Episode #128 Train Your Emotions

Seven Problems

• Depression is a medical condition characterized by feeling down and struggling to enjoy the things we would normally enjoy.
• Depressive episodes occur in 10% of Americans each year and 20% of Americans throughout the course of their lives.
• Our tendency when we feel depressed is to avoid the activities we would typically enjoy, which makes us feel even more depressed.
• Depression may cause a profound lack of motivation accompanied by feelings of guilt, worthlessness, and hopelessness.
• If we only make healthy choices when we feel motivated, we will rarely make healthy choices.
• Sometimes our emotions lag behind our actions, and the joy from pleasurable activities is often delayed.
• It is hard to do hard things when life is hard.

Three Paradigms

• We cannot change how we feel at this very moment, but we can make choices that will change our emotional state in the near future.
• We cannot choose our emotions, but we can always choose our attitude.
• We cannot choose our feelings, but we can choose our response to those feelings.

Five Principles

• Behavioral activation is the practice of doing enjoyable activities even if they are not enjoyable in the moment in order to train ourselves to experience joy again.
• Doing enjoyable activities when we feel sad is not a way of ignoring and minimizing our emotions but a way of identifying and addressing them.
• We don’t need to wait until we feel normal to do the things we would normally do, and we don’t need to wait to feel motivated to pursue our goals.
• The satisfaction we experience from accomplishing something difficult actually increases our motivation to continue doing difficult things.
• The accumulation of healthy choices makes us healthier, even if it doesn’t feel that way in the moment.

Five Practices

• Train your mind to become motivated by a lack of motivation.
• Consider which daily rhythms and routines are essential to your well-being, and commit to doing them every day – even when you don’t feel like it.
• Identify which activities improve your mood, and create an ‘activity menu’ to pick and choose from when you are feeling down.
• Speak honestly with friends and family about your mood and motivation.
• Schedule an appointment with a medical provider or mental health professional when you feel stuck and stagnant due to a depressed mood or lack of motivation.