I've got a nugget of psychology wisdom to share with you today,
Which will hopefully inspire and motivate you to make small and meaningful changes in your everyday life.
Understanding how thoughts,
Behaviors,
And emotions are interconnected in our lives is an invaluable building block,
So buckle up.
A cyclical view of the mind was first put forward by the psychologist Aaron Beck.
He moved the focus away from analyzing our pasts and looked more closely instead at our immediate thoughts,
Behaviors,
And emotions.
His approach concentrated on the present and brought a can-do attitude to psychology,
Focusing on solutions.
Let's dive in and explore what thoughts,
Behaviors,
And emotions really are and how they interact.
So,
Thoughts first.
Thoughts are what connects our inner self to the outside world.
They're a response to a stimulus,
The disease intrinsic arising from within us or extrinsic from outside us.
We won't go down the philosophical route right now,
But it's enough to say that we,
As individuals,
Have a degree of control over how we think and can consciously influence how we behave as a result.
I'll let you reflect on that for a moment.
Behaviors next.
These are the ways in which we act,
Especially towards others.
Put simply,
Behavior is a description of our actions.
Lastly,
Let's talk about emotions.
Emotions are a complex experience of thoughts,
External stimuli,
And behavior,
Which reflect the personal significance of a moment in time.
This means that our emotions are a mixture of both our behaviors and thoughts.
I hope you're still with me,
But if you're not,
There's plenty of guides to this model online which can get you up to speed.
The key takeaway here is that the way we think,
How we feel,
And how we act all affect each other.
Specifically,
Our thoughts have an impact on our feelings and our behavior.
By proactively working to learn more about ourselves,
We can break negative cycles that exist between our emotions,
Thoughts,
And behaviors.
This allows us to use conscious thought to make changes in our behavior that can have long-term positive effects on how we feel,
Which is exactly how we can start to improve our mental fitness.
Using this triangle,
We can train ourselves to be kinder,
To be more upbeat,
Or to slow down,
Or to even be happier.
I'd recommend taking some time to reflect on this connection,
Perhaps thinking about a time when your thoughts or emotions directly affected your behavior,
Or vice versa.
What's the first example that comes to mind,
And what can you learn from it?
