
  • Awareness. This means tuning into the emotional nature of eating and noticing what kinds of emotions emerge alongside the desire to eat.
  • Avoid reacting impulsively. This means when difficult and negative emotions emerge, as they do in emotional eating, we take a pause rather than immediately reaching out to food as we have habituated ourselves. This will give you some room to consider how else you might be able to respond to these emotions.

For mental health support services, email us at resilientteams@wethrivewellbeing.com or sign-up for sessions with our mental health clinicians.

References:

  1. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-at-any-age/202305/what-gives-your-life-a-sense-of-purpose 
  2. https://www.msdmanuals.com/home/disorders-of-nutrition/overview-of-nutrition/overview-of-nutrition 
  3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3907771/ 
  4. https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/positive-food-parenting/202212/when-emotional-eating-can-be-normal-and-even-healthy 
  5. https://www.rachaelhartleynutrition.com/blog/2016/11/emotional-eating-is-okay 
  6. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-binge-eating-prevention-plan/202301/emotional-eating-is-all-about-emotions-or-is-it 
  7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5918520/ 
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3627933/
Categories
Blog

Coming out as a starting point for authenticity

In We Thrive, cultivating “authenticity” is a core component of our work. That said, there is vibrant debate across various disciplines over what exactly it is: for example, is authenticity something that is always there and waiting to be “discovered”, something that “emerges” through our various experiences, or some magnificent combination of both? (Psychology Today, 2023) But as a working definition, we can think of authenticity as a process of making the “whats” and “hows” of life work in tandem with the “whys” of life. Adding some specificity, it is the extent to which we are “consistent” (i.e. ensuring “external characteristics” and “internal values” match); are in “conformity” (i.e. ensuring life’s broad strokes meet whatever standards we set for ourselves); are able to “connect” (i.e. how our relationships to a place, a community, or historical milieu align with our sense of self); and have “continuity” (i.e. how much of our sense of self changes or is retained over time) (Dammann, Friederichs, Lebedinski, and Liesenfeld, 2020). Put more succinctly, authenticity “requires us to embrace the reality of our freedom and be responsible for how we choose to live” (Sutton, 2021). To be able to live a life that is consistent, in conformity, is connected, and has continuity, we must exercise an awareness of life’s movements and, to the extent possible, ensure that these movements work in harmony.

Whenever Pride Month rolls in every June, the idea of “authenticity” inevitably comes up. For LGBTQ people, one marker often used to evaluate whether we are living authentically is disclosure of one’s sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) — that is, “coming out”. Many LGBTQ people see coming out as a cornerstone to the lifelong task of embracing this responsibility over life and maintaining the harmony of life’s hows and whys. And wonderful as it might be, and as important as it is in our collective imaginations, it needs to be said that it is not the end-all and be-all of authenticity as an LGBTQ person. You do not have to be “out” in order to be true to yourself. So the intention here is not to give undue privilege to coming out, but to ask what coming out might contribute to our own journeys of living authentically. 

Ultimately, it is on each of us to pay attention to what life is specifically asking from us — to “listen to those messages”, as the therapist Andrea Matthews explains, “listening long enough and deeply enough to really suss out the most essential parts and then begin to act as needed” (Matthews, 2023). Whether coming out is what life demands of us in the present is on us to ascertain, and with much necessary struggle. But thankfully, that difficulty is at least a good sign: as the professor of psychology Dr. Stephen Joseph puts it: “the most authentic people, because they know themselves so well, recognize their struggles in living authentically” (Joseph, 2020).

Even if life does ask this from us, coming out can be deeply frustrating. We may have to come out in bits and pieces: to one friend but not another, with a sibling but not necessarily with a parent, and so on. In these scenarios, LGBTQ people can be caught up in an exhausting balancing act of shifting between one’s “personas” from one context to the next.

We may feel unable to come out at all because of what may be real risks to our wellbeing and safety, whether that be threats of violence or serious disruptions of important relationships such as those in our families or religious communities. We may even struggle with “coming in” — that is, recognizing and accepting oneself as LGBTQ — whether because of internalized negative ideas about being LGBTQ (e.g. “LGBTQ people are promiscuous”), perceived conflicts with core beliefs (e.g. “same-sex relationships are sinful”), and any number of barriers to our ability to embrace our unique experience of SOGI.

Whatever the case, our response to our circumstances must have at least two features: a loving-kindness; and a gentle recognition that these struggles allow us opportunities for renewal that can surprise us in the way it moves us closer to authenticity than our preconceived notions of coming out ever could.

