Focusing exercises like the one below, are a type of Cognitive Change Strategy. So imagine you are trying to type up an important word document and have lots of programmes open on your computer or device. You might get distracted by your email pinging, your phone’s WhatsApp and the excel spreadsheet you still need to finish. Closing down all the programmes you’re not using, so you can focus on the one you do want, can really help us focus.
It’s the same for our emotions. So, let’s say you have just arrived in a meeting after a stressful phone conversation. Your brain can still potentially be engaged in the emotion of that meeting and what you need to do.
The processing of emotions happens in the limbic system, which from evolution, is primed to sense danger (lion in the cave) and can activate the amygdala and send us into fight or flight mode. If we arrive to the meeting stressed, the limbic system is in control. This is helpful if there is a lion in the room, however not so helpful when we are trying to focus or think. It is taking resources away from our Pre-frontal Cortex (PFC), which is the part of the brain that helps us do our best thinking.
One way to calm down the limbic system and this emotional brain, is to use Cognitive Change Strategies such as Emotional Labelling.
People expect that talking about their emotions will distract them even more. It can if you use lots of language, however not if you just label them in one word. Neuroscience research found that labelling emotions, decreased amygdala activity and reduced self-reported distress (Burklund, L. et al 2014). This frees us up to think more clearly.
Clearing the Space Exercise
- Identify the cognitive distraction – What is going on in the background for you? E.g. I’ve got an important presentation tomorrow which I’ve still got to finish.
- Label the Emotion – What’s the emotion attached to this in one word? E.g. Anxiety
- Remove the cognitive distraction – What will you do to clear it so you can focus? I’m going to leave it outside the door and collect on my way out. I’m going to imagine writing it on a piece of paper and scrunching it up and throwing it in the bin. I’m going breathe it away. We’re not ignoring it. We are cognitively changing it so we can focus.
Enjoy!
References:
Burklund, L. J., Creswell, J. D., Irwin, M. R., & Lieberman, M. D. (2014). The common and distinct neural bases of affect labeling and reappraisal in healthy adults. Frontiers in psychology, 5, 221. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00221
