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May 2024
1h 4m

How To Escape Your Brain's Default Mode ...

10% Happier
About this episode

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Using your senses to reduce overthinking, turn down the voice in your head, and get out of what these scientists call "the house of habit."


Dr. Zindel Segal is Distinguished Professor of Psychology in Mood Disorders at the University of Toronto Scarborough and a cofounder of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. Professor Norman Farb, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto Mississauga, where he directs the Regulatory and Affective Dynamics laboratory. 


In this episode we talk about:

  • How the brain's default mode network is essential to our survival but also can keep us stuck in rumination and overthinking 
  • Segal and Farb's simple practice of "sense foraging" and why they say it can help break patterns and thoughts that aren't serving us 
  • The differences and the similarities between sense foraging and mindfulness 


Related Episodes:

Depression and Anxiety: Your Old Enemies, Your Best Friends | Zindel Segal

Gretchen Rubin on: How To Use Your Five Senses To Reduce Anxiety, Increase Creativity, and Improve Your Relationships

Why You Can't Pay Attention - And How to Think Deeply Again | Johann Hari


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