Real transformations can occur when we take a mindful approach to behavioral change, but it’s not easy! Here are four challenges in mindfulness-based change and examples of a mindful change process IRL.
Mindful behavioral change refers to the use of mindfulness-based practices to create lasting change in thoughts and behaviors. Mindfulness can help us become aware of our thoughts and get curious about their validity and impact. It can also help us identify ineffective thought and behavior patterns and replace them with more effective habits.
Mindfulness-based change can be big. I mean HUGE. It can revolutionize the way we approach problems in our lives. It’s awesome and enlightening. Aaaaaaaaand, it’s quite difficult at times. It can be messy and reveal all the ways we are our own worst enemies. It’s important to not let these challenges discourage us, because they are part of the learning process.
Given the ups and downs of any change effort, it’s helpful to know what to expect. Since starting mindfulness practices in January, I’ve learned a lot about both the growth and challenges inherent in this type of change. Based on my experience, this post discusses four big challenges one may encounter and specific examples from my journey.
The four challenges I encountered in my mindful behavioral change efforts include:
- Awareness of harsh, critical self-talk,
- Loss of faulty coping mechanisms,
- Sitting with tough emotions, and
- Developing a compassionate relationship with oneself.
Before I get into these challenges, allow me to give you a few real-world examples from my own change efforts. I’ll come back to them periodically in this post to illustrate both the challenges and growth opportunities. My goal in sharing these personal struggles is to help others who wish to change through mindfulness-based practices.
Mindful behavioral change IRL (in real life)
When I started Working On Calm in January, my intention was to adopt habits that would help me be present and enjoy the moment. I wanted to be more mindful and less anxious. My Commitment to Calm included four behaviors I thought would bring some level of contentment: meditation, yoga, gratitude, and finding pleasurable moments. These are what I refer to as formal mindfulness practices, and they’ve been quite helpful in creating more calm in my life.
However, the real change is happening during the numerous informal mindfulness moments throughout the day in which the formal training is changing the way I think and act. Several issues continue to trip me up, make me anxious, and foster discontent. These are lifelong issues, and here’s a brief synopsis of each.
Recurring issue #1: Thoughts regarding my body
I’ve battled my body for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I went through a chubby phase (or decade) and was very self-conscious about it. I grew up in a household with two parents who also battled their weights, bodies, and body insecurities. Add on the pressure of the American culture to be rail-thin, and it’s no surprise I developed body shame. I know I’m not alone here.
On multiple occasions throughout my adult life, I’ve gotten serious about weight loss and managed to take off anywhere from ten to thirty pounds. Other than post-pregnancies, I probably didn’t need to be on a diet. Rather, I would’ve benefitted from cleaning up some unhealthy, mindless eating and drinking habits. What I really needed was a better relationship with my body.
As a side note, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with dieting if that’s what you need to do. We all have a responsibility to our physical and mental health. That being said, I’ve become a stronger proponent of being mindful of what we put in our bodies, honoring our hunger and fullness, and truly getting to the root issues that prevent us from being healthy. I’ll have a post on Intuitive Eating, which addresses this, in the future!
I’ve gone through this diet-weight loss cycle enough (and previously did some work with a nutritional counselor) to realize this isn’t really about the scale or a particular diet. This is about never feeling thin enough and harsh self-criticisms, which no diet or exercise plan will solve. Sure, I can clean up my diet a bit, but I’m starting from a place of distorted thinking about my body. I continue to battle these negative self-criticisms and working on mindfulness this year has brought them to the forefront of my awareness.
Recurring issue #2: My need to be productive/accomplishing. All. The. Time
I’ve always been driven with a high need for accomplishment. Whether stemming from my parents’ high expectations of my school performance or my personality traits and anxieties, I had to be one of the top students. This transferred to my college performance and then to my professional life. The accomplishments came to a screeching halt when I started having kids, but the drive didn’t go away.
For the past eight years I’ve been a full-time stay-at-home mom. Despite living-and-breathing my motherhood responsibilities 24-7, I often feel like I’m not doing enough. I’ll replay career regrets in my mind, question my ability to be a good mom, or feel like I haven’t accomplished enough in a given day. The critical voice in my head says, “You need to do more to prove your worth.”
