About

To be human means to swim in a sea of your own thoughts, much like a fish spends its life surrounded by water, without any awareness of the water itself.  Even as you read the words on this page, your mind is likely making sense of them, relating them to your own history, and evaluating whether they are "true" or not.  And meanwhile, things like the shape of the letters on the screen, the temperature of the air in the room you're in, and the noises occurring around you all fade into the background.  This is how seamlessly our thoughts dominate our experience on a moment-by-moment basis.  As humans, this skill is both our gift and our curse.  While it allows us to plan, remember, problem solve, and do all of the things that only humans can do, it is also what allows us to suffer like no other animal on this planet.  We can imagine and fear a future that hasn't yet happened.  We can evaluate ourselves and find that we are inadequate.  And while we are lost in our own thoughts, we can miss out on experiences that are unfolding right in front of us.  Modern behavioral science and the tradition of mindfulness offer us some wisdom as to how we can find peace by becoming more aware of our thoughts and emotions, and by learning to accept them for what they are, without struggling to change or eliminate them.   This blog is my attempt to share some of that wisdom and, through humor and some healthy skepticism, apply it to some of the day-to-day struggles that we swim in.

Randall Wilson, Psy.D.
Clinical Psychologist