Metacognisance
influence of conditioned thoughts. It involves developing awareness, comprehension and clarity on what, why and how we think.
significant shifts in their current thinking processes, emotional responses and learned behaviour.
As the name implies, meta as beyond and cognisance as awareness, the process involves observing, identifying
and dismantling structures of thought and emotional reactions, often detrimental,
which are accepted and acted on unquestioningly. The approach is measured, balanced and combines effective
psychological intervention with emotional intelligence leading to reform in all aspects of life.
BENEFITS
Everyone can benefit from this work, those who are debilitated by their emotional states and recurring issues and those who find it difficult to process or ‘do’ emotions – often hiding, suppressing or acting out their pain in the process.
By fully comprehending how acquired conditioning filters and distorts thinking and feeling, in terms of irrational fear, bias and confusion, we can free ourselves from its effects. This conditioning encompasses the beliefs and mind-sets accepted or absorbed from families, peers, society, media, culture and religion/spirituality.
Clearer and more refined thinking naturally emerges following the release of these often confused and illusory, programmed thoughts and beliefs.
Ultimately the style and nature of our thinking alters as we no longer feel the need to ‘believe’… in a particular idea, person, movement or trend. The process focuses on how to think more clearly, not on what to think.
This is essentially a long-term and long-lasting approach which requires patience and understanding to fully grasp and implement. It is not based on the individual doing or becoming, so much as removing that which prevents them from fully being.
RESULTS
Metacognisance is about accepting and being comfortable in your own mind and body and interacting with clarity and presence..yet not by becoming perfect or behaving perfectly in every relationship and situation.
It is not about idealism, obsessive goal-setting and quick fixes, nor framed in positive, provisional or destination thinking,
i.e. when I do, get, reach…
In essence, you cannot plant new seeds in a mind full of weeds.
Rather, the learning is based on how to observe then reduce reactions and assimilate 'triggers' -essentially the wounds and scars which shape our life experience- so that we can fully heal and not be at the mercy of those stored memories.
The approach is designed to remove the discomfort, irrational fear and judgment that many attach to their emotions.
Through the release of historic emotions, there is a renewed ability to understand cognitive patterns and corresponding behaviour, and to better navigate previously challenging situations and relationships.
One-to-one sessions
Personal, tailored approach
Unique Approach
Online sessions and webinars
Thinking and feeling more clearly, shapes and reforms all aspects of life
After we help you uncover the programs holding you back,
we'll work together to release them.
EMOTIONS
Emotional intelligence
This aspect of the work is based on feeling, understanding and expressing emotion, designed to train both children and adults a structured form of emotional intelligence.
The focus is on experiencing a sense of wholeness emotionally, rather than on an obsessive or idealised striving to avoid all pain and experience only happiness. On the contrary, emotional intelligence increases our ability to understand, manage and express all our emotions constructively.
It becomes easier to develop a more balanced emotional outlook through learning to differentiate various types of emotions, from natural and biological to more socially constructed ones.
This in turn contributes to greater understanding of reactions vs responses and more effective long-term mood management.
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Many of us have learnt to suppress certain emotions which were not encouraged or allowed in early upbringing and environments, or through trauma shutdown.
In many cases these natural human responses are often judged as wrong, bad or negative and over time we may learn to hide, suppress or override them.
Unfortunately these emotions don’t just disappear, instead they can become lodged or 'stuck' in the body, evidenced more and more in mind-body medicine to potentially lead to much greater damage, including development of complexes, neuroses, exhaustion and chronic health issues.
Psychologically, suppression may also lead to the development of ‘subpersonalities’ or parts of ourselves we create to ‘protect’ the pain or shame.
Often this vulnerability is covered up mentally through excessive logic or physically through
medication or addiction, quick-fix methods to numb the pain, which can lead to creating more problems and more pain.
The emotional release work really allows these thoughts, feelings and complexes to be fully processed and addictive habits and tactics to be understood compassionately as a way of trying to meet fundamental human needs,
particularly to feel safe and alive.
Emotional Processing
Sessions focus on identifying, connecting to and expressing emotions free from fear of judgment, criticism, punishment or rejection. This is in no way about blaming others either, rather it’s about being seen, heard and understood as children and adults.
Each session is carried out in a safe, sensitive and supportive environment encouraging the client to explore and connect to emotions as physical phenomena within the body in order to get to the root of their issues.
Differentiating between feeling and expressing emotions also improves confidence in understanding and coping with them, especially the difficult or tricky ones which are usually the clearest indicators of where change is most needed in their lives.
The holistic model
Mind, body and emotion are never really separate as the autonomic nervous system acts as a network of communication between all three. The heat map below charts the activation of bodily sensations associated with different emotions using a unique self-report method (from a 2013 Neuroscience study, Nummenmaa, Glerean & Hari)
These states are relatively hardwired to include emotions and bodily responses, variation only occurs in how they are expressed or verbalised.
Identifying triggers and patterns of acute emotion and differentiating these from moods which reflect chronic or longer term emotional states, usually based on a set and repetitive narrative, is vital to prevent development of further issues.