Even after starting the blog and throwing myself into this full-time passion project, it’s not enough. The list of things I “should” be doing is never ending, exhausting, and often on my mind when I wake in the morning and go to bed at night. My thoughts tell me I need to be doing, producing, or proving myself. Like with body shame, this internal thought loop is getting called into question with my mindfulness-based changes, but persists in nagging me.
The real issue
What both issues, my body image and professional identity, have in common, is a never-good-enough mentality. The harsh self-critic is brutal, relentless, and inescapable. In the past, these harmful thoughts motivated me to do something, anything, to appease the critic.
I felt bad about my body and threw myself into a new diet or workout regimen. I was anxious about school, and the only solution I knew was to throw myself into even more studying. I worried about having a job when we moved to Texas, so I took four adjunct teaching positions.
Negative thoughts led to ineffective behaviors in an endless loop. But, and this is a big BUT, these thought-behavior loops, practiced and strengthened for the past thirty years, have started to fracture this year with a mindfulness practice.
The process, while totally worth it, is difficult at times and brings some aggravations. If you’re embarking on a similar journey, you might experience similar ups and downs. Below is a discussion of four specific challenges one might encounter during a mindful behavioral change.
Awareness of harsh, critical self-talk during mindful behavioral change
As Jon Kabat-Zinn explains it, “mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.”[1] When we learn to be mindful in ways we weren’t previously, our eyes are opened to our long-established thought and behavior patterns. Suddenly everything is fair game for inquiry, and this can be both enlightening, liberating, and frustrating.
We can get better at observing our thoughts without believing them, but it takes time, practice, and diligence. According to Kabat-Zinn, it requires work and constant dedication “for the simple reason that the forces that work against our being mindful, namely our habitual unawareness and automaticity, are exceedingly tenacious.”[2] It’s so easy to slip back into our old, mindless ways.
The more we learn to pay attention by being aware in the present moment, the more we’ll pick up on our negative thought patterns. We all have them, so this is inevitable. Boy, can they be nasty! Thankfully mindfulness can also help us to question any derisive patterns of behavior that follow our thoughts.
Equanimity
Mindful change doesn’t end with awareness. That’s just where it begins. At the heart of mindfulness is awareness without judgment. The acceptance and non-judgmental piece, what is often referred to as equanimity, is much more difficult. Becoming aware of negative thoughts can feel painful. We might get frustrated by our thoughts or the fact that they’re always there. Mindfulness requires us to let go of these judgments, which doesn’t happen easily.
I recently read transcripts of a conversation with Jack Kornfield and Pema Chödrön, in which they discussed practicing mindfulness during difficult situations.[3] The publication is over fifteen years old, but so relevant to the mindfulness change effort in which I find myself.
At one point, Kornfield pointed out “real equanimity isn’t indifference. It’s the capacity to be present with your whole being and not add fuel to the fire.” I like this explanation because it normalizes the fact we all play a role in our struggle, and it underscores that we can choose to disengage.
Negative thoughts will always come and go, and often hurt. We can’t expect mindfulness to take that away. However, mindfulness practice helps us be cognizant of the critical thoughts and then gives us the power to let them go. We don’t have to buy into them, regardless of how loud they are or how much they hurt. In this way, mindfulness plays a significant role in creating enduring change.
Awareness challenges IRL
As I engaged in more mindfulness-based practices this year, I developed an internal awareness that was previously non-existent. I never questioned my harsh inner critic. Rather, I just believed the thoughts as they arose. I didn’t connect the dots between these thoughts and my behaviors. Awareness is shedding a light on the darkest corners of my mind and challenging me to develop equanimity.
Before mindfulness, I followed negative thoughts with reactive behaviors. For example, I thought I was fat; I started a diet. I thought the blog wasn’t “successful” enough; I started a new task list to do more. Yet, slowly over the last eight months, an alternate voice gained strength.
Instead of believing the inner mean girl and launching into a behavior to shut her up, I started to ask tough questions.
Do I want to do this? Is that how I want to spend my time? Is that thought even true?
This is how awareness helps.
I recently reviewed a log I keep of my mindfulness journey and progress. March was the first time I mentioned “awareness” as an emerging theme. Three months into the practice I wrote,
“I’m noticing I’m more aware of how things make me feel. Maybe the connection between feelings and reactions is slightly lessened, such that I’m not reacting (as much) without pausing for curiosity.”
