Driving into work this morning, it looked more like Japan than Colorado. The sky was heavy with low, grey clouds. It was raining softly and the air felt fresh, humid and close. The rain, much needed after a prolonged dry spell, was welcome. The look and feel of the sky brought me back to a trip to Japan I took 2 years ago.

I had a choice in that moment to tune into the joys or the challenges of the trip and decided to go with joy. Up came the memory of the small gate we found when lost in Kyoto (getting lost in Japan is marvelous…you are pretty much guaranteed to be safe and to see really cool, unusual things). We passed through the gate into a shrine and took cover at a tiny table, just in time because the gentle rain had turned into a downpour. There were flowers in the garden next to us, and the smell of Japan was pure magic in that moment. There was no rush to leave, no pressure to perform, not even a need for a conversation. Instead, it was a moment of near perfection, to be savored and enjoyed.

Now I could have spent my morning thinking about any number of things, letting my brain bring up the details of a myriad number of issues to stress about. Today, I was able to catch myself and recalibrate my thoughts to wonder and engage in a sweet memory on my way into work.

Our brains calibrate where we direct them. And what we focus on increases in both scope and intensity. Overthinking about a problem in your life? Your brain will give you all sorts of granular details (scope) the more your focus on it. At the same time, your emotions will increase in intensity as you continue to focus on the problem. This isn’t fun, but it is predictable. It is also something you have the power to change.

How are you calibrating your thoughts these days? If you are stuck in a pattern of negative thinking, see if you can’t 1. Notice the negative thought pattern, 2. Imagine putting it on a shelf and leaving it there and 3. Bring up other thoughts, memories and experiences you would prefer to focus on. Is there anything you want to calibrate to a different frequency?

It is the start of Chinese New Year today and I have a recalibration to share with you. This is less about thinking and more about logistics, but it is a new start nonetheless and I am thrilled to let you know about a major change in my business: I have brought all of my lines of work under one umbrella, The Sensible Psychologist.

This change is brought about for 2 main reasons: first, I am no longer geographically limited to seeing clients in Colorado. I have a telehealth license that allows me to see clients across the United States in 43 states! Second, I am into streamlining and making my offerings easy to understand and access, and putting everything into one central spot feels, well, sensible.

Check out my new website at www.thesensiblepsycholoigst.com (shout out to my amazing virtual assistant who put this together!) and let me know if you have any questions.