Often the origin of thought patterns and belief structures keeping individuals stuck in depression or other chronic states of fatigue and anxiety can be uncovered and dismantled through these emotional states. Continuous, healthy and constructive emotional release is essential groundwork for physical health, fitness and mental well-being.
THOUGHTS
CONSIDER thoughts aS ESSENTIALLY physical and material phenomena, contained and happening in the brain in an electrical and chemical form, then stored and shaped in the form of memories.
BELIEFS
The definition of a belief:
“an acceptance or feeling of being certain that something exists or is true, especially one without proof.”
Metacognisance assists in breaking down limiting, outworn and often damaging thoughts, beliefs and illusory constructs of self, ultimately liberating our inherent reasoning power. It takes us a step closer into clear thinking, beyond the thinking which created it in the first place.
We use this as the premise for questioning and challenging the origin, purpose and need for beliefs in our lives, comprehending why and how the very act of believing fosters a false sense of safety and order, shaped by emotion and limited by what we know or what is familiar.
We look at why it is necessary to understand and challenge these acquired structures if we are to free ourselves from them; in essence to actually experience the 'unknown' as opposed to living in fear of the 'known' or what we think we know ending.
Nothing is so firmly believed as
that which we least know
Michel de Montaigne
We can think of beliefs as any thoughts or ideas in our minds, programmed in our brain’s neural pathways as patterns which in time and with practice can eventually be deconstructed.
Beliefs are essentially repeated and replicated thought forms perpetuated through families and communities as habits, traditions, rituals and rules or standards.
While some contribute constructively to forging bonds and sustaining communities, many do exactly the opposite - belief work also greatly reduces the likelihood and problem of cognitive dissonance - opposing beliefs, behaviour or character traits.
It is essential to understand that a belief is an idea, not reality or a person, group or race. Beliefs are formed as a means of creating apparent certainty, understanding and explanation of our existence, mainly through fear of uncertainty or not knowing!
They operate within the fixed and limited paradigm of conceptual thought, repeating on a loop..
These attempted definitions and beliefs about our lives and world bear little resemblance or relation to 'what is' in actuality.
It is in letting go of the tendency to find meaning in any of these mental evaluations which really leads to reform in our lives.
CONCEPTS
However expressive, symbols can never
be the things they stand for
Aldous Huxley
Metacognisance takes us through a vital process of separating and understanding our relationship with concepts and how we have erroneously based our experience of reality on them.
As we shed new light on these symbolic notions and really come to understand their innate limitations, we can live through more direct and fulfilling experience. Some of the concepts considered include:
· Purpose
· Perfectionism
· Freedom
· Desire
· Identity
· Self
· Tribe
· God
As we free ourselves from these cognitive fallacies, our experience of life emerges through observation, clarity and presence, greatly enhancing our own contentment, relationships with others whilst vastly improving our judgment faculties and decision-making abilities.
Emotional intelligence is vital within our larger social structures too, in a world where the focal emphasis is on power, money and competition, the results often point to a rise in separation, stress and isolation. Seeking success, in an external sense, can ultimately be unfulfilling if we overly identify with our projects and purpose at the expense of our innermost needs.
KNOWLEDGE
The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge
Stephen Hawking
Knowledge and learning are two different things. Thinking and thought are two different things.
It is, of course necessary to give knowledge its proper place as a factual, informative and
essential component of human development. Yet to employ it as a cognitive function only
clouds our judgment and decision-making faculties with rigidity, opinion and bias.
Cognitive change occurs more effectively and with greater clarity as we begin to understand
the difference between thinking and thoughts.
An effective education system which enables students to acquire essential computational
and language skills in order to function and communicate in the world, also needs to guide them how to think.
Instead learners are frequently led into the belief that researching and attaining more facts and information will make them more intelligent. In fact this can keep the mind
trapped in limited and polarised thought forms based on opinion and bias.
In order to truly ‘learn,’ from the past and apply it in the present we must employ effective skills of
observation, exploration and understanding so that we do not rely on narratives
programmed in rigid education systems and early upbringing. This in turn can eliminate fear or resistance to learning from another perspective and in an original way.
So before just accepting what we see, read and hear, can we take that essential pause to
think, ie, learn through noticing interaction with our natural environment and the people in it,
and to notice how our brains interact with the information presented, can we actually relate to, process and observe without the tendency to judge, define, confirm or deny, based on what we already know?
Clear thinking requires the
removal or dismantling of all we know and think we know, only then we can become more aware of
‘how’ we are receiving and interfacing with the information fed to us constantly.
Observation of these psychological structures leads to a greater ability to inquire and reason
without the need to form opinions, identities, comparisons, illusions and delusions.
METACOGNITION & METACOGNISANCE
How, what & why we think
'Metacognition' refers to thinking about one's own thinking and learning processes in order to better understand the patterns behind them, more popularly known as 'going meta'.
It involves self-monitoring, assessing and adapting in terms of 'how' we learn.
Thinking beyond our cognition and the whole matter of metacognition, however, contains a flaw and a dilemma as it implies the question of
"who is the thinker that is supposed to be thinking about their own thinking?"
