Apologies in advance. This started out as a simple blog post to try out an idea that I think has legs, definitely needs a lot more thought, and might be controversial. But, as you’ll see two seemingly random events complicated things, convinced me that the topic was even more important than I had realized, and (alas) made the post a lot longer than I had originally planned.
Chip, I'm a big fan of CBT. Like you, I have no direct expertise but have studied it for years from different angles trying to implement the practices in my own life. The latest insight I picked up from a book called Chatter was to simply call myself by name to get my own attention to look at things from a distance.
There is so much classical Mahayana Buddhist and Taoist thought undergirding the approach to random thoughts and self-consciousness you shared in your piece and in the fantastic CBT worksheet you shared. Our thoughts come to us like hiccups, and are in fact most times not our own. Not taking them at face value is a bold step forward into a new level of consciousness.
Chip, I'm a big fan of CBT. Like you, I have no direct expertise but have studied it for years from different angles trying to implement the practices in my own life. The latest insight I picked up from a book called Chatter was to simply call myself by name to get my own attention to look at things from a distance.
There is so much classical Mahayana Buddhist and Taoist thought undergirding the approach to random thoughts and self-consciousness you shared in your piece and in the fantastic CBT worksheet you shared. Our thoughts come to us like hiccups, and are in fact most times not our own. Not taking them at face value is a bold step forward into a new level of consciousness.