Peter Szabo (speaker) presents a short YouTube monologue teaching a cognitive reframing technique to reduce depression, anxiety, and fear: question whether a problem is truly permanent, personal, and pervasive. He advises observing problems nonjudgmentally, testing those three dimensions (with a COVID example), and then using lowered intensity to plan constructive action. Content includes a disclaimer that this is not medical advice.
Chapters
How do you instantly end human suffering? Depression, fear, anxiety, you name it. My name is Peter Saba, and I'm not a medical doctor or anything like that. So this is for educational purposes. I'm not trying to give professional advice, but here's the deal. As Tony puts it, Tony Robbins, great guy. Human suffering comes down to people perceiving their problem as something being permanent and pervasive and personal, right? So personal meaning it's all about them. Pervasive, meaning that it pervases in other areas of their life. Right? Because of this one problem, let's say financial issues, all these other things are problematic too, right? That's what means pervasive and permanent. Well, it's not going to go away. So if there's no way to get rid of the problem, then the human is going to experience suffering, desperation, despair, all these terrible emotions that I have experienced myself too. But there's a way to essentially get rid of it. Now, there's a couple different ways, but one of them is to look at it from a logical standpoint and just ask yourself some questions. So take a look at the problem that you have. Pick a problem that you feel meets these three criteria, because if they do, chances are these are pretty big, painful problems that bother you, right? Is it permanent? You think it may last forever? This problem is going to be here forever. No way to get rid of it. Is it personal? Is it about you? Is it attached to yourself, your name? And number three, is it pervasive? Is it like this one problem that unfortunately affects other areas of your life? So once you get that problem, simply ask yourself, is this really permanent? Is this problem really permanent? And just allow yourself, just out of curiosity, to wrestle with the question just for a minute. And you don't have to get an answer necessarily. But just think about it. Is this really permanent? Right. First of all, we're humans. We're not going to be here forever. So it's certainly not permanent. And it may seem like it's going to last forever, but who knows? Maybe in a year things will change. I mean, it's the ultimate truth. Truth. Time goes on. This too shall pass. So maybe it seems permanent now, but maybe in a year it's not going to be there anymore, or in five years. So is it really permanent? And answer the question honestly. If it's really not as permanent as you might have led yourself to believe to, you may notice that the intensity of the problem is a little bit more quiet, but it still may be there. So then let's look at It. Is it really personal? Is it really about me? Is it only me that's going through this? Or is it the rest of humanity as well? Right. Lately, it's been kind of crazy. The COVID the travel lockdowns, all this crazy stuff happening. You know, if you're being affected by this, it may feel very personal. It may feel like a lot of suffering. Like, you know, the weight of the world is on your shoulders, and I feel your pain. But the beautiful thing about this is you're not in this alone. We're all going through this. It's almost like a collective, some form of traumatic experience, and some people are affected more than others. So it's not just personal. It's not just about you. Many other people are going through this as well. Now look at your problem. I gave you an example with COVID but would you agree with then maybe this applies to your problem as well, that maybe it's not so personal, but maybe many other people are going through this right now or have gone through it. And then lastly, is it really pervasive? Does it really affect all these other areas of life? Maybe it has a bit of an effect on them or an influence, but is it really pervasive? Ask yourself that question. And then finally, you know, if there's a problem, let's just, you know, let's not just ignore it. So the last question would be, is, okay, looking at it from this side, really observing it from both perspectives, Right? Because humans, you know, sometimes we tend to get really emotionally attached on one point of view, especially if it's related to some form of trauma in the past. You know, we're getting triggered, so it happens. But it really does help us to just take a step back and ask ourselves certain questions, like, hey, am I reacting appropriately, or am I really making this problem seem more permanent, more pervasive, more personal than it really is? And. And that's what's causing me all these restless and not very pleasant emotions. So when you ask yourself these questions, you can definitely lower the intensity. Just try it for yourself and see how you feel. And then now, when the problem seems more manageable, the question is, what can I do about this? I hope this was helpful. This is Peter Savo, and see you in the next one. Sat.
