Your brain is a big ole’ know-it-all. Its job is to keep you alive, and the more it knows, the more assumed certainty it has, the better it can do that job. It’s a know-it-all because it loves you and it wants to do well by you. One of the ways minds scramble for assumed certainty The post EP164: Minds Compare appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

This podcast explores the universal mental process of worry and how it is not something that defines us. It traces the origins of worry and discusses its intelligent nature as a survival mechanism. The chapter also delves into the illusion of worry and how it can arise from imaginary mental images. The podcast ends with updates on a course and book launch party.

In this episode, I share some of the most helpful themes that came up in the 4-week overdrinking workshop I recently led. Questions like: Isn’t alcohol different from other habits because it is a drug that involves physical addiction? (If we were trying to manage experience, this would probably make a big difference. But we’re The post EP162: How to End the Drinking Habit appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Anne experienced anxiety and worry for as long as she could remember. As is often the case, it showed up physically, as well as emotionally. She often felt sick, had headaches, and experienced pain that would move to different places in her body. She tried many things for her pain (including surgery), and some things for The post EP161: Anne Wilin: A New Experience of Chronic Pain due to Anxiety appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

When I initially heard the title my publisher proposed for my upcoming book Just a Thought, I absolutely, positively hated it.  I literally said (over and over) “there is no way that will be the title of my book”.And, well, things change. Within a couple months, I had a change of mind. Or a change The post EP160: How I Realized I Had Changed by the Example of my New Book Title, Which Was Hated appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Phillip has been alcohol-free, after a lifetime of drinking, for a year this summer. He quit smoking this year too, after having smoked since the age of 13. But the fact that he no longer smokes or drinks are just details. They are incredible details, don’t get me wrong, but when you know Phillip, you The post EP159: Phillip’s Change Story: Free from Addiction and Free to Feel Everything appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

I recently heard something so simple. Everyone who is suffering is preoccupied.  Preoccupation is the only problem there is. Some thought has occupied our focus such that we’re no longer sensing what’s there pre thought. The world we experience is a perfect reflection of what we’re preoccupied with. I think you’ll sense a whole new level of simplicity The post EP158: Preoccupied appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Brains generalize in order to make sense of the world in the most predictive, efficient way possible.  And while there are a lot of necessary benefits of this, there are some drawbacks too. We lose some nuance and fluidity when we’re hanging out in a highly generalized view of things. Our experience tends to be The post EP156: How Generalizing is Keeping you Stuck in Habits and Anxiety appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

Me and Dr. Bob Solomon are major geeks for helping people be themselves again. From the time we’re babies, we’re taught how to be. Don’t cry. Be a good girl or a good boy. Say please. Be grateful. Do the right thing. This is the beginning of us being led away from what feels right to The post EP155: Being Yourself with Dr. Robert Solomon appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.

I view anxiety as a habit. (To be fair, I view most things–including personality, identity, and moods–as habits too).People who struggle with anxiety ask me about this all the time. They say “I can see how nail biting or binge eating or drinking is a habit. But how is anxiety a habit?”“Where’s the habit in The post EP154: Where’s the Habit in Anxiety? appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.