Metacognition of Mental States

We're going to be doing mentalizing the modes.

So go ahead and sit up straight.

Push the crown of the head up towards the ceiling.

And then start settling in.

We're going to take a few deep breaths,

So go ahead and inhale super,

Super deep.

Retain the breath.

And if you can feel the kind of joy and bliss in the body,

That'd be great.

And now exhale.

Extend out the exhale.

And now inhale super,

Super deep and retain the breath.

And now exhale and extend the length of the exhale.

And then one more time,

Deep inhale.

And then we're going to change the breath.

And now exhale.

We're going to do a breathe body scan,

Feeling the feet,

Legs and hips.

And now feel the torso,

So that's abdomen,

Chest,

Shoulders and back.

Now feel the arms and hands.

Now feel the head,

Neck and face.

Now take a deep,

Deep breath.

And feel the whole body all at once.

Now exhale,

Settling.

And now feel into the support of this group of us meditating together.

Feel into that.

And feel into this quality of connectedness with all beings.

That there's this unconditional support going on between all beings all the time,

No matter what.

Now bring up the mode.

And when I say mode or symptom,

I'm going to be talking about the same thing.

Mode,

Symptom,

Part,

It all means the same.

Okay,

What modes or symptoms are coming up in your life?

Bring that to mind.

And now ask yourself,

Why am I compelled to act in this way?

And there should be no shame.

This is actually like anthropology.

This is just sheer unalloyed interest.

It's like,

Why do I,

Why am I compelled to act this way?

It's necessary somehow or another that I behave this way.

Why?

And now study this.

And here,

Seeing the why.

This is helping with the integration or narration function of metacognition.

Now I want you to step back and really see how this makes sense.

Of course you behave this way.

Now,

What are the beliefs about self,

Other and world that make this behavior necessary?

Once again,

Just interest and curiosity.

And then also,

I want you to see how this is all part of homeostasis,

Seeking balance.

This is,

In a certain way,

What has kept you balanced.

And there's not going to be any pressure to get rid of any of your symptoms or modes.

We're just going to study them.

Now this is a similar question.

What even greater suffering does this mode or symptom help you avoid?

And now see that clearly.

And once again,

See how this makes sense.

And now,

Let's go ahead and kind of bring up your mode or symptom one more time.

Just name it.

And now we're going to study what it feels like to kind of be in the mode.

We're working on the identification function.

When you're in your mode,

Notice what happens in the body.

How interesting.

Good.

Now,

When you're in your mode,

When your symptom is manifesting,

There's a whole array pattern of mental behaviors,

A certain mental signature that arises.

What is that like?

You can hear this is all about curiosity and receptivity.

And now also,

I want you to see how you really get this.

You know exactly what the mental states are when you get into your mode or symptom.

It's really obvious.

Now feel into the sense of agency and competence and confidence.

It's like you got this.

You're oriented.

You know what's going on.

And now one more time,

Go back and notice why it is that this symptom needs to arise.

What are the beliefs about self,

Other and world that make this symptom necessary and emotionally regulating?

This is working on the narration function,

The integration function.

And now go back to your mode or your symptom and list out at least three benefits of your mode.

And don't worry that you don't think that this will make you hold on to your mode.

This is just study and interest.

And now we're going to do a small bit of chair work.

So there you have your mode.

Now imagine your mode as a part,

As a distinct part of self.

But now bring into the room your healthy adult self.

Also maybe consider bringing in your vulnerable child self.

Maybe bring in other parts.

Let's have a conversation between these parts.

What is it that the other parts need to know about your,

Your symptom part?

And what is it that your symptom part needs to know about the other parts?

So we'll take a minute with this.

Keep going.

What do the parts have to say to each other?

And also make sure that all these different parts are kind of seen as valid and they're all there for a reason.

All of them are okay in some sort of way or another.

And now the kind of negative belief about self,

Other and world.

It might be helpful to imagine that like an inner critic is the one that tells you that belief.