I went on to describe a few difficult interactions with my husband, Andrew, and our three boys. Instead of falling into my typical negative mindset, I noted,
“I was able to pause and remind myself multiple times that they were just thoughts, probably not true. This is a new step in the thought process for me, one I welcome.”
This illustrates how self-awareness is a skill that can get better over time.
With this newfound awareness, came some painful realizations. I often beat myself up, and it hurt. This motivated me to research topics like perfectionism and self-compassion, which was helpful but didn’t completely solve the problem.
For more on perfectionism, read this! For more on self-compassion, read this!
The thoughts may be less frequent or frequently challenged, but they still occur. Even though I’m aware these thoughts aren’t truth, they sting. Then, I feel frustrated I have these thoughts at all.
I don’t want to deal with my anxiety; I want to accept my body as it is; I don’t want to feel like I have something to prove.
I’m finding the equanimity piece takes much longer.
Thus, becoming mindful brings an awareness that’s necessary for lasting change. Yet, it’s painful and sometimes can feel like too much to deal with. Even when I make progress with awareness, the judging remains a struggle. I may never get there completely, but each day I get closer.
Loss of faulty coping mechanisms during mindful behavioral change
Although it can be painful, awareness changes the insidious nature of our automatic habits. Suddenly the link between our thoughts and actions comes into focus. We can identify the actions we repeatedly take to address our discomfort, or our default coping mechanisms. Next, we can discern which behaviors fail to provide the intended outcome, or worse, cause problems. Those faulty coping mechanisms are abandoned during mindful behavioral change.
I found a helpful research article that offered a framework for understanding this process better. Researchers investigated mindfulness and its role in behavioral change. [4] According to the authors, “mindful self-regulation starts with attentional control and curiosity about present-moment experience, leading to the development of interoceptive awareness and alternatives to self-critical rumination. Reappraisal of mental content, decentering, and acceptance downregulates autonomic reactivity, allowing for exposure to aversive internal stimuli and ultimately developing equanimity.”
As John Oliver says, “There’s a lot to unpack there.” Let’s break it down.
Essentially, mindfulness can play a role in behavioral change by first directing our attention. By staying in the present moment and being curious, we can become aware of our internal signals. This is the awareness piece discussed above. Instead of engaging in self-criticism or worry (the challenges I described), we can choose more effective responses.
As we question our old thought-behavior patterns (or coping mechanisms), replace them with better perspectives, and learn to accept ourselves and our present reality, we learn to remain calm in the face of these negative thoughts and emotions. With practice and over time, we can learn to see our thoughts with non-judgement.
This is mindful behavioral change in a nutshell, and it requires both awareness and abandonment of ineffective coping mechanisms.
The model discussed above may feel extremely esoteric or full of jargon. If you don’t enjoy theory and frameworks, I got you! How about this explanation from the conversation with Pema Chödrön I mentioned before?
She said, “you have the choice to launch into the lousy habitual patterns you already have, or to stay with the rawness and discomfort of the situation and let it transform you, on the spot.” If you don’t want to keep doing the same lousy thing, you must break the habit and learn a better way of coping, usually by feeling the raw emotions in the moment instead of running from them (more on this in the next section).
Abandoning my faulty coping mechanisms IRL
Essentially, mindfulness reveals our bad habits and forces us to make a choice: stay the same or change. Take my body shame issue, for example. In the past, I wouldn’t be aware of how critical and inaccurate my self-talk could be. I would simply believe the criticism and scramble to alleviate the pain. Eventually, the body shame would drive me to find some type of control mechanism like a diet or workout.
This may have worked for a while, but eventually I would return to where I was to begin with. Either the goal was temporarily achieved and then the goal posts moved (because it’s never enough), or the goal was achieved but not sustainable, or the goal was not achieved at all, and I was stuck with the same body. Regardless, my coping mechanisms didn’t work long-term.
Mindfulness helped me take a step back and question the whole process. Are my self-criticisms accurate and are my habitual reactions helpful? I’ve done this enough to understand my body has a setpoint and unless I’m willing to wage a constant war with my weight, that’s where I will settle. As I’ve become more aware of the thoughts and feelings that propel me into this harmful cycle, I’ve had to make a conscious decision to not engage anymore.
