Key Points:
- Mindfulness isn’t about feeling better; it’s about becoming better at feeling and facing the truth.
- Changing our relationship to negative thoughts can empower us to see them as temporary rather than factual.
- Playful exercises like changing negative thoughts’ color, shape, and tone can help release their grip.
Summary:
In this session, Sean Sawyer guides the group through a mindful reflection on the nature of negative thoughts, emphasizing the value of becoming more skilled at feeling rather than merely trying to feel better. He introduces a series of playful defusion exercises designed to transform how we relate to persistent, unhelpful thoughts about performance, life, or self-worth. Sean explains that mindfulness is about accepting the truth of what’s present without sugarcoating, which often means learning to experience discomfort without immediately trying to change it.
One of the session’s core exercises involves visualizing a common negative thought in exaggerated, playful ways: seeing it in bold colors, stretching it, and even imagining it in the voice of a cartoon character. This exercise, while lighthearted, highlights the principle that thoughts aren’t facts—they’re simply temporary mental events.
Sean notes, “There’s never been a thought in the history of humankind that has lasted forever,” reminding everyone of the power of seeing thoughts as transient rather than reflections of truth.
C.L.E.A.R. Mindset Connections
Connect to the present moment and enhance your self-awareness with practical techniques.
- Members practiced grounding in the present by focusing on the breath and temperature sensations at the nose, enhancing self-awareness.
Loosen your attachment to thoughts and emotions, and cultivate mental clarity and resilience.
- Participants explored letting go of rigid attachments to negative self-perceptions through visualization and playful manipulation of thoughts.
Embody your core values and align them with your actions to foster authenticity and purpose.
- The group considered how mindfulness promotes authenticity by fostering acceptance of authentic, unfiltered emotions and thoughts.
Accept all the present moment offers, whether wanted or not, and find peace and strength.
- Sean’s reminder that mindfulness might lead to discomfort challenged participants to accept feelings without avoiding them, reinforcing resilience.
Respond with decisive, informed action, transforming challenges into opportunities for growth.
- By recontextualizing thoughts as transient, members learned a powerful way to approach their mental challenges with openness rather than suppression.
Through this session, Sean encourages traders and community members to view thoughts as passing mental events rather than absolute truths—a powerful skill for managing the ups and downs of trading and daily life.