Today I'm Thinking | Best-Case/Worst-Case
Today I’m Thinking | Blog Post #7
I LOVE imagination! It is a gift that allows us to express ourselves, heal, and create. However, just like we want to practice presence on our yoga mats, we want to practice presence with our imaginations too. On our mats, we want to look into and investigate how the postures are benefiting our bodies and if they are creating positive outcomes. We examine the possibility of adjustments that might make the posture more beneficial to us like tweaking a foot placement, using a block, or coming out of the pose altogether. The same can be true for our imagination. Being present with how our imaginings are benefiting us or hurting us and investigating how we might be able to adjust our thinking is critical for our well-being.
In doing a lot of self-study lately, I’m realizing my propensity to play out the worst-case scenarios with my imagination. I’m also noticing how my body feels when I follow that worrying train of thought. Not so good, it turns out. When I pay attention, I can feel a tightening in my body, a gripping in my chest, a general anxiousness, some anger or confusion or sadness depending on the situation.
I’ve been playing around with a new practice that I’m calling best-case/worst-case. Our brains are naturally wired to protect us by constantly processing data and imagining different outcomes both negative and positive. Society, however, has taught us to lean heavily on the negative brain and shush up the positive brain. This means we tend to find ourselves creating some not-so-happy stories pretty often.
So if you tend to look at the negative side of possibility first, here are a few things that might help you out. As we do all the time in yoga, the big thing is to NOTICE. Notice that it’s happening. Notice where your mind is taking you, check in with what that feels like in your body, and then the really important part is to imagine the best-case INSTEAD.
Don’t try to stop the worst-case imagining, just switch it up. If we can indulge our imagination to ponder the worst-case unfolding then we can permit ourselves to imagine the best-case as well. When your mind has jumped off the deep end with the worst-case scenario, there’s a lot of momentum behind that thought. It feels REAL. If you just try to stop yourself your mind will quickly tell you that you’re being silly and get back “on track” to misery. But if you can slingshot yourself into an equally dramatic best-case scenario daydream, your mind will be shocked out of its coma of catastrophe and be forced to consider that if this best-case scenario seems so ridiculous maybe the worst-case is also just as preposterous. It can be like a splash of cold water to our mind that can make space for noticing and bring us back to alignment.
I want to clarify that I am not suggesting denial here. Absolutely not. Denial is dangerous and detrimental. I’m not talking about ignoring real circumstances. I am speaking to the made-up scenarios in our minds and offering a different way of approaching our imagination.
Here are some examples:
A few weeks ago, I was preparing for a test that would allow my dog, Pancake, and me to be a therapy team. I’d been working on preparing for a few months and when it came to the morning of the test I started freaking out. The thing was, I didn’t notice that I was freaking out. I was short with my partner, I was feeling anxious and overwhelmed. I took Pancake out for a walk like usual, but I left my phone at the house. I knew our normal route and knew I had plenty of time to finish our walk and leave on time for our testing. However, since I left my phone and couldn’t see the time to reassure myself, I felt like Pancake was stopping at EVERY bush, and taking forever. A neighbor stopped to say hello and I felt like he talked to us forever. I found myself repeating a frantic mantra in my head, “This is taking forever, why is taking forever, we’re totally going to be late, he’s never going to pass, we’re running so late.” In my frantic headspace, I decided to cut our walk short because I was so worried that we were running late. When we got home I saw I was 20 minutes ahead of schedule. As I felt the wave of relief wash over me, I was finally able to start NOTICING. I noticed the craziness in my mind, the frantic, and frustrated thoughts. I noticed the gripping tension in my body. I noticed that all of this felt absolutely terrible. And I noticed that I had a choice in feeling this way. Ugh! It took me 2 hours of living like this before I could get a hold of my imagination. Stopping the tornado, I could breathe and have a better conversation with myself. The new conversation went something like this, “You’ve been working on this for so long. You know your stuff, and you’ve done a great job organizing everything. You did this all on your own and it’s been a goal of yours for a long time. How exciting that it’s so close. Pancake is a great dog and you are a great team together. If he passes, awesome!! If he doesn’t, you can take the feedback and practice more. Either way, you can have FUN in the process! We'll be good, whatever the outcome. This is fun. Let yourself have some fun, Erica!” Can you FEEL the difference in energy?! Holy wow. I could.
A friend of mine shared this story with me. She was enjoying a beautiful day outside, walking in a park. Her mind was calm and clear and she felt at peace. In the distance, she noticed something on the road ahead. Since she was walking, she had plenty of time to let her mind drift to worst-case. As she got closer she could see a blurry outline and some fuzz. Her heart started to jump, her brain started to race. Her internal dialogue went something like this, “Oh god, oh god, oh god. An animal’s been hit. Yes, I’m sure that’s a dog. Humans are AWFUL! Why is no one stopping!? People are terrible. I wonder if it has a family missing it?” Enter tears. When finally she got close enough to see what was actually true, she saw that the fuzzy object was a big black coat with a fur-lined trim. At that moment, in the relief of realizing it wasn’t an animal, she NOTICED. She felt her heart racing, she felt anger and rage flowing through her body. She felt the sadness and tension she was holding and allowed it to dissipate. Realizing her unconscious jump to worst-case assumptions made her laugh out loud. She soothed herself with a smile as she realized how wrong her mind's assumptions had been and the roller-coaster ride her emotions and body had just been on. She shook it off and got back to her walk enjoying the beauty around her.