The Chemistry of Despair 2

In our last post, I described the sensations of my sense of despair. It felt like I was attacked by my emotions while recovering from  major surgery. The chemicals introduced to my body at that time caused reactions at both my physical and emotional levels of perception. I think the anesthetic medication left me feeling desperately alone, deeply depressed, and despairing to the point of hopelessness.

In the moment I experienced that episode in my life, I believed the messages of despair with which my mind was flooded. I just KNEW all was lost. I recognized that this feeling was foreign to my day-to-day expression of life, which is one of cheerfulness, humor, warmth, and gratitude.

The comparison between what I was feeling IN THE MOMENT and what I feel day-to-day was stark enough that I noticed the difference. This noticing prompted me to attribute my dark mood to chemistry – a temporary condition over which I thought I could exert some control.

I used attribution to temporarily and therapeutically assign a cause to an effect.

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Walk Differently, Feel Differently

Intuitively, I recognize that when I’m in a mood, my body will take on an appearance that shows it. For example, when I feel sad, my shoulders may fall forward, my head may sag forward, my gait will slow, etc.

Can I use that connection between mind and body to formulate a strategy for changing my mood?

Neurolinguistics (NLP) says yes!

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