three little things✨
school, The Happiness Files, and more
Hello friends! How are you?
It’s been a little while because I got so consumed with school! However I’m learning lots of fascinating things in my psychology class that I can’t wait to share✨! Speaking of, this week I wanted to share three little things that’ve been on my mind lately…
🧠the power of exercise!
I haven’t been exercising as much as usual because I’ve found that my body has really been needing to prioritize sleep with all the brainwork I’ve been doing!
However, I hope to go back to my normal routine soon because I read this peer-reviewed journal article about the power of exercise! I’ve already talked about studies where they show exercise can help prevent Alzheimer’s , but this meta-analysis studied people who had brain damage from their addiction to methamphetamine. They found that exercise made a huge impact in repairing their brains, regulating their mood, and even kept them from relapsing!
If exercise can be that powerful for damaged brains, imagine what it could do for healthy ones!
🌿saying “thank you for keeping me safe” to my brain
Here’s what my mind sounds like when I think I might be doing something wrong:
🗣️“Is this what I’m supposed to be doing? I think I must be bad at this.”
🗣️“Stop! Be kind to your mind. Don’t beat yourself up!”
As you can see, ironically, I end up beating myself up about beating myself up, which is the complete opposite thing I want.
I’ve learned that this happens a lot to those of us who practice mediation and mindfulness. We’re in that in-between where we’re aware enough about our old self, but don’t quite know the next step to true compassion for ourselves. We think that punishing ourselves will somehow push us into the right direction.
In fact, your brain is relying on old habits it’s learned that protected itself in the past. For example, it can learn that it needs anxiety to force itself to complete a task (often why we procrastinate things up until the last minute), or it needs to be critical or angry in order make a change. These patterns may have worked before, but as we’re learning how to be kinder to ourselves, we rationally know it’s possible to get things done without suffering in the process.
However, our brain is so used to behaving a certain way that it truly thinks it’s helping you. Think of it as a well-intentioned friend or family member who always says the wrong thing. So now, when I start beating myself, I tell my brain, “Thank you for protecting me. Thank you for keeping me safe. But I know better now.” It’s not until I acknowledge that it’s trying its best and will learn the new way eventually, that I’m actually being kind to myself.
📚The Happiness Files
I recently finished Harvard professor and The Atlantic columnist Arthur C. Brooks’ book The Happiness Files and I loved it! It was so great to have so much evidence backing up things I already intuitively felt were true. But there was one thing that stood out…
We’ve all heard that money and fame and achievements can’t buy us happiness. We’ve also heard that the real happiness lies in healthy relationships. This is said so often that it’s kind of lost its poignancy. But Brooks said it in a way that really stuck with me.
I’m overly paraphrasing, because I’ve already return the book to the library, but it went something like:
If you’ve ever lost someone you loved, wouldn’t you give up all the awards, all the money, all the fame, just to get them back?
Would you trade the people you currently love for an award, money, or fame?
Well, some people are letting the people they love most slip away because they’re still chasing the surface-level things.
Remember what’s most important and organize your time to reflect it.
I’ll leave you with a recommendation to read or listen to the book to hear how it was actually said 😉 !
🤍
Have a great weekend, friends!
Love,
kaja