Speaking of renewal, like other aspects of life, our experience of SOGI is always undergoing this process: we learn more about the nature of our attraction to others; who we are as men, women, or some other gender category; and what influences how we respond to relationships. For example, while the rule of thumb is that sexual orientation is generally stable over a lifetime, some very clever research has shown it can also display a good deal of fluidity, such as in studies that looked at differences in its expression based on birth sexes (Mock and Eibach, 2012) or specific timescales (Diamond, Dickenson, and Blair, 2016). This fluidity is also the case for gender identity (Katz-Wise, 2020), and is readily seen both historically and in the present time both in our own culture and in the surrounding cultures of Southeast Asia (Peletz, 2006). Such fluidity is undoubtedly fascinating in and of itself. But more importantly, it raises many points of reflection: for example, how much of our experience of authenticity is invested in our experience of SOGI, given its potential fluidity? (This question certainly applies to many other areas of life!) Applying this question to coming out: how much of the movements of life — our aspirations, beliefs, talents, interests, and capacities for truth in our relationships — is invested in our coming out, given how fluid coming out can also be?

There are many ways we can break this question down further. But as a starting point for what is ultimately a lifelong process, we can briefly apply some practical points of reflection on authenticity offered by the clinical social worker Zahara Williams:

  • Does coming out allow you to be “in tune with your values and passions”? For example, is being more open about your SOGI directed towards your personal commitment to the principle of honesty? Or does being more open about your SOGI also translate to being more open to embracing interests and desires which norms surrounding gender and sexuality would otherwise stop you from pursuing?
  • Does coming out contribute to a feeling of “being fulfilled?” For example, would being more open about your SOGI open up avenues in your life that allow you and others a fuller experience of who you are and what your life has to offer?
  • Does coming out help you “navigate life with purpose?” For example, would greater honesty about your experience of being an LGBTQ person allow you to act with more honesty about what you want out of life?
  • Is coming out for you “prioritizing what brings you peace”? For example, would disclosing your SOGI, whether or not this is initially difficult or distressing, ultimately give you the peace of mind you need to move through life with more ease and without so many considerations of people’s responses?
  • Does coming out give you more “tenacity and flexibility?” For example, would facing the challenge of coming out as LGBTQ embolden you to face courageously all the other challenges life offers you? (Psych Central, 2022)

To emphasize a previous point, coming out is a “lifelong process”, and our answers to the questions like what gives us a sense of fulfillment or peace are themselves very fluid. You may have also discovered that there were just as many other questions as there were answers which emerged. Perhaps while looking back at your own experience, as I did while writing this article, you realized that there was a time before coming out where the various affections of life came less naturally then than it does now. You may also have noticed that, despite the very real difficulties that entered into life as a result of coming out, there also came very real joys. And perhaps there were things which you would not expect to be at all related to disclosing one’s SOGI — in my case, these were my renewed religious pieties and an enthusiasm for sports — which now have such a profound influence on the movements of your life after coming out.

If these questions seem difficult, that is because they are. But as we see from some of these questions, coming out can be a starting point for a fuller experience of life’s truths. Using the components of authenticity identified earlier on: does coming out allow us to direct the movements of life in ways that allow us to live a life that manifests consistency, conformity, connection, and continuity? Whether or not we choose to come out, what is important is that we are able to exercise that sensitivity to the movements of life so that we are able to be true to ourselves in the present moment.

Whatever the case, We Thrive aspires to be your ally. Whether it’s about coming out, navigating your relationships with others, and figuring out how your SOGI fits into other aspects of life in a beautiful way, we want to be with you in your journeys.

To learn more about how our different activities and programs can contribute to your wellbeing as an LGBTQ person, email us at resilientteams@wethrivewellbeing.com.

References:

  • https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/authenticity
  • https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.629654/full
  • https://positivepsychology.com/authentic-living/
  • https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/traversing-the-inner-terrain/202305/how-to-live-an-authentic-life
  • https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-doesnt-kill-us/202007/are-authentic-people-more-mindful
  • https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21584828/
  • https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/gender-fluidity-what-it-means-and-why-support-matters-2020120321544
  • https://psych.utah.edu/_resources/documents/people/diamond/Stability%20of%20sexual%20attractions%20across%20different%20timescales.pdf
  • https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/498947
  • https://psychcentral.com/lib/ways-of-living-an-authentic-life
Categories
Blog Everyday Thriving General Wellbeing Practices

Social Emotional Parenting for the Next Normal

The past three years of pandemic have been quite challenging for children and adults alike.  As students adjusted to online classes and distance learning modalities, parents adjusted to work from home settings where the lines between work and home were blurred in a sea of online meetings in shared spaces at home, while juggling work, parenting and multiple responsibilities.  Many parents were thrust into an extra role of being their children’s “home schooling teacher” – supervising their children’s learning, troubleshooting tech issues during online classes, being the videographer + editor for their children’s video recorded homework, picking up and submitting modules from school, on top of the stress of working from home, and coping with their own personal concerns – health, uncertainties in the midst of a pandemic. Parents had to grapple with their overwhelming worries and fluctuating emotions, as they tried to support their children’s academic and socio-emotional needs.  

