BDBH Head Chatter

  When we determine our direction solely by running away from our past, we allow our history - rather than our actual values - to maintain control over our future. Rebounding to the exact opposite of what hurt us creates an illusion of safety, but it remains a reaction, not a conscious choice.  The Pendulum Effect (The Traps of "The Opposite")  Overcorrection is switching from an extreme on one end to an extreme on the other; often, it replaces one set of problems with another (e.g., leaving a controlling partner and choosing someone entirely emotionally distant because they don't micromanage you).  False security happens when the opposite of a bad thing isn't inherently good; it's just a different thing. A situation can look completely opposite on the surface while remaining equally unhealthy beneath.  When we are defined by pain, our primary compass becomes "anything but that"; our decisions stay tethered to what hurt us. True freedom is defined by wha...

The tension between our immediate desires and long-term reflection is a central struggle of human behavior. Behavioral economics calls it hyperbolic discounting : we disproportionately value the present over the future. Psychological literature refers to temporal self-discontinuity —our tendency to treat our future selves almost like total strangers. Here is an expansion of the concept, breaking down the internal dynamic and how to build a lasting truce between the two versions of you. The Two Roles The Present Self (The Executor): Operates on immediate experience, current energy levels, and real-time context. Driven by present comfort, practical constraints, and immediate feedback. The Future Self (The Auditor): Evaluates outcomes with the unfair advantage of hindsight. Operates with full visibility of how events unfolded, often forgetting the ambiguity, stress, or limited information present when the choice was actually made. Why the Conflict Escalates Information Asymmetry: The F...

People often fail to realize how their behavior affects others due to a mix of psychological mechanisms, developmental differences, and basic cognitive limitations:  Cognitive & Emotional Barriers  Lack of Emotional Empathy/Theory of Mind: Empathy requires two things: recognizing what someone else is feeling (cognitive empathy) and sharing or caring about that emotional state (affective empathy). Some individuals struggle to map another person's internal experience onto their own.  Egocentrism: people naturally view the world through their own perspective. Without intentional effort to step outside themselves, they default to assuming that if they wouldn't be hurt by a particular behavior, others shouldn't be either.  Defense mechanisms & Self-Protection: acknowledging that one's actions caused pain requires accepting a level of guilt or responsibility. To protect their own self-image, people frequently use denial, rationalization, or projection ("You'r...

The shift in how we perceive alcohol - moving from viewing it as a warm, rewarding comfort to recognizing it as destructive - happens across two distinct levels: the chemical wiring of the brain and cognitive reframing.  The Neurobiological Shift (How the Brain Changes) Initially, alcohol floods the brain's mesolimbic pathway with an artificial surge of dopamine, signaling a quick, easy reward. Ov er time, however, neuro-adaptation changes how the brain experiences the substance:  Down-regulation and Tolerance: To protect itself from constant overstimulation, the brain turns down its dopamine receptors and produces less natural dopamine. Alcohol stops producing the original "high" and instead leaves a deficit.  Anhedonia: Because natural reward pathways are dampened, ordinary pleasures feel flat. Alcohol shifts from being something consumed for pleasure to something used simply to escape discomfort, restlessness, or withdrawal.  Erosion of Executive Control: Chronic ...

Today is August 6th, 2023, and I’m hopefully on the tail end of COVID, and this is my experience. I went to the doctor on Monday, July 31st, because I felt horrible. I felt like warm death. I’m not sure how warm death feels, but I’m sure the way I felt is exactly how it feels. I was lying in bed and trying to work between clients. I’m a licensed counselor, and I said, “Gurl, take yo azz to the doctor.” I eventually canceled the rest of the day, drove myself to urgent care, and was told it was COVID; I thought it was just a cold, fever, or something simple. I told the NP, “I thought COVID was over.” I didn’t really think that, but I kinda sorta did. She said, no, it’s not over; I was given a prescription for PAXLOVID and began taking it that night; I took the prescription by the instructions in the pamphlet.  The first night after beginning the medication, I had chills and coughing. I switched between hot and cold like a light switch. By the second day, the chills stopped. I believe...

Imagine the possibility of each of us operating in our own reality. To show this, draw a straight line on a piece of paper. The bottom would be your birth, and the top would be death. The middle is where you are right now. If we exist on this continuum, our lives would mimic the ideal. Now imagine that every time something difficult happened to us, it kicked us off the “straight and narrow.” The new path becomes a reality at that time, altered by that life event. Every time something happens, this pushes us further from our true selves.  The most authentic version becomes altered. Failing to regroup puts us in this faux reality. Imagine existing in this faux-reality since the age of five. You may not even know how to re-group at this point. And because everyone has different life experiences and milestones, everyone has a different faux-reality. Now compare how people in society relate to each other.    Imagine if trauma, ...