Zen Psychology Blog
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My name is Jaime Rasmussen. I am a registered provisional psychologist and a member of the College of Alberta Psychologists and the Psychologists' Association of Alberta. My approach is integrative and evidence-based and combines mindfulness, cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), and acceptance-commitment therapy (ACT) to deepen insight, awareness, vitality, flexibility, and choice.
Zen Psychology Blog
2y ago
We hear about ‘mindfulness’ more and more these days. But what does it actually mean? The word ‘mindfulness’ is a translation of the Pali word sati, which means awareness, or ‘remembering’. It’s it most technical sense, sati is a form of mental stability that inhibits the distraction of our attention.
Mindfulness involves paying attention to each experience in the present moment within our body and mind, without judgment and reactivity, with acceptance and equanimity. While the concept of mindfulness is simple, it can be difficult to define in scientific terms. Louis Armstrong, one of the most ..read more
Zen Psychology Blog
2y ago
Here’s the thing about stress: it’s inevitable and we want to get rid of it. We’ve all tried in vain to control it, minimize it, and avoid it. But, stress is sneaky: fighting against it, wishing it away, or denying it only seems to give it more power over us. The path to overcoming stress is to develop a more adaptive way of relating to it—learning how to work with it, rather than against it.
Don’t let your mind bully your body into believing it must carry the burden of it’s worries.
—Astrid Alauda
Stress can not only lead to feelings of irritability, anxiety, depression, worry, overwhelm an ..read more
Zen Psychology Blog
3y ago
Anxiety is one of the most pervasive psychological issue of our time. It is estimated that 264 people worldwide experience an anxiety disorder. Fundamentally we all crave certainty, yet life can be uncertain, and we cannot predict the future. Anxiety is a response to an imagined, uncertain future. It is not simply fear-which is focused on a real and imminent threat-it is more like an underlying sense of dread-subtle but chronic. A never-ending loop of what-ifs. An incessant warning about potential danger that keeps us stuck and miserable-robbing us of precious time and energy-making it h ..read more
Zen Psychology Blog
3y ago
Inner turmoil is largely unavoidable. It is also uncomfortable and stressful, which is why most of us try to escape or control our fear, depression, anxiety, worry, confusion, and self-doubt. We mistakenly believe that avoiding or getting rid of unwanted, anxiety-provoking thoughts, painful memories, or unacceptable emotions will protect us from suffering. So, when we experience difficult emotions, like shame, anger, guilt, sadness and disappointment, we habitually deny, distract, numb or suppress. Psychologists call our unwillingness to feel certain emotions experiental avoidance experientia ..read more
Zen Psychology Blog
3y ago
How often do you spend time worrying about terrible things that might happen in the future? Do you tend to imagine the worst possible outcomes-about everything? Maybe you ‘awfulize’, a term coined by cognitive psychologist Dr. Albert Ellis, defined as imagining the worst-case scenario, or making an event or situation as bad as it could possibly be. Often fears are often unfounded, or as Mark Twain aptly put it, “I’ve lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened”.
So why do we get stuck in vicious loops of worry? In "Bad is stronger than good" psychologist Roy ..read more
Zen Psychology Blog
3y ago
We hear about ‘mindfulness’ more and more these days. But what does it actually mean? The word ‘mindfulness’ is a translation of the Pali word sati, which means awareness, or ‘remembering’. It’s it most technical sense, sati is a form of mental stability that inhibits the distraction of our attention.
Mindfulness involves paying attention to each experience in the present moment within our body and mind, without judgment and reactivity, with acceptance and equanimity. While the concept of mindfulness is simple, it can be difficult to define in scientific terms. Louis Armstrong, one of the most ..read more
Zen Psychology Blog
3y ago
Here’s the thing about stress: it’s inevitable and we want to get rid of it. We’ve all tried in vain to control it, minimize it, and avoid it. But, stress is sneaky: fighting against it, wishing it away, or denying it only seems to give it more power over us. The path to overcoming stress is to develop a more adaptive way of relating to it—learning how to work with it, rather than against it.
Don’t let your mind bully your body into believing it must carry the burden of it’s worries.
—Astrid Alauda
Stress can not only lead to feelings of irritability, anxiety, depression, worry, overwhelm an ..read more