This is to acknowledge that parents pour out their time and effort, their heart, mind and soul into raising their children: It is never easy – during pre-pandemic, pandemic, and “next normal” times – the range of emotions both parents and children face in these disruptions and transitions shifts from day to day, sometimes hour to hour.

After these past three years of lockdowns, quarantines and limited movements, we are all finally taking steps forward in this “next normal”.   Students are returning to full face to face or hybrid (face to face + online) learning modes.  Parents can breathe a bit easier with our “homeschooling” load lightened, although we may have some concerns or fears about the adjustments our children have to go through – “This will increase my child’s exposure to Covid and other viruses.”; “After these years of being stuck at home, will my child be able to re-adjust to interacting with other kids again?”; “After all these years of online classes, are there learning gaps in my child’s education?  Can they readapt again to regular in-person classes?”  These fears are valid and understandable.  As parents, you can process these fears when you tap into your social and emotional skills, and you can also model these skills for your children to use as they navigate this transition.

According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), “social and emotional learning (SEL) is an integral part of education and human development. SEL is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.”

We can learn, and practice social emotional knowledge, attitudes, skills and strategies together with our children. This can pave the way for positive life experiences, with many benefits to practicing social emotional learning (SEL) – improved performance in school and work, better management of emotional distress, fostering healthy relationships with one’s self and others.

Being a parent is a journey of self-discovery – we come face to face with our own emotions, beliefs, strengths and weaknesses as we raise our children.  By recognizing and acknowledging how thoughts, feelings and actions are interconnected in a healthy way, within ourselves, and within our own children – – this guides us in the way we make decisions, and helps our children to develop more insights into their internal experiences and external actions.    When we encourage our children to share about their day, and actively listen to them, children will open up to share their feelings and thoughts.  When they encounter some awkwardness as they move from online interactions with friends to face-to-face interactions, we can support them by teaching them to use “I” statements as they identify feelings (“I felt shy when I met my classmates again.” ; “I felt weird seeing a big classroom filled with people again, I miss being by myself in a quiet room” ; “I felt happy to see all my friends and to talk with them after these years of just chatting or video calls online.”).  

You can encourage them to share about their feelings by opening up the conversations with some “kumustahan” questions: “Would you like to share about how school has been today?”; “Would you like to talk about how your day went today?”.  This approach will help them to understand and unpack what feeling excited, happy, worried or sad is about, and they are better able to manage their emotions.  We can also encourage them to engage in activities that promote self-reflection – such as journaling or sharing the highs and lows of their day – “What is one thing you are thankful for today?  What is one thing that you felt could have been better today?”. The more our children discover their sense of self, the more this nurtures their self-esteem.

Understanding the interrelations of feelings, thoughts and actions can lead parents and children to regulating these through self-management.  During changes and transitions, there will be a lot of mixed emotions that our children may go through. When our children are feeling overwhelmed and emotionally upset (dysregulated), we can try practicing co-regulation with them.  Co-regulation, sometimes called mutual regulation,  involves a parent or caregiver stepping in to help a child to identify, manage and process their intense emotions.  When a child’s emotions are fueled by high energies, we avoid matching their high energy, and try to do emotional modeling – we model the calm behavior we would like to see in our child, by using a warm, soothing tone of voice, instead of mirroring their upset emotions.  

We can share emotional regulation strategies with them – such as relaxation breathing exercises, mindfulness exercises – quiet time, focusing on the present moment, muscle relaxation, body scan, five senses exercise, using the “feelings wheel” (a tool used to help us define specific emotions we are feeling – for kids age 4-11), and for teens and adults).  We can also use mobile apps: Headspace and Insight Timer have a number of tracks that can help you and your child practice mindful breathing. These emotional regulation strategies help children and adults regain control when they’re feeling upset or overwhelmed.  

