<p><em>New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.</em></p> <p>---</p> <p>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."</p> <p><br /></p> <p>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. </p> <p><br /></p> <p><strong>In this episode we talk about:</strong></p> <ul> <li>How the brain's default mode network is essential to our survival but also can keep us stuck in rumination and overthinking </li> <li>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 </li> <li>The differences and the similarities between sense foraging and mindfulness </li> </ul> <p><br /></p> <p><strong>Related Episodes:</strong></p> <p><a href="https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/zindel-segal-303" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Depression and Anxiety: Your Old Enemies, Your Best Friends | Zindel Segal</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/gretchen-rubin-588" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gretchen Rubin on: How To Use Your Five Senses To Reduce Anxiety, Increase Creativity, and Improve Your Relationships</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/johann-hari-439" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Why You Can't Pay Attention - And How to Think Deeply Again | Johann Hari</a></p> <p><br /></p> <p><strong>Sign up for Dan's weekly newsletter</strong> <a href="https://bit.ly/3QtGRqJ" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>here</strong></a></p> <p><strong>Follow Dan on social:</strong> <a href="https://bit.ly/3tGigG5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Instagram</strong></a><strong>,</strong> <a href="https://bit.ly/3FOA84J" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>TikTok</strong></a></p> <p><strong>Ten Percent Happier online</strong> <a href="https://bit.ly/46TZglY" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>bookstore</strong></a></p> <p><strong>Subscribe to our</strong> <a href="https://bit.ly/3FybRzD" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>YouTube Channel</strong></a></p> <p><strong>Our favorite playlists on:</strong> <a href="https://spoti.fi/3Qa8kMT" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Anxiety</strong></a><strong>,</strong> <a href="https://spoti.fi/3MjtMxF" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Sleep</strong></a><strong>,</strong> <a href="https://spoti.fi/3QvyA5J" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Relationships</strong></a><strong>,</strong> <a href="https://spoti.fi/3QxZASc" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Most Popular Episodes</strong></a></p> <p><br /></p> <p><strong>Full Shownotes:</strong> <a href="https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/segal-farb</a></p> <p><br /></p> <p><strong>Additional Resources:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Download the Ten Percent Happier app today: <a href="https://10percenthappier.app.link/install" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://10percenthappier.app.link/install</a></li> </ul> <p><br /></p>
Actionable Insights
1. Practice Sense Foraging
Engage in sense foraging by intentionally paying attention to sensory details in the present moment, seeking out what is interesting, surprising, or unusual to turn down noxious aspects of the default mode network and foster flourishing.
2. Toggle Between Modes
Develop skillfulness in ’toggling’ between automaticity (when useful) and exploration (allowing the world to change you) by intentionally shifting your attention to available sensations, which acts as a vehicle for mental transport.
3. Cultivate Receptiveness
Adopt a mode of receptiveness, allowing sensory input to simply arrive and be noticed without immediately categorizing or planning a response, shifting out of a task-oriented mindset.
4. Shift Attention to Sensation
Intentionally pay genuine attention to your senses, focusing on noticing things, to activate sensory parts of the brain and reduce activity in the default mode network, naturally quieting rumination and overthinking.
5. Embrace Sensory Exploration
Engage in sense foraging by exploring all senses (e.g., body sensations, air on skin, vivid colors, unanticipated sounds) without an ulterior motive, simply being curious and receptive to what is present.
6. Seek Novelty & Curiosity
Cultivate curiosity, exploration, and novelty to counteract over-rehearsed, automatic habits and move from languishing to flourishing, expanding your sense of self and contributing to others.
Practice sense foraging by first noticing your current level of care for your surroundings, then intentionally giving yourself permission to be receptive, actively observing the room, and finally reflecting on what you noticed.
8. Follow Sense Foraging Rules
Adhere to the nine rules of sense foraging, which include not forcing it, choosing to engage, recognizing its ubiquity, immersing yourself, ensuring safety, owning your practice, and appreciating its transformative power.
9. Practice Radical Acceptance
Practice radical acceptance by letting go of expectations and exploring situations through sensation, even if difficult, pausing the need for immediate answers or outcomes to build distress tolerance.
10. Update Internal Models
Allow new sensory information to update your models of the world, your body, and yourself, embracing impermanence and making room for change rather than clinging to certainty and control.
11. Choose Sensory Engagement When Upset
When upset, recognize if your distress is purely mental and give yourself permission to choose to engage with the world through your senses instead of holding onto the upset in your head.
12. Personalize Sense Foraging
Develop your own personalized way of sense foraging that works for you, as long as it’s safe and aligns with the core principles of receptivity and sensory attention.
13. Emphasize Sensory Meditation
When practicing meditation, emphasize sensory elements over conceptual ones to make the practice more accessible and effective, especially if you struggle with emptying your mind or producing relaxation on command.
14. Embrace More ‘Chaos’
For most people, embrace a bit more ‘chaos’ (sensory input, change, surprise) in your life to balance the dominance of order and certainty from the default mode network and avoid being stuck in self-concept.
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