Same with my fears regarding my professional/productivity/accomplishment inadequacies. Thoughts of shame or feelings of self-doubt led me to constantly strive for more. I need to do more, enter my task list. I need to grow the blog audience faster, enter unsustainable schedules. I haven’t accomplished enough in my lifetime, enter shame and hopelessness. It would never be enough because the “solutions” never fully address the issue: my reaction to my thoughts.
Awareness helped me see I’m on a hamster wheel and I want off! I’ve had to accept that my coping mechanisms, used for years to avoid feeling bad, just don’t work. They may give me something to do so I feel in control temporarily. Yet eventually, I’m right back where I started. Again, this isn’t easy since these behaviors have been unquestioningly and habitually practiced for years.
Awakening to my role in this doesn’t always feel good. When reflecting on my progress in May, I wrote,
“I’ve been experiencing a lot of perfectionism and self-criticism and feeling like it’s not enough. This is nothing new for me. What is new is my awareness of it. I’m feeling shitty, I know I’m making myself feel shitty, and I don’t like it. It’s shitty. (My therapist) helped me see the cycle: My perfectionism goes up, my self-criticism goes up, my need to control goes up, I focus on doing as a means to control, I can’t maintain the rigidity, I disengage, I feel bad, I repeat.
I don’t quite understand the why – why is this happening in the first place. But I guess the point is that I am getting more aware of the discomfort I’m causing myself. In this way, my control is to my self-criticism what my rationality is to my anxiety, an ineffective coping mechanism. I’m trying to do something ‘logical’ because I feel bad. That is my way of solving the problem.”
This was five months into my mindfulness-based behavior change. I was finally making the connection that creating a calm life wasn’t just about doing the mindful behaviors I committed to (meditation, yoga, gratitude, presence). It was also about abandoning old behaviors. I had to stop defaulting to my ineffective coping mechanisms.
My therapist recently referred to these as avoidance strategies. I was avoiding the emotions rather than dealing with the problem. In other words, instead of becoming aware of my negative self-talk and sitting with it in open curiosity and non-judgement, I would buy into it. A diet or a rigid schedule and task list were ways to avoid the negative feelings of inadequacy rather than feel the emotions or silence the self-talk (more on this in the next section!).
At times this feels painful, because I’ve suffered a loss of my old coping strategies. They offered comfort when I felt down. They were my way to feel in control. Planning, tracking, monitoring, rationalizing, and controlling all gave me something into which I could funnel my anxious energy. Anything that screams “more/better/different” is now a red flag. The coping mechanisms aren’t going to work anymore (and they never did!).
I’ve been split open and I’m shining a light on what was previously shrouded in darkness. I don’t love all that I see, and I am responsible to myself to change these habits going forward. Now that my coping strategies have burned down, I must decide what gets rebuilt. This is exciting and promising for a different future. In the long run, I’m confident this is a better path.
In summary, I can’t go back to the old way of doing and pretend it’s fine. This bell cannot be unrung. I must learn to let things be, which brings me to the next challenge inherent in mindful behavioral change.
Sitting with tough emotions during mindful behavioral change
Something I didn’t understand when I started this journey was that mindfulness wouldn’t protect me from difficult emotions. I suppose I pictured myself with some type of zen-like invisible armor that would shield me from negativity. But that’s not how this works. The thoughts and feelings still occur, but now I don’t have those ineffective coping mechanisms to distract me. Instead, I’m developing the courage to just be with those emotions, to allow them, because the best way out is through.
For a discussion on the origin of “the best way out is through” and its relevance in ending the war with anxiety, read this!
As Jack Kornfield mentioned in his discussion with Pema Chödrön, “we don’t have to pretend that our irritability is not there or compare it unfavorably with our ideal version of ourselves.” Mindfulness certainly isn’t about ignoring our emotions. Plus, it’s unhelpful to uphold an idealistic self in which we aren’t bothered by them. There’s no point in burying our emotions or diving into an ineffective coping mechanism. Instead, we can be present and bear witness to what’s happening inside our minds and bodies.
Why would we want to sit with our emotions rather than try to fix them? Because we must feel them in order to move past them. This is a crucial part of the process that can’t be skipped. A sucker for process, I looked for some research on this.
I came across a review of the literature on the mechanisms of change in mindfulness-based treatment.[5] There’s not a lot of content on this, but based on several studies, the author concluded, “Increased mindfulness…appears to mediate improvement in psychological functioning, probably by cultivating an adaptive form of self-focused attention that reduces rumination and emotional avoidance and improves behavioral self-regulation.”
