Debugging Your Brain

By Casey S. Watts

The human brain is buggy. Sometimes your mind distorts reality, gets frustrated with shortcomings, and spirals out of control. With practice, you can debug your brain. Catch those distortions of reality, transform those frustrations into insight, and short-circuit those downward spirals.

Debugging Your Brain (DYB) is a clear

• Language: English
• Publisher: Casey Watts
• Release date: Nov 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9780578755045

Book preview

Debugging Your Brain

Casey Watts!

Table of Contents

Book Overview

Introduction

About the Author

Book Overview

Applying These Techniques

Example 1: Work Disagreement

Example 2: Snapping as a Parent

Example 3: Attending An Event

Suggested Activities

Modeling The Brain

Inner versus Outer Brain

Systems Thinking

Input-Process-Output Model

Systems Thinking & Conscious Thought

Automatic and Deliberate Thoughts and Feelings

Downward Spiral

Suggested Activities

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Therapy? Training!

Positive Outcomes

Suggested Activities

Introspection

Hitting Your Debugger

After a Situation

During a Situation

The Whoop Technique

Example Opportunity

Whoop!

Post-hoc Rationalization

Breakpoint Metaphor

When Not to Whoop?

Suggested Activities

Identifying Inputs

Four Inputs

Automatic Feelings

Automatic Thoughts

External Stimuli

Bodily State

Suggested Activities

Experience Processing

The Three Principles

Verbalizing Your Experiences

Avoiding Rumination

Accepting Automatic Inputs as Data

Six Techniques

Talk with a Friend

Talk With a Rubber Duck

Write

Meditate

Read Fiction

Expand Your Emotional Vocabulary

Suggested Activities

Experience Validation

Close Relationships

Communicating Validation

1 - Be Present

2 - Accurate Reflection

3 - Guessing About Unstated Feelings

4 - Validate Based on the Past

5 - Validate Based on Today

6 - Radical Genuineness

Asking Too Much?

Suggested Activities

Cognitive Restructuring

Common Cognitive Distortions

Facts or Feelings

Needs Nuance

Positives and Negatives

People

Outcome Prediction

Example Scenario

The Three Column Technique

Suggested Activity

Key Takeaways

More Resources

Bibliotherapy

Talk Therapy

Teletherapy

Apps

Meditation

Regular Practice

References

Table of contents

Book Overview

The human brain is buggy. Sometimes your mind distorts reality, gets stuck on shortcomings, or spirals out of control. With the right tools, you can patch the software that runs in your mind: catch distortions of reality, transform frustration into insight, and short-circuit downward spirals. Become a better friend, team member, and human.

The brain is a complex system. Debugging Your Brain is a toolkit to help you understand and optimize yours.

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A straightforward and easily digestible read that decodes several basic, but complex concepts in psychology. With a little practice, the topics and techniques covered in this book will help train your brain how to deal with any situation effectively and productively. The author’s lighthearted and relatable way of writing makes it an enjoyable read.

― Dr. Melissa Monsey

Neuroscience Ph.D.

Yale University

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Casey has a gift to make very complex information in a manner that everyone can understand and apply.

― Joyce Lednum

Certified Registered Nurse

University of Texas

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I see this book as something to have in my back-pocket.

― Adrian Gillem

Lead Engineer

Booz Allen Hamilton

Copyright © 2020 Casey S. Watts

All rights reserved.

First Printing, 2020

ISBN 978-0-578-75504-5

https://caseywatts.com

This book was written, illustrated, typeset, and published by Casey Watts.

https://caseywatts.com

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Thank you Jiaqi Dai for creating the beautiful cover art.

http://www.jiaqidai.me

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Thank you everyone who reviewed early copies of the book, and to everyone who provided encouragement along the way.

Introduction

Do you want to be a happier and more effective person? Of course you do!

In this book you will learn how to debug your brain. You will end up with a mental model of your mind and techniques to help adjust how it works. The brain techniques in this book will help you become more aware of yourself and choose the best response for a given situation.

It is especially difficult to choose a positive response when you are experiencing a downward spiral: a troublesome feedback loop where you feel worse and worse. Downward spirals often happen in high-stakes or emotional situations. This book covers how to notice when a downward spiral is happening, and how to defuse it.

What is debugging? Debugging means finding problems and fixing them. In the 1940s when there were room-sized computers sometimes this meant literal bugs in the computer causing issues. Once the bugs were physically removed, the computer program would work again. In today’s programming terms, bug refers to any problem that can be fixed by editing code, and debugging is the process of fixing issues in the code. Thankfully, the modern use of the term has nothing to do with insects!

In the mind, debugging still means identifying and fixing problems. Debugging is the process of identifying and adjusting your mental habits, turning unhelpful thought patterns into helpful ones. This book covers techniques to help you become aware of your mental habits and learn how to adjust any unhelpful ones.

Debugging is like trying to find your way in a maze. Imagine being lost in a maze and you come across a ladder. From the top of the ladder you can see the layout of the maze much more clearly. You can see where you have been, where you