Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes teaches MATCH, a five-step tool to solve problems better. Notice your feelings, identify the automatic beliefs triggering them, check if those beliefs fit the current time and context, then choose a response that actually helps. A smoke alarm going off doesn't mean your house is burning.
Hey there, everybody, and welcome to this video on matching the problem to the solution. I'm your host, Dr. Donnelly Snipes. I created the mnemonic match to help you remember the steps in problem solving. M stands for mindfulness. What do I feel like is going on right now? And what are the facts in this situation? So mindfulness means becoming aware of the present moment. A stands for automatic beliefs or schema, or some would say assumptions based on your prior experiences. What do you assume is going on right now? T stands for time. Are my beliefs and feelings accurate at this time? So what may have been a dangerous situation or a threatening situation six months ago or six years ago? This situation may be similar, but it may not be dangerous or threatening at this time. So let's take, for example, a fire alarm. If the the smoke alarm goes off, what do I feel like is going on right now? I feel like there's a threat. What are the facts in this situation? There's some smoke and the smoke alarm's going off. Okay, what are my automatic beliefs? There's a fire. We've got to get the heck out of here. All right? But T stands for time. Are my beliefs and feelings accurate at this time? If I look around, I may recognize that, no, I just left. Let the pizza cook for too long and it's smoking. There's not really a fire, so I can recognize that there is no need to run out of the house. That would be the wrong solution. The right solution would be to get the pizza and put it out on the porch so it can smoke out there and open the windows. C stands for context. Are my beliefs and feelings accurate in this context? Time and context are two slightly different things, because what's appropriate in one context, like a mask, for example, is appropriate in a hospital. But if you see it on somebody who is walking into a bank, unless there's a mask mandate, if you see it on somebody who's walking into a bank, that may give you pause. Now, it doesn't necessarily mean there's a problem. It could mean the person has really bad respiratory issues. But you need to consider not only the time, but also the context. And H stands for helpful response. What is the most helpful response, H in this situation, given the actual facts that are going on? Remember a lot of times, our feelings, that's where we started out with mindfulness. What do I feel is going on? Our feelings are triggered by those automatic beliefs. Your brain shortcutting and saying, we've been in similar situations. It was bad situation. So you should feel anxious, I'm going to trigger that stress response. Doesn't mean that there is a threat. Fact Feelings are not facts, so those automatic beliefs can get in your way from choosing the best solution. Then you check your automatic beliefs against the facts of the situation at this time and in this context and choose the most helpful response to use your energy to move toward your rich and meaningful life.