In other words, learning to be mindful can teach us to focus inward without getting caught in worry loops or running from emotions. Ultimately, this can lead us to change behavior for the better.
But this doesn’t always feel good!
As Pema Chödrön wrote in an essay, “it takes bravery to train in ‘suffering with,’ it takes bravery to stay with pain when it arises and not run or erect barriers. It takes bravery to not bite the hook and get swept away… As we become intimate with these tendencies, they gradually become more transparent, and we see that there’s actually space, there is unlimited, accommodating space. This does not mean that then you live in lasting happiness and comfort. That spaciousness includes pain.”[6] The power comes in allowing the emotions so you can unhook yourself from the automatic behavior loop. Eventually, we can develop better ways of being.
Sitting with my emotions IRL
Since embarking on mindfulness-based behavior changes, I’ve faced some painful conversations with myself. Mindfulness really is about turning the spotlight inside. It highlights all the ugly monsters lurking in the shadows. But here’s the thing I’m even more convinced of – this is the only sustainable way. I’ve done it the other way unsuccessfully many times. Even when it worked temporarily, it didn’t work forever.
On multiple occasions my therapist asked if I can learn to sit with these thoughts and feelings. Can I acknowledge them with something like, “Oh, there’s that thing I do again. I’m hating my body. This really isn’t about my weight. This is about my tendency to tell myself I’m not good enough. Instead of focusing on fixing the symptom, I’m going to acknowledge the negative emotions and allow them to be here.” The next step is to not do anything. Rather, the power lies in simply being. Let me say it again, it’s not easy!
At the same time, it’s empowering. There’s a level of freedom in acknowledging my reality and not launching into a way to change it. I’m not trying to convince myself I’m good enough by changing my size or accomplishing a professional success. Similarly, I’m not trying to fight against my anxiety by rationalizing it away. Instead, I’m working on simply acknowledging the feelings.
If you’re in a similar boat, you know this takes strength. It’s uncomfortable, it’s frustrating, and it’s part of the process. We have to trust that practicing mindfulness in these moments is the way through. The willingness to sit through this discomfort takes time and courage.
Developing a compassionate relationship with oneself during mindful behavioral change
Being aware of thought-behavior patterns, abandoning ineffective coping mechanisms, and learning to sit with uncomfortable emotions, all require us to develop a trusting relationship with ourselves. Just like a relationship with a spouse, it requires honesty, trust, compromise, compassion, and a willingness to accept the whole package. It’s an entirely different way of being.
An important part of being in relationship with oneself is a willingness to both ask questions with open curiosity (instead of judgement) and accept the answers. For example, instead of asking, “Why am I like this?” from a place of judgy exasperation, we can shift to, “Huh. Why do I think/do this? How has that served me in the past? Is that serving me now? How do I really want to think/behave in these situations?” In other words, we must explore who we are and get to know ourselves.
We have to be investigators instead of instigators. Rather than try to punish or mold ourselves into something different, we must listen with curiosity, patience, and compassion. It’s better to react to our thoughts, habits, and emotions as we would react to a friend experiencing the same. We would ask questions, be honest, and show compassion. We owe ourselves the same treatment.
When we pair curiosity with compassion, we can gain wisdom. In the discussion I mentioned several times, Pema Chödrön said, “Without self-compassion or some kind of loving-kindness toward oneself, nothing is ever going to happen on the spiritual path.” The more we engage in a loving, accepting response to our struggles, the more we learn, the wiser we get. This can’t happen if we’re not in a healthy relationship with ourselves.
A compassionate relationship with myself IRL
When my critical self-talk ramps up, I’m working on being both curious and self-compassionate. Sometimes I give myself a simple, “Is that thought even true?” Other times, I ask myself harder questions, like “Can I accept my body as it is?” or “Is it ok to not have the career I envisioned two decades ago?” These questions are asked from a place of open, curiosity and answered with honesty. Sometimes, I don’t know the answer, and I’m trying to be ok with that.
Mindfulness is forcing me to be honest with myself in a way I never have before. I’m finally admitting what a terrible partner I can be to myself, and I’m working to change it. Sometimes I’m better and sometimes I revert back to old ways. I’m not sure I will ever be able to silence the inner critic entirely, and that’s ok for right now.
