Welcome to the Psychological Flexibility Blog
Psychological Flexibility, like physical flexibility, is important for all things mental. In short, the more psychological flexible you are, the more likely you are to figure out what works for moving you toward where you want to go in life.
There are no set rules to practicing psychological flexibility. If there were, then that would not be very flexible. The whole idea is to stay loose. However, this is staying loose with a mission; and the mission is your life. What you want it to stand for in the end when someone needs to write something about you for a eulogy or a tombstone.
However, if you get to thinking a lot about your eulogy or tombstone, that's a recipe for not being flexible. As I said, it's about staying psychologically loose, and there are no hard and fast rules to it, except one:
The Rule of the Mind: If you don't want to think about something, then you will think about that something. The more you try to not think about that something, the more stuck you will become in a cycle of trying not to think about the thing that you just thought about. So at times on this blog you will hear me refer to the Rule of The Mind and how it can get us stuck.
I truly have no idea where this blog will go. I am a clinical psychologist who practices mostly in the trauma field. That is, I help folks who have gotten stuck in thinking about trauma memories. It's from working in that field for over 20 years that I have gotten a bit of a feel for moving toward psychological flexibility. However, psychological flexibility, just like physical flexibility, is a fleeting thing. If you don't stretch often, you get stiff. As much as anything this blog is my own efforts to stay psychologically loose.
I welcome comments from anyone with an interest in this area. This blog is for everyone; all humans that might need a bit of loosening up at times.
The reason is simple: people who are psychologically flexible are more likely to be creative and discover what works to move them toward what they value. I have faith that if people move toward what they value, then that's a good thing for us all.
In my next post I will present to you the basic "psychological stretch" that I use when I make presentations to people. For now I plan to open every blog with that "stretch." However, in the spirit of staying loose, I will probably change that. We will see.
Next: The Stretch
Later
Kevin
Kevin L. Polk, Ph.D.
The Psychological Flexibility Blog and Podcast
www.drkevinpolk.com
Hello, I am Dr. Kevin Polk. While I am a clinical psychologist, this is not a "clinical" blog. Rather it's about training, psychological flexibility training. If you have stumbled upon this blog looking for professional advice, please make a personal contact with a professional.
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