02. The Power of Intentionally Looking Back.

Episode Summary:

In this episode, I talk about the importance of setting up the lens through which we want to look, as we look back to what we've accomplished and experienced. As 2019 is nearing its end, now is a perfect time to take stock of what the past year (and the past decade) has offered us. I also mention a few scientific research findings that support this type of mindful, intentional revisiting of our past.

 

Key Take-Aways:

[00:51] Now is the perfect time to look back and reflect

[02:57] Memory can be malleable

[04:51] Intentionally setting up the lens through which we look back

[08:40] Looking back at the past decade

[10:31] Science-based evidence

[11:00] Topic 1: re-writing your memories

[13:26] Topic 2: revisiting positive memories to improve mood

[15:54] Your turn to look back at your past year and decade

 

Additional Resource:

You can find the free PDF that I mention in the show by clicking on the link here. It has a set of prompts to help you with intentionally searching your memory bank for the good and the valuable of this past year (and decade).

 

Scientific papers mentioned in this episode:

Topic 1: re-writing your memories

The first article that I mentioned was published by Donna J. Bridge and Ken. A. Paller in 2012 in the Journal of Neuroscience, and is titled “Neural Correlates of Reactivation and Retrieval-Induced Distortion”. You can find it here: https://www.jneurosci.org/content/32/35/12144. And a less confusing blog article on the concept, if all the science jargon kind of throws you off: https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2012/09/your-memory-is-like-the-telephone-game. Actually, they go into the potentially negative aspects of what implies, which I don’t discuss in this episode, in case you’re curious.

Topic 2: revisiting positive memories to improve mood

The original paper (as far as I could tell) on BMAC was written by Nicholas Tarrier in 2010, and it was titled “Broad Minded Affective Coping (BMAC): A “Positive” CBT Approach to Facilitating Positive Emotions”. You can find its abstract here: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2010-05471-007.

The studies that set out to test the efficacy of this method are:

1. Holden et al. (2017): “Emotional response to a therapeutic technique: The social Broad Minded Affective Coping”, which you can find at this link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/papt.12095

2. Johnson et al. (2013): “A Therapeutic Tool for Boosting Mood: The Broad-Minded Affective Coping Procedure (BMAC)”, which you can find here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235709020_A_Therapeutic_Tool_for_Boosting_Mood_The_Broad-Minded_Affective_Coping_Procedure_BMAC

3. Panagioti et al. (2012): “An empirical investigation of the effectiveness of the broad-minded affective coping procedure (BMAC) to boost mood among individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)”, and the link to the abstract is here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0005796712001052?via%3Dihub

 

Episode Transcript:

The transcript for this episode can be found at the-lightworkers-collective.com/002.

 

Share Your Wins!

I hope you enjoy this episode! You'll have to let me (and the whole collective!) know what some of these beautiful memories of your past year/decade are! Tag us on Instagram at @the.lightworkers.collective!

Much love,

Noémie

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