Thinking Whilst Wearing a Hat

I'm doing a new project about anxiety and it's got me thinking about thinking and behavior and emotion. So for today's blog I stepped out into the sun with my big polar bear of a dog wearing a hat. A kind of a chic hat. One I don't often wear because it makes me feel silly or pretentious. Baseball caps I'm good with. Stylish hats not so much.

So to reduce anxiety in kids there are quite a few paths. One of them teaches to separate self from thought -- to understand that thoughts are not facts. And then to kind of look at the thought that is causing anxiety from some distance and then analyze evidence for and against it. Eventually -- in theory -- this process leads to changes in behavior and new thoughts.

But what are we left with when we get rid of thoughts that have no evidence? What behavior do we embrace? That's the scary part. Who are we? Who? Who? Who? Who? Strip us of our assumptions and our thoughts and what lies beneath?

If there's not a monster under the bed, then what are we left with? Dirty socks? Dust balls? Nothingness?

I was just getting to the point of understanding anxiety and the birth of QAnon when I noticed that I had forgotten that there was a hat on my head. I touched the brim just to make sure.