When the internal voice gets abusive, I practice self-compassion. I remind myself, “All people struggle with some form of self-confidence from time-to-time, and I’m no different. I’m healthy and strong. There’s nothing wrong with my body.” Or, “I’m doing the best I can right now. More accomplishments won’t make me feel better long-term. I’m enough, as is.”
These are the responses I would give a friend but drastically different from the way I’ve treated myself in the past. They reflect a new level of maturity and wisdom. I’m not saying it’s like this every time, but this is a start. It’s a huge shift for me.
I’m at a scary, frustrating, overwhelming point in the journey. It feels big. Sometimes, it’s too big. It’s raw, it’s sad, it’s enlightening. And for the first time it feels right.
The path forward with mindful behavioral change
Mindfulness puts a whole new lens on lasting behavioral change. As I recently heard Kelly McGonigal advise, “Let’s think of this as self-inquiry, self-reflection, self-study with an attitude of discernment…I think of mindfulness being one of the core foundations of change…There’s a quality of curiosity and acceptance that allows us to see how we contribute to the process of not changing or the process of giving into old habits.”[7]
The Working On Calm community received this quote directly to their email inbox in one of my weekly Take Five newsletters. Each week I send out five things to reflect on and inspire your own journey to a calmer state of mind. Click here for previous editions and to sign up!
We get to decide how we want to spend our time and focus our attention, but first we must grow aware and abandon the old way of doing. Mindfulness can teach us to sit with our thoughts and emotions. Ultimately, we can form a healthy relationship with ourselves, but this requires honesty and self-compassion. Most importantly, it requires time.
My mindful behavioral change IRL
In some ways, it feels like I’m learning a completely new way of being. It’s unknown, vague, and uncertain. In several therapy sessions I’ve found myself prodding my therapist for answers or a timeline. My brain prefers clear explanations, theory, or step-by-step process. There’s not much of that available.
In August, eight months into my Commitment to Calm, I took time to reflect on the magnitude of this effort. I wrote,
“The more mindful I get, the more I realize I have work to do. This isn’t an easy process. I think that’s part of my exhaustion lately. Throughout this journey, BIG issues have presented themselves…It’s all just so much to work on.”
These are huge, life-long struggles that aren’t going to be resolved in a 30-day commitment or even nine months of mindfulness practice. Although it’s frustrating and painful at times, this mindful behavioral change feels like the birth of a better me. These big, sweeping changes aren’t instantaneous. Nor are they linear. Overall, though, I’m proud of the changes.
The more I practice mindfulness, the more the nervous chatter hushes, and a sense of calm emerges. The anxious voice grows weaker as I realize how much it led me astray in the past. In its place, a wiser voice grows louder and clears a different path to freedom. It’s like a revolutionary awakening or a phoenix rising from the ashes. Too dramatic? I’m not so sure.
Mindfulness is an effective way to change behaviors, and is both transformative and challenging. We can’t reap the benefits of arriving at the promised land without trudging through the mud first. Hopefully this post provides you with some specific expectations and examples from which to learn. Let’s maintain the movement forward!
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[1] Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994) Wherever you go there you are. New York: Hyperion. p. 4.
[2] Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994) Wherever you go there you are. New York: Hyperion. p. 8.
[3] https://www.lionsroar.com/the-wondrous-path-of-difficulties/
[4] Schuman-Olivier, Zev MD; Trombka, Marcelo MD; Lovas, David A. MD; Brewer, Judson A. MD, PhD; Vago, David R. PhD; Gawande, Richa PhD; Dunne, Julie P. PhD, RN, PMHNP-BC; Lazar, Sara W. PhD; Loucks, Eric B. PhD; Fulwiler, Carl MD, PhD. Mindfulness and Behavior Change, Harvard Review of Psychiatry: 11/12 2020 – Volume 28 – Issue 6 – p 371-394. doi: 10.1097/HRP.0000000000000277
[5] Baer, R. A. (2009). Self-focused attention and mechanisms of change in mindfulness-based treatment. Cognitive behaviour therapy, 38(S1), 15-20.
[6] https://www.lionsroar.com/turn-your-thinking-upside-down/
[7] Kelly McGonigal, during SummitPalooza talk, “Willpower: The Science of Motivation, Self-Control and Getting Things Done.”