Or,

You know,

An internalized negative parent voice tells you that belief.

Now,

With a sense of investigation and curiosity,

Let's float back in time when that belief,

When that kind of,

Let's say,

Inner critic that tells you that particular negative belief got installed.

So this likely will be a memory from sometime earlier in life,

Maybe childhood.

And it can be a real scene or an amalgamated scene.

So go ahead and take a minute to find when this belief was inculcated in you.

Notice where you were,

How old you were,

Who you were with.

Now,

Let's have your very best healthy adult self.

Come into that scene.

And really see and understand how it is that your,

I'm going to assume child self or earlier self was feeling.

Oh,

You feel this way.

Of course,

Of course you feel that way.

Anybody would feel that way.

And I'm sorry.

I'm sorry that this happened.

Now have your healthy adult self soothe you and comfort you.

Your healthy adult self will take care of you for the rest of your life.

This old crappy experience is over.

Really take that in.

Also,

If it would be helpful,

Your healthy adult self can confront the people that may be treated you poorly.

Explain to them what your needs are,

Etc.

Take a corrective action.

If that's appropriate for you right now.

Go ahead and do that scene.

If not,

Just keep taking in comfort and attunement.

That's right.

Keep going.

Keep developing the scene in a way that's corrective for you,

Such that you get your needs met.

That's right.

And now also notice what a pleasure,

What a delight it is for your best healthy adult self to be with your child self,

For your earlier self.

Notice how your adult self sees your goodness.

See how wonderful you are.

That's right.

Keep going.

Okay,

Good.

And now,

Go back to,

So you're kind of still in this scene with a healthy adult,

But now go back to what the negative belief really was.

What was the negative belief?

So this is important.

It was reasonable that you took on that belief.

It was actually adaptive.

And let's bring up some gratitude,

Paradoxically,

That you took on this belief.

You needed to take on the belief at the time.

Go ahead and see that clearly.

But also,

That belief is a bit too narrow.

It doesn't really,

It's not very circumspect or broad or inclusive of the rest of your experience.

So now,

Have the healthy adult remind your earlier self,

Possibly your child self,

Of memories that juxtapose and contradict this belief.

You've actually had a lot of experiences that show you that this belief of yours is only marginally and contextually true and not broadly true.

Go ahead and bring that up now.

So the healthy adult reminds you of memories that contradict your negative belief.

Memories of yours.

Really take that in.

That's right.

Keep going.

And now feel into these positive memories,

As if they're really happening right now.

That's right.

Keep going.

Good.

And now we're going to do something kind of difficult and impossible.

Just try this.

Try to hold the negative belief about self,

Other,

And world,

The schema,

And this new positive,

More adaptive,

More circumspect view of self,

Other,

And world.

Try to hold those two,

The negative and the positive,

At the same time.

And then you're going to switch back and forth between the two.

And now with each time you do it,

Emphasize the positive more.

Something to bring about emotional memory reconsolidation.

Keep going.

Okay,

Good.

Now let that go.

And now you and your healthy adult kind of review this.

See how the now the positive,

More balanced circumspect view is much stronger now.

See how also there's this quality of broadness of mind,

How you can take in your whole life.

You can make sense of your whole life better now.

So see how you successfully worked through some of your conditioning in this meditation.

And now contemplate the effects of that.

See how this makes you more in charge of your life,

Augments your sense of agency.

Go ahead and contemplate that now.

I am my own master.

I can change my life.

See that clearly now.

And now,

Reflecting on the healing that's happened,

And this new positive more circumspect belief that you are equipped with,

See your life unfold,

Your real adult life unfold going into the future,

But now on this positive trajectory in accord with these new positive beliefs.

That's right,

Keep going.

Doesn't that feel good?

Now make a deep impression of this.

Now the last exercise.

Just look back,

What was this like for you?

What did you learn?

What are the take home messages?

Good.

I'll count from five to one and when I get to one you'll be awake and present in the room,

Settled in the experience.

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Awake and present in the room,

Settled in the experience.