I have written too much text recently! Let me rest for a while. Although you might feel I wrote them easily, I struggled to write every day. It was not effortless at all! It also took time. It was surely a fun time, but it exhausted me a little.
Today is an afterword of the minimalism in thinking series, including the previous article.
An announcement of a new category
First, an announcement. I created a new category of minimalism in thinking series (Category: Minimalism in thinking).
If you want to refer to the past articles related to this topic, please use that category.
This year’s order of topics is as follows: A pendulum life → the dualistic problem-solving method → minimalism in thinking.
Sorry for the unclearness of categories. I want to improve, but I am not good at organizing the past articles. To be precise, I am not interested in it.
You will see that the logic is connected. I developed it freely, but I didn’t expect that it would come back to the psychological topic.
The point of the previous article
In the previous article (this article), I introduced a new logic to solve our mental problems.
The point is that empathy cannot control emotions. It is the same as muscle or nerves. Using imagination or emotions develops the muscle of empathy, even if we try to control it.
Using logical sense allows us to manage and balance our emotions. We have to understand our mental functions from a broader perspective.
Revealing a mysterious phenomenon
This logic reveals a mysterious phenomenon to us.
A typical example is the emotional work called ‘Name it, tame it.’ It is a metaphor of our mental system that if we find the true name of the emotion, we can control it.
Some stories use this metaphor. A mysterious monster attacks the protagonist. However, the moment the protagonist knows its true name and shouts it, he can make it obey. Perhaps you know this classical world setting. This metaphor is universal around the world.
That indicates that our logical sense suppresses emotions. By knowing its name, we can process it logically. Logic requires a name because it cannot understand the emotional feelings. Revealing the name allows us to think logically.
Verbalizing emotions
Some people can verbalize their emotions well. Come to think of it, they all tend to be good at controlling their moods from my perspective. They can manage their emotions without suppressing them.
On the other hand, some people express their emotions only in ambiguous and bland words, such as unease, gloomy, annoying, happy, tasty, good, or fun. They look easily swayed by emotions. (Oh! It is me! I have finally understood why writers need to use specific words. I will be careful.)
Perhaps that is also one of the symbolic phenomena.
Writing feelings down
There are other examples.
There is a phenomenon that when we put our feelings down on paper, in a diary, or in a blog, it clears our minds.
Perhaps it is the same. By verbalizing it, we can deal with it logically. Although it is a superficial tip and doesn’t solve the root problem, it works every time, even in the short term.
Imaginal methods
On the other hand, there is a mental method that uses imagination. They don’t have permanent effects. In other words, if we try a method several times, it loses its effectiveness.
An example is visualizing your worry in the brain, shrinking it, and throwing it into the sea or a trash box.
Although I sometimes saw people who introduced such an imaginary method, none of them continued to use it.
Perhaps it is not effective except for the first few times. This would be because we focus on imagining the scene at the first try. That unfamiliar imagination distracts us from focusing on the emotion.
However, once we get used to that imagining process, we cannot divert our consciousness from the emotion.
Diminishing their effects
It is the same as the phenomenon that traveling to an unfamiliar place eliminates our worries. However, as we visit there repeatedly, its effect diminishes.
Other imaginary methods are the same. They work only in an unfamiliar state.
That would be why those imaginary methods don’t work except for the first few tries. This is in contrast to the many people who continue to write their secret diaries only for themselves.
An approach to mental stability
Those examples tell us how to solve our mental problems.
We may have had a big misunderstanding. We believed that our empathy was the cause. It is only because our empathy caused problems.
However, from a broader perspective, there is another solution: cultivating our logical sense.
Each mental function has its role. Empathy heats us up. Logical sense cools us down. When we have a problem with empathy, spiritual methods might not solve the root fundamentally.
This approach might help you solve your mental problem.
Conclusion
Although this is in a category of minimalism in thinking, the main part is how to solve our mental problems.
Anyway, this logic saved me. Apply this logic to your life as you like.
There are still some parts I want to explain, so I will talk about them next time.
Thank you for reading this article. I hope to see you in the next one.
