Practice a mental game by imagining a display device on your forehead that shows your thoughts to others, which helps you become more careful and skilled at controlling and compartmentalizing unwanted thoughts over time.
Recognize suggestibility as a powerful cognitive tool that allows you to filter information, shape your reality, and enhance or reduce elements causing trouble, rather than seeing it as a sign of weakness.
Understand that taking action and being an agent in your mental health journey, such as through cognitive reframing or therapy, is crucial for improvement, as opposed to passively waiting for external solutions like medication to work alone.
Adopt a mindset of confronting rather than avoiding the things you fear or find uncomfortable, as this active approach can be a powerful suggestion for overcoming conditions and challenges.
To gain better control over pain, seek guidance from a mentor or professional who can teach you personalized exercises and techniques to demonstrate and lower your pain threshold, similar to learning to control blood pressure through breathing exercises.
Recognize hope as a vital factor for navigating difficult periods, crises, and dire outlooks, and actively work to cultivate an optimistic outlook by understanding your cognitive toolbox and engaging in mental ‘brain training’ to change thoughts and neurophysiology.
For conditions like lower back pain, consider taking an ‘inactive’ pill (placebo) three times a day, using each intake as a deliberate reminder to engage in self-care actions (e.g., stretching) and reinforce the belief that you are actively addressing your condition.
Combat misinformation by actively engaging in critical thinking, triangulating information from multiple independent and professionally vetted sources, and constantly challenging information by asking how it can be criticized and who is challenging it.
Before potentially painful experiences, such as a dental visit, mentally prepare yourself by acknowledging the possibility of discomfort and reminding yourself of past resilience, which can help reduce anxiety and make the experience more tolerable.
Recognize that suggestibility evolved as an efficient way to learn and thrive in social situations, allowing for quick communication of what to do or avoid, which can inform how you perceive and utilize suggestions today.
Engage in the practice of mental noting, a guided meditation technique, to specifically accompany and process experiences, as offered by meditation teachers.