Live Well and Flourish

(This is a re-release of episode 31 of Live Well and Flourish.)

Being able to control your emotions to minimize unnecessary suffering, and to maximize positive feelings is important to your flourishing. In this episode, Craig discusses emotional regulation and provides some strategies for taking control of your emotions and emotional responses. There's also a goat story!

Notes

Five Families of Emotional Regulation Strategies

Strategy family           Example strategies

Situation selection       Avoidance

Situation modification    Direct request (to change the situation)

Attentional deployment Distraction

                             Rumination (directing attention towards causes & consequences)

Cognitive change         Cognitive reappraisal

                             Acceptance (of the emotion)

Response modulation    Expressive suppression (preventing outward expressions of emotion)

                             Physiological intervention (e.g. breathing deeply and slowly)

Note: Adapted from McCrae & Gross (2020) Available at: https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2020-03346-001.html 

Article on Stoicism and Emotion Regulation

https://antidotesforchimps.com/2019/12/14/stoicism-emotion-regulation/

Live Well and Flourish website: https://www.livewellandflourish.com/ 

The theme music for Live Well and Flourish was written by Hazel Crossler, [email protected].

Production assistant - Paul Robert

(This episode originally aired before our name change from Rational Ignorance to Live Well and Flourish.)

Grief comes from loss. But gratitude should accompany grief. Listen as Craig reflects on the puzzling relationship between grief and gratitude, and how a deeper understanding of how they interact can help you deal with grief, and prepare for future grief. 

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Live Well and Flourish website: https://www.livewellandflourish.com/

The theme music for Live Well and Flourish was written by Hazel Crossler, [email protected].

Production assistant - Paul Robert

Reflection is a learning, growth, and flourishing superpower.

The world is often a chaotic, puzzling place. Reflection is how we can make sense of the world and our place in it. As the Jesuits at Boston College put it, “Reflection is the way we discover and compose the meaning of our experience.” 

In this episode, Craig discusses critical self-reflection and its many benefits. He also describes a systematic method for reflection and offers three things you can put into practice that will help you build a practice of reflection in order to take control of your life.

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Live Well and Flourish website: https://www.livewellandflourish.com/

Email: [email protected]

The theme music for Live Well and Flourish was written by Hazel Crossler, [email protected].

Production assistant - Paul Robert

Do you ever feel like you’re going through life on autopilot? Most of us have, but life doesn’t have to be that way. Join Craig as he discusses mindfulness and its benefits. Mindfulness is an active, conscious process where you’re more open to the present as well as more attentive and aware of the moment. According to Dr. Ellen Langer there are three specific behaviors related to mindfulness: engagement, seeking novelty and producing novelty. Listen to the episode to learn what to do to practice mindfulness in your life and how to use it to become the master of your thoughts and actions.

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Live Well and Flourish website: https://www.livewellandflourish.com/

Email: [email protected]

The theme music for Live Well and Flourish was written by Hazel Crossler, [email protected].

Production assistant - Paul Robert

Do you have a purpose in life? And do you know the difference between purpose and goals? In this episode you’ll learn how purpose is an elemental foundation to guiding your life and flourishing, as well as a means for having more focus and resilience when faced with the challenges of life. It’s also important to understand that you already have purpose, it’s already in you, and it is not something that you can find, but rather discover. By following the steps covered in this episode, you’ll be able to reflect on what is your “why” by figuring out what makes you happy, fills you with a sense of accomplishment and that you would like to be recognized for. Listen to the episode to discover your purpose and use it as a North Star to guide you towards a path of flourishing.

Watch Simon Sinek’s video “Start with Why”:

https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl:

https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/0807014273/

When you have a low sense of personal control, you suffer increased stress, anxiety, depression and negative mood. Your physical health also suffers. In this episode of Live Well and Flourish, Craig discusses the effects of personal control and provides some insights into how to increase your sense of personal control to improve your mental and physical health, and to help you flourish.

The Small Wins Strategy of Change - https://www.livewellandflourish.com/the-power-of-small-things-the-small-wins-strategy-of-change/

Grief and Gratitude - https://www.livewellandflourish.com/grief-and-gratitude/ 

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Live Well and Flourish website: https://www.livewellandflourish.com/

Email: [email protected]

The theme music for Live Well and Flourish was written by Hazel Crossler, [email protected].

Production assistant - Paul Robert

Like assumptions, our generalizations can limit your flourishing by putting blinders on how you see the world.

Generalizations help us make sense of a complex world; generalizing is a fundamental human function. Most of the time, our generalizations serve us well. But, when we make generalization errors, bad things happen, such as stereotypes that lead to prejudice. In this episode, Craig discusses how we make generalizations, why they're necessary, and how generalization errors and overgeneralizing can harm us, and those around us.

When to use a generalization flowchart: 

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/generalizations-and-assumptions-a-flow-chart-i-just-made.901709/

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Live Well and Flourish website: https://www.livewellandflourish.com/

Email: [email protected]

The theme music for Live Well and Flourish was written by Hazel Crossler, [email protected].

Production assistant - Paul Robert

Are your assumptions limiting you? (Spoiler: Yes, they probably are.)

Assumptions are necessary for getting through the complexity of life. However, some of our assumptions, when untested, can hinder flourishing by limiting the way you view and think about the world. In this episode, Craig discusses assumptions, how they're formed, why they're so persistent, and what you can do to free yourself from the cage of your assumptions.

Living Well Through Mindfulness: https://www.livewellandflourish.com/living-well-through-mindfulness/ 

Live Well and Flourish website: https://www.livewellandflourish.com/ 

The theme music for Live Well and Flourish was written by Hazel Crossler, [email protected].

Production assistant - Paul Robert

(This is a re-release of episode 29 of Live Well and Flourish.)

In this episode of Live Well and Flourish, Craig discusses the small wins strategy of change, which involves breaking big changes into a series of smaller changes such that each of the small changes has its own value. This is the last of a three part mini-series of episodes on the power of small things.

Weick, K. (1984). Small wins: Redefining the scale of social problems, American Psychologist, 39(1), 40-49. https://homepages.se.edu/cvonbergen/files/2013/01/Small-Wins_Redefining-the-Scale-of-Social-Problems.pdf

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Live Well and Flourish website: https://www.livewellandflourish.com/

Email: [email protected]

The theme music for Live Well and Flourish was written by Hazel Crossler, [email protected].

Production assistant - Paul Robert

(This is a re-release of episode 27.)

Do you want to make the world a better place? Try a little kindness. In this episode, Craig discusses the power of micro-kindness, small acts of kindness, which are small sincere and voluntary acts and attitudes, intentional or unintentional, that communicate compassion, generosity and service towards others, and that signal that we recognize the value and dignity of other people. 

Practicing micro-kindness not only has benefits for others, you benefit as well. Not only will small acts of kindness help you pursue the virtue of kindness, it will also improve your well-being. 

This is the first of a three-part series on the power of small things. The other episodes will discuss how small events and experiences give our life meaning, and will introduce the small wins strategy of change.

Visit https://www.livewellandflourish.com/ for more information on the Live Well and Flourish podcast.

The theme music for Live Well and Flourish was written by Hazel Crossler, [email protected].

Production assistant - Paul Robert