Hey, everybody, it's Eric from the one You Feed Again, recording another mini episode. I am recording from a remote location. I am in Upstate New York at Camp g LP for Good Life Project. It's something that Jonathan Fields. He's a guest we had on a few weeks ago. It's a camp he puts on up here, and it's been pretty fun. And I've been interviewing a lot of different people shorter interviews that will start sharing here over the
next couple of months. So last week we talked about rumination and how negative rumination can be, how self reinforcing it is, and that the best strategy to avoid ruminating is to give your brain something to concentrate on. So we want to stop the rumination as soon as it starts, because it feeds on itself, it creates stronger neural pathways, and we're more likely to do it again. So the most important thing is simply divert your brain in some way.
And we talked last week about whatever it is will work. But there are some strategies, at least for me, that seem to be i'd call them more positive concentration strategies that I use. So I'll talk about a couple of general ones that are out there, and then I'll also talk about a couple that I like a lot that
I've found to be pretty interesting. So a real basic one is to simply try and count backwards, so from a hundred to one will give your brain something to concentrate on and will build your mental strength a little bit. You can also start trying to count backwards with a different interval, say by three, so you get the idea
and um. A couple other exercises that are interesting is one is to find an object an apple, uh tree, a bass guitar which I happen to be staring at, and just really focus in on it and try and under you know, really notice and notice what it looks like. And then the next step you can take from that is to close your eyes and try and vision what you were just looking at. So those are all concentration exercises that are going to build your concentration and are
going to get your mind off of rumination. A couple of my very favorite ones, though, I think, combine an element of positivity along with concentration. So one of them I do I call alphabet gratitude, and I start with the letter A and I try and think of something that I am grateful for that starts with the letter A, so being alive, so there's a Now I go on to be what would be be? And I think and I go, well, beansy, my dog bean z. And then I would go on to see what am I grateful
for that starts with a C, Chris, etcetera. So that is a fun way to do, and it gets challenging, and if I do it, I try and think of different things. But it is a really great way to get my brain off of negative thoughts and onto positive thoughts. The thing about for me with rumination is that it's really easy to say, well, if you're thinking negative things, just think positive things, but that doesn't really tend to work because the brain really wraps itself around those things.
So we have to give the brain something to do that it can really grasp onto and hold onto, and that's what the concentration does. But then by also adding in the gratitude piece, it seems to really work well for me because if I'm really feeling lousy and I just start trying to think about gratitude and gratefulness, it doesn't really Before I know it, I'm back on the negative thinking. So the the having us uh the letters
and a path really keeps it going for me. The other one that I like to do, and I sometimes do it along with the alphabet gratitude, or I can do it separately, is to try and think of a song I like that begins with every letter of the alphabet, so and then try and get a little of that song in my head, sing it a little bit into my head, and it just gets me thinking about that. And I love music so much that again it's bringing some positive feelings along with the concentration. So that's a
very it's a very short episode. I don't have a lot of time, but those are a couple of techniques that really really work well for me to get out of rumination, to get my brain something to concentrate on, and also reinforce some positive feelings at the same time. So um, hopefully those will be helpful to you and I will talk with you soon. Bye.