Brandon Gimbel (00:00)

What do people do when they see you?

Carl Jerome (00:01)

So we start by learning how to meditate. We get it up to half an hour. Very slowly, gradually. And what they notice in a very short period of time, say six or eight weeks, is that they're calmer and more peaceful. And then we start working on the self-talk and the metacognitive voices. We all talk to ourselves all day, but we don't do it as mindfully as we might. So we talk about content, like "should I stop at the stop sign or not?" as opposed to "am I driving in a peaceful way? Am I content with where I am being?"

Brandon Gimbel (00:29)

The metacognitive voice, our self-talk, what our brain is telling us, are you describing, replacing it with more mindful, conscious talk, noticing perhaps the painful language, the self-critical talk, and intentionally finding other words?

Carl Jerome (00:32)

Yes. Yes, but there's a caveat there. Self-talk is content driven. And metacognitive voices are not content driven. They're not driven by what's happening. They're driven by how am I processing the information? And so I walk into the local pharmacy and there's a line there and I say to myself, "Carl, remember to be patient and compassionate because these people are under a lot of pressure and I can stand in line with no problem." And then when I get there, I'm much kinder and more compassionate. But I don't feel that way when I'm in pain and going to pick up some painkiller and they're late and they can't find the bottle. So we use a metacognitive voice that gets beyond the content to the processing. Am I noticing sensations as sensations? Is this a narrative about something that happened five years ago that's running, that's causing me to be upset?