44 Music, emotional signpost, and thought spiral

Nov 24

Written By True Progress Lab

No. 44 – 6 Oct 2023

Welcome to the 44th edition of the True Progress Newsletter, a weekly newsletter on building resilience.

Article

The 6 ancient frameworks to help you thrive in high-stress situations.

— Read more

Quote

“Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”

— Hellen Keller

Insight

Music can lift you out of your helplessness. Out of your despair and lowest points. Because it can influence your mood and change your perspective.

Here are 6 classic songs to give you a boost:

1/ Don't Stop Believin' by Journey
2/ It's My Life by Bon Jovi
3/ Dream On by Aerosmith
4/ Imagine by John Lennon
5/ I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash
6/ What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong

Which would you add?

Emotional Signpost

Neuroscience and brain-imaging research shows that properly naming an emotion is critical to managing and taming it. And it's key to building resilience. It becomes a pause for reflection and increases understanding of yourself and others.

Here are 2 to distinguish:

Hopeless

Definition | Feeling of despair about something; having no expectation of good or success; not susceptible to remedy or cure.

Origin | Mainly British English inadequate; incompetent.

Drained

Definition | Deprived of strength or vitality; worn out; exhausted.

Origin | Old English, strain, of Germanic origin; related to dry.

Question

Catastrophizing impacts your performance and mental toughness. It can turn into a downward spiral of negative thoughts, lead to multiple unrelated thoughts, or cause you to ruminate about one single thought for hours. They increase your anxiety and take up cognitive space for clear thinking and decision-making.

Challenging their existence, rationalizing them away, or trying to quiet them are all ineffective in the long term.

What do you do when you find yourself in these thinking patterns?

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Till next week,
— Carlos & Stef

True Progress Lab