A place to see good, share good, and do good.

Thank G-d, for a bunch of years now i've been blessed to be in touch, extensively, with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (and specifically Exposure Response Prevention), as well as Transactional Analysis (PAC), and Chabad Chassisdus (Chasidic Philosophy) https://www.blupela.com/lotw.php?id=503/Chassidus-Chassidic-Philosophy.

I have been learning and will continue to learn and re-learn the importance of separating your intellect from your emotions, and, or at least understanding the difference and how they influence each other. The guiding factor in Chabad Chassidus is that "the mind must rule the heart." Our intellects must guide our emotions, at least, that is the ideal. This is a crucial element in creating peaceful environments for ourselves and for those around us,and for creating a peaceful world. Our hearts, our emotions are fiery and totalitarian, our hearts are extremists by nature. Our hearts live in THIS world and experience THIS world, they experience it intensely and directly, whereas the mind can be aloof and have distance, it can speak to our hearts from a broader perspective. In order to understand the concept of "otherness", or "those who are not me and not like me", we must use our imaginations and be willing to drift in thought for a moment into the "what if", can I imagine what it's like for him/her? Can I separate my own thoughts and experience for a moment to understand this other, who is not me, not like me, and not an extension of me? This takes place by utilizing our imaginations and being willing to suspend our own realities to try and experience another reality.

Certainly the imagination can be used against us, and no doubt those with OCD and/or other anxiety issues know well the unpleasantness of negative "what If-ing?"; but our imaginations are key in understanding both ourselves and each other; and the separation of mind and heart as a concept is so important for the same. If you have more interest in this topic I definitely recommend Dr. Thomas A. Harris' classic on Transactional Analysis "I'm Ok, You're OK" which I've spotlighted here at https://www.blupela.com/lotw.php?id=166/I-m-Okay-You-re-Okay as well. More to come on this topic.......!