The Doctor Is In
Managing Your Mental Bandwidth As we navigate the demands of a busy Fall, I wanted to share a concept I often discuss with my patients: the difference between your mental hardware and your mental software. Sometimes, we feel “glitched”— anxious, overwhelmed or stuck in a loop. When this happens, we tend to blame ourselves. But often, the issue is that our Internal CEO is trying to run too many high-energy programs on an exhausted battery. Here is a quick audit to help you optimize your mental operating system this week. 1. Identify the Background Apps Just like a smartphone slows down when too many apps are open, our brains lose efficiency when we carry “open loops”—those small, unfinished tasks or unspoken worries. The Fix: Do a Brain Dump. Write down every tiny thing nagging at you. Once it’s on
paper, your Internal CEO can stop using active RAM to remember it, lowering your baseline anxiety. 2. Check Your Hardware Basics We often try to solve psychological problems with logic, but if the hardware is glitching, the logic won’t stick. Before you over-analyze your mood, check your physical inputs: • Sleep Hygiene: Is your recharge cycle consistent? • Movement: Are you clearing out cortisol through physical activity? • Fuel: Are you giving your brain the nutrients it needs to maintain focus? 3. Strengthening the Prefrontal Cortex The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain responsible for emotional regulation and impulse control. It is essentially the CEO of your mind. You can strengthen this “muscle” daily through: • Labeling: When a big emotion hits, name it. “I am feeling overlooked” or “I am feeling overstimulated.” This simple act moves the energy from the emotional center (the amygdala) back to the logical CEO. • The 90-Second Rule: Scientific research suggests that the chemical surge of an emotion lasts about 90 seconds. If you can breathe through those 90 seconds without reacting, the fire usually begins to cool on its own. In my 20+ years of clinical experience, I’ve seen that the most resilient people aren’t those who never feel “off.” They’re the ones who recognize the “glitch” early and have the tools to reset their system. Submitted by Jennifer Paweleck-Bellingrodt, Psy.D. Licensed Clinical Psychologist DISCLAIMER: Material is for informational purposes and not intended to be a substitute for evaluation or treatment by a licensed professional. Material is copyrighted and may only be reproduced with written permission of Dr. Bellingrodt.
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10 Estrella Publishing - Mountain View magazine
October 2026
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