We take note that what works for us as adults may not always work for our children.  We need to match the emotional regulation strategy with the needs and developmental age and stage of our child.  It might be hard to get a 2-3 year old toddler to do meditation, but maybe we can try practicing mindfulness of the 5 senses with them: “What do you see?  What do you hear? What do you smell?  What do you taste? What do you feel in your hands? in your feet? How does your body feel right now?”. By understanding one’s emotional triggers, more impulse control can be practiced. Practicing these self-management skills can help us and our children to evaluate our decisions and actions in challenging situations.  We can ask our children to share about their concerns, or problems they may be experiencing – we can also encourage them to think of possible solutions to their problems, the pros and cons, as well as the impact of these on people they deal with day to day.  

When parents assess their goals, social situation, and foster understanding of self, they are able to develop responsible decision making skills, which leads to positive choices. Our actions as parents have an impact on our children; children are very observant and they can pick up on our behavior.  When we are mindful of the modeling they see in us, and in our pro-active choices, our children develop an innate sense of taking ownership of choices they make. Sometimes, our children may approach us and ask us – “Mom / Ma / Dad / Pa, what would you do in this situation?”  While our tendency as parents oftentimes is to give them advice on what to do, we can consider pausing for a while and giving them the space to come up with their own decision.  

The “stop light approach” can be helpful here – Red = stop and pause, Yellow = take a breath, Green = think through the options and make your decision. “I hear you have this situation right now – what are the things that need to be worked out? What options or choices do you have right now? How do you think you can help in this situation?”. This nurtures in them the ability to take some time to slow down, think through different options, consider the consequences of their actions, and make decisions based on positive values, empathy and fairness.  This empowers our children to make responsible choices that consider their well-being and the well-being of others. 

We live in communities, cultures, and societies, and we share this social setting with our children.  With a return to in-person school settings, they develop a keen awareness of the need to build relationships and strong friendships.  Part of our community fabric includes weaving an understanding of various races, genders, cultures, ages, religions – cultivating in our children a respectful approach towards differences, and empathic understanding of the world we live in today.  When students return to in-person classes, they will be sharing stories of their pandemic experiences with their classmates, and while there are many common experiences, they may have to confront different realities and socio-economic difficulties that many people endured.  

As your child shares with you these stories, this can be a conversation prompt to promote perspective taking: “How do you think that felt like for your friend?”, to promote showing concern for others’ feelings: “You sound happy to know your friend felt excited to be with classmates again.”, to promote empathy and compassion: “You feel sad when you heard about your friend’s troubles.”.  This can also open exploration of opportunities for serving the community in their own small ways, and doing their part in creating healthy, safe and positive spaces in the community.

Seclusion from their friends and classmates during the pandemic can take its toll on our children, as they ease back into being with friends, we can support them by checking-in daily on how they are coping with this resumption of in-person interactions, and actively listening to their concerns, worries and feelings.   

We can nurture open communication by being fully present and paying full attention to our children when they are talking with us – this will help them feel that we care about what they have to say, and make them feel heard and understood.  “I hear that you enjoyed school time today.” or “I hear that you felt sad today.” are some sample responses of how to apply listening skills that encourage our children to share more openly with us. This helps  us to better understand their thoughts, feelings and experiences. Nurturing this open communication with our children can create that space where they are able to process relationships and friendships – enhance cooperation, fairness, kindness, and helpfulness towards others, develop empathic listening, manage opposing views and conflicts, and recognize and regulate emotions.  This strengthens our relationships in the family, maintains healthy friendships in the school, and deepens their sense of community.  

Although this “next normal” is still full of uncertainty – and we can expect that there will be bumps, twists and turns this transition brings, we can lean on these social emotional skills to help us respond to the call of these ever-changing times. By opening up our emotions, thoughts, and incorporating social emotional learning into our daily practice, with intentionality, we model these skills that our children will gain through observation and active engagement; this empowers them to establish self-awareness, emotional regulation, empathy, positive communication in their interactions with others.  We continue to build their resilience, and to create a nurturing environment that supports their growth, development, and well-being throughout the different stages and challenges that life brings.

SOURCES:

Categories
General

We Thrive Clinicians finish ACT training series with Dr. Susan Wilkens

Last Wednesday May 3, 2023, We Thrive clinicians wrapped up their Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Training Series with Susan Wilkens, PhD entitled “Using ACT with Parents and Caregivers”.

The training series was conducted via zoom and comprised of four once a month sessions from February to May. Some of the topics covered were basics of ACT, psychological flexibility, mindfulness and acceptance, commitment and action, case conceptualization and case application.

The We Thrive team sends our gratitude to Dr. Wilkens for sharing her time and expertise with us!