Principals Reflection

Lambing season is well underway, and my formerly rather mundane drives are now longer but more appealing as I can’t help but stop and watch the various flocks of lambs cavorting and gambolling for the highest locations on the merest incline or mound – they reflect the outward looking, eager, ‘living for the moment’ attitude that our own children endear us with in so many of their experiences of their new and emerging world. Being with our energetic Year 3 class during their excursion to ‘The Hive’ and also being with our enthusiastic Year 5 class recently on their two-day camp certainly reinforced for me the delight that we, as adults, can gain by being part of the ‘energy of experience’ that children gain as a collective when participating in learning in new environments. They allow us to realign our perspectives and perceptions. For millennia, philosophers have understood that we don’t see life as it is; we see a version distorted by our hopes, fears, and other attachments. The Buddha said, “Our life is the creation of our mind.” The Roman Stoic, Marcus Aurelius, said, “Life itself is but what you deem it.” The quest for wisdom in many traditions begins with this insight - early Buddhists and the Stoics, for example, developed practices for reducing attachments, thinking more clearly, and finding release from some of the emotional torments of normal mental life. 



Cognitive behavioural therapy is a modern embodiment of this ancient wisdom and is an extensively studied non-pharmaceutical treatment of promoting mental strength. The therapy is relatively quick and easy to learn and can keep working long after treatment is stopped, because it teaches thinking skills that people can continue to use. The goal is to minimise distorted thinking and see the world more accurately. You start by learning the names of the dozen or so most common cognitive distortions. Each time you notice yourself falling prey to one of them, you name it, describe the facts of the situation, consider alternative interpretations, and then choose an interpretation of events more in line with those facts. Your emotions follow your new interpretation. In time, this process becomes automatic and can provide all of us involved in relationships with some guidance. 

A partial list of common cognitive distortions (from Robert L. Leahy, Stephen J. F. Holland, and Lata K. McGinn’s Treatment Plans and Interventions for Depression and Anxiety Disorders, 2012) includes:

1. Mind reading -You assume that you know what people think without having sufficient evidence of their thoughts. “He thinks I’m a loser”;
2. Fortune-telling -You predict the future negatively: things will get worse, or there is danger ahead. “I’ll fail that exam,”;
3. Catastrophizing - You believe that what has happened or will happen will be so awful and unbearable that you won’t be able to stand it. “It would be terrible if I failed”;
4. Labelling -You assign global negative traits to yourself and others. “I’m undesirable,” or “He’s a rotten person.”
5. Discounting positives -You claim that the positive things you or others do are trivial. “Those successes were easy, so they don’t matter;”
6. Negative filtering -You focus almost exclusively on the negatives and seldom notice the positives. “Look at all of the people who don’t like me”;
7. Overgeneralising -You perceive a global pattern of negatives on the basis of a single incident. “This generally happens to me. I seem to fail at a lot of things”;
8. Blaming -You focus on the other person as the source of your negative feelings, and you refuse to take responsibility for changing yourself. “She’s to blame for the way I feel now”;
9. What if? - You keep asking a series of questions about “what if” something happens, and you fail to be satisfied with any of the answers. “Yeah, but what if I get anxious?” or “What if I can’t catch my breath?”;
10. Emotional reasoning -You let your feelings guide your interpretation of reality;
11. Inability to disconfirm -You reject any evidence or arguments that might contradict your negative thoughts. “That’s not the real issue. There are deeper problems. There are other factors.”

There are numerous sound, peer-reviewed studies that have as their central theme the importance of developing an inner toughness, as distinct from an inner and outward coldness; I believe we work hard at St Patrick’s to promote inner toughness, emphasising being self-reflective and remaining attuned to the positive and good in ourselves and others, and I thank all in our school community who take a moment’s discernment prior to forming impressions based on incomplete perceptions and subsequently being able to engage in the ‘joy of anticipation’ that we see in our children (and young lambs.).

Regards                              

Rod Linhart (Principal)