psychology
This is the most important strategy to be mentally strong
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Would you like to finally break that unhealthy habit or be able to concentrate better? The brain researcher Dr. Daniel Amen shares an important strategy that can help you do just that.
Why do some people manage to achieve their goals in a disciplined manner and stand up for what is important to them, while others struggle with making their bed in the morning or waiting for the second drink To give up wine? Why can some people concentrate on a task for hours while others find it incredibly difficult to focus? Why do some people always manage to look positively at even the most difficult situations, and others simply cannot cope with the negative thoughts in their heads?
To get straight to the point: Behind all of these things there can of course be illnesses that a doctor or therapist can clarify. But for many people, simple things fail: discipline, impulse control, and establishing long-term good habits. The psychiatrist and neuroscientist Dr. Daniel Amen shares a video about this on his Instagram channel. In it, the brain expert reveals how we can really succeed in being mentally strong.
“You have to tell your brain what you want”
To do this, we need to understand at least a little bit about the structure of our brain. What is particularly important here is the front part of the brain, our frontal lobe, which is located directly behind our forehead. Among other things, it is responsible for focus, for thinking ahead, for our impulse control and for judgment. “You have to tell this part of the brain what you want,” explains Dr. Amen. “What kind of person do you want to be?”
Dr. Daniel Amen recommends an exercise that he calls “The One Page Miracle” – in German: “the one-page miracle”. To do this, we write down exactly these things on a white piece of paper: our goals, our ideas about the future, what exactly we want. What kind of relationships do we want to have? What should our professional life look like? What are our financial goals? And how exactly do we want our health – both physical, mental and emotional?
So this exercise can help you become mentally stronger
We write all of these things on our piece of paper as part of this mental exercise. And then every day we look at our goals and visions and ask ourselves: Are my daily behavior, habits and thoughts getting me there? Or even further away? If the latter is the case, we have the chance every day to work on our behavior and patterns.
It’s not about overcritically chastising ourselves every day when we’ve made a mistake or fallen back into old patterns instead of continuing to establish our positive new habits. We are all human, and being human includes making mistakes and sometimes being weak. The most important thing is that we don’t let this discourage us, but rather treat ourselves lovingly and gently bring us back on the right path. And the “One Page Miracle” can help us with this.
Sources used: instagram.com/doc_amen, healthline.com, webmd.com