Metacognition is certainly a good cognitive skill, and as we progress into an increasingly complex future is an actual necessity. However it can easily be corrupted, contaminated and made simply inefficient if the idea of what we think we are, (or any belief in general), is allowed to interfere.
What has to be taken into account is the proclivity all humans have to believe. Less common is the question of why we have beliefs.
For example, while the statement "I am" is a certainty, the belief "I am this or that" is simply a subjective description and never a certainty. It may come close, but it is never a certainty. Surely, one can be a wife, a child, a teacher, a middle-aged man, a scientist, etc. It can be proven or disproven, but psychologically, the idea of what we are is never what we actually are.
Believing in that idea, therefore, is allowing such a mental mechanism to interfere with our thinking, and in so doing prevents us, systematically, from undertaking any serious self-analysis.
In fact, despite the progress we have made through time, what we haven't yet developed is the capability to think about our thinking without allowing the interference of the conditioning accumulated throughout our lifetimes.
As this conditioning is stored in the brain, it is therefore a big chunk of the psychological material from which our thinking inevitably originates. Bringing into being such a necessary understanding and its inherent type of reasoning is really an urge of our times,
ergo: reasoning about our reasoning without using the same reasoning that has created our reasoning!
We call this type of reasoning _metacognisance.
THE SELF
We are living in a post-hypnotic trance
induced in early infancy
RD Laing
The entire structure of self may be understood and observed as a construct created mainly through early and formative years as a means to attain approval, acceptance and apparent safety.
Even though this self-image as a construct of the past may now limit, damage, deceive us, or outgrow its use, we often cling to its illusory sense of psychological safety and familiarity, then live in fear of losing it - all in preference to embracing the unknown.
The self may be understood as the sum of all the information, memories and experiences we have acquired throughout our lives and therefore inevitably interferes with our clarity of perception and comprehension of thought processes.
Over time the concept or image of self is challenged and deconstructed uncovering a deeper sense of fulfilment and contentment.
This eliminates the compulsive need to cultivate or present a persona, image or particular identity.
The approach offered contains the means to actually create understanding, objectivity and freedom from this psychological dilemma.
Work on the self opens up profound and powerful insights, which can lead to breakthroughs in perfectionist thinking, people-pleasing and ‘imposter syndrome.'
SELF AND OTHERS
We don’t see things as they are,
we see them as we are
Anais Nin
Through detailed discussion and analysis clients begin to understand how and why they psychologically project their own ‘programs’ onto others. This enables them to make a clear and unbiased assessment of every connection in their lives, focusing particularly on how reflection and projection operate.
By working through issues individually, they can choose to make changes accordingly and commit or recommit to relationships and friendships from a fresh perspective.
Experience has shown this to be more effective than working on the relationship itself as this unit is what contains and perpetuates the problematic issues in the first place.
Relationships
What if we understand a relationship as an encounter between individuals which allows and assists each one to understand themselves more clearly?
Relating
The approach focuses on breaking down outworn and obsolete notions of relationships, shifting attention instead onto how we are ‘relating.’
Through understanding the mutual benefits and sacrifices created and modelled in our early family and social connections, we can more clearly see how those patterns are reflected in current relationships.
Awareness of how these ties are moulded by and based on often unspoken terms of value and exchange, allows each individual to neutrally assess their relationships and make more constructive decisions based on their actual needs.
This in turn reduces the dependency and expectation on others to make us happy, fulfilled or whole. Rather than looking for a partner to give us everything, we shift the angle to understand how they are showing us everything instead; everything about ourselves.
We can choose to fear, avoid, deny or reject that, or allow it as a means to grow, to understand who and what we are more clearly, and to deepen the connection in the process.
Consequently we come to a much better understanding of our beliefs and programs about love, romance, sex, attractions and repellents in relation to others and uncover the real reasons for the making and breaking of these bonds.
Mirroring
As partners and friends are continuously mirroring back to us, we too act as reflections for their awareness, understanding and growth.
As we become more whole, the obsessive search for another to complete us ends. In this way an intimate partner is desired and based on compatibility, not on exchange for what they do or give us.
Less dependent, toxic, demanding and resentful relations arise giving way to healthier bonds, enhancing each person as an individual first. Again we may have to break down the conditioned and mostly unrealistic expectations we place on each other as rescuers, fixers, heroes and lovers.
This in turn reduces the common fears that prevent most people from leaving toxic or stale relationships, to be alone or to enter into new ones, from settling for what they know, even if it is unfulfilling, incompatible or abusive, to staying for financial reasons, convenience, misguided loyalty or obligation, children, approval, image or fear of being alone.
By targeting and breaking down the particular irrational fears keeping them trapped or confused, each partner can come to understand how and why communication, connection and intimacy operate as they do within their relationship unit.
The two most common fears of 'getting hurt' and 'being rejected' can also then be challenged and processed from a fresh perspective.
As we eradicate the superficial reasons underlying relationships, a new understanding develops and clearer choices can be made. As fears are taken into account and dealt