The old paradigm in mental health is zoomed in.
It focuses on our separateness as individuals.
It often looks at our mind’s stories in an analytical way, analyzing what we think and feel rather than seeing that we think and feel.
It offers a slew of techniques and strategies designed to fix, change, and manipulate how we feel.
It revisits the past and, in some cases, involves hours upon hours of analyzing the content of our me-centered thinking.
At the far zoomed-out extreme might be a philosopher or spiritual teacher who only speaks to the spiritual nature of life with little regard for a person’s psychological experience.
Camping out in either extreme has limitations because the entire spectrum is part of our experience of being alive. Neither side is better than the other.
Ease in life comes from seeing that we’re naturally sliding between these two extremes all the time. Our reality is constantly shifting. We get to have an experience of ourselves as separate, and we also get to fall into our true oneness.
Our feelings show us where we are along the spectrum. When we feel discomfort, we know that we’re zoomed in, and we can simply let our mind relax and watch ourselves zoom out.
– Excerpt from Just a Thought: A No-Willpower Approach to End Self-Doubt and Make Peace with Your Mind. Available now.
