IV: In our debut post, we offered some practical ways for breaking out of “auto-pilot” thinking -- which often involves a constant drip of anxiety-inducing thoughts.
We should note that replaying the stream of negativity -- particularly in an environment where there is so much devastating news -- is completely normal for several reasons:
Many of us are working in this field because we truly care about building a more equitable future, but our current politics is moving us away from that goal, to put it charitably,
Our brain has developed an evolutionary negative bias that protected our ancestors from physical threats like bears and lions, but it’s now magnifying and over-concentrating on all of the challenges around us.
The brain literally dedicates more neural tissue to processing negative information and negative stimuli produce stronger and more rapid electrical responses in the brain!
JL: It reminds me of something Jack Kornfield, one of the teachers who brought mindfulness to the West, often says: Our minds are constantly creating stories about our experiences, even if these narratives often have little to do with reality. When we get caught in the content of thoughts, we become trapped in the story. Stories about the past may lead to regret or depression while stories about the future often generate anxiety.
IV: Recently, I was negotiating a consulting contract extension that dragged on for weeks. During that process, my mind anxiously played back the phone conversations we were having on a loop. I was reading into every word of every email we exchanged. I began to plan out how I would make ends meet without this project.
Instead of feeding energy into that mental spiral (and over-identifying with the negative content of these thoughts) I worked on shifting my attention from the story my brain was telling me to what was happening in my body.
My chest felt tight. My shoulders were hunched up near my ears. There was a hard knot in my stomach.
Something interesting happened: Simply noticing these physical sensations—without trying to fix them—gave me immediate mental relief. The anxious thoughts didn't disappear, but they lost their grip on me. With that mental space cleared, I could actually think strategically about concrete steps to move the negotiation forward.
JL: There’s a quote I really love from Thich Nhat Hanh, the renowned Zen master and peace activist, that says, “Your thoughts have caused you a lot of suffering, so you should be suspicious of them.”
IV: And Mark Twain has a similar refrain, “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.”
JL: Exactly! Think about how much of the day-to-day discomfort you feel comes not from actual, concrete things - like a car running over your foot - but from the thoughts you have about things that are or might happen. For those of us fortunate to have basic necessities like food, shelter and healthcare, almost all of our actual suffering in one way or another stems from thoughts we’re having.
This doesn’t mean our thoughts aren’t true or useful - sometimes they are, sometimes not. But the point is, we don’t have to be dragged around by them uncontrollably like a dog on a leash. We can train ourselves to have a more skillful, clear-eyed relationship with our own thoughts. To me, this is what mindfulness training and meditation are all about.
IV: Overall, this framing has given me permission to place less energy in all of the anxiety running through my brain and allowed me to take myself and the approximately 60,000 thoughts we have a day a lot less seriously.
After all, thoughts are merely mental events—arising, lingering briefly, and then passing away. We are under no obligation to believe everything we think.
JL: In politics, we're trained to react immediately to every crisis, every poll, every news event. Here’s a practice to help you realize that you can be aware of the political storms without being swept away by them - maintaining your clarity and effectiveness even when the weather gets rough.
Sit quietly for 2-3 minutes and imagine your awareness as a vast, open sky - steady and unchanging despite whatever weather passes through.
When thoughts arise - whether about poll numbers, upcoming deadlines, difficult colleagues, or breaking news - see them as storm clouds drifting through that sky. Simply note to yourself what’s occurring: "Political thinking" or "Storm cloud passing."
Return attention to your breath - the spacious sky of your awareness that exists beneath all the political turbulence.
When the next thought-cloud appears (Did I mess up that memo? Will I get this done in time?), again just note: "Thinking" without getting pulled into the storm.
IV: The gist of what we’re doing here is creating a bit of distance between us and problematic thoughts, which frees us up to change our relationship to those thoughts. Doing this as a formal practice -- the part where you sit quietly for 2-3 minutes -- is like going to the gym. It's dedicated training time where you're building your mental muscles in a controlled environment. You're strengthening your ability to notice thoughts, step back from reactions, and cultivate awareness without distractions and pressures.
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