Hi! I've suffered from severe medication resistant depression for over 50+ years and extreme paralyzing anxiety over the past 5 years. I found the information in and presentation of this video abundantly and refreshingly inspiring and a lifeline for me. I've watched it several times already in less than a week since I first came across it!! I am beyond grateful to you both for your invaluable work!!! 🙏♥️
I play a lot of video games, you are only going to get the state of flow if you are actively trying to get better,have good match and fun than yes, but the moment you are on auto pilot and just playing to kill time it’s escapism. If it where my kid is tell them they can only play if they are actively getting better. Higher rank, stats,etc
How resting can increase motivation and wellbeing and reduce anxiety, a simple behavior analytic procedure from affective neuroscience. (i.e., a radical behaviorism, and not ACT!) Procedure: Consistent and periodic alternation between a resting protocol (e.g. mindfulness) and the pursuit of meaningful behavior will increase motivation and positive affect (arousal and pleasure). Explanation: Resting elicits opioid activity, or feels pleasurable, and meaningful behavior, as defined as behavior that has branching novel and positive outcomes (writing that great novel or just making the bed) elicits dopamine activity which causes arousal. The awareness of subsequent meaningful behavior while engaging in relaxation protocols such as mindfulness elicits a ‘priming’ response, namely dopamine release that increases opioid activity, and vice versa, making meaningful behavior seem self-reinforcing or ‘autotelic’. Although mindfulness reduces discursive thought or mind wandering; it does not inhibit concurrent non-conscious awareness or anticipation of behavior or events subsequent to meditation that can in turn shape or ‘prime’ affective responses during a meditative session. A priming response, like the salivary response that precedes food or the sexual arousal that precedes intimacy, is a preparatory response that often occurs non-consciously, and changes the affective value or ‘feeling’ in the moment. Similarly, relaxing due to ‘being in the moment’ is pleasurable, but if we were told to expect ‘bad’ news or ‘good’ news in the near future, just the awareness of future events is enough to depress or elevate our feelings, but not altering in the slightest our ‘mindful’ or relaxed state. It follows that if mindfulness is paired with the awareness of subsequent positive or meaningful behavior, then rest in mindfulness will have a greater affective tone or ‘feel better’ than if such a prospect was absent. This is perhaps why ‘savoring’, ‘loving kindness’ meditation, and ‘flow’ experiences represent highly pleasurable and arousing experiences that map positive ideation to relaxed states and contrast with a lower level of pleasure during typical states of rest that generally precede a return to meaningless discursive thinking. The essentials of my argument are on pp.25-28 and pp.45-53 of my linked book on the psychology of rest. The Psychology of Rest www.scribd.com/doc/284056765/The-Book-of-Rest-The-Odd-Psychology-of-Doing-Nothing Meditation and Rest- The American Psychologist/David Holmes www.scribd.com/document/291558160/Holmes-Meditation-and-Rest-The-American-Psychologist The Psychology of Rest and Meditation, from the International Journal of Stress Management, by this author www.scribd.com/doc/121345732/Relaxation-and-Muscular-Tension-A-bio-behavioristic-explanation Berridge Lab, University of Michigan sites.lsa.umich.edu/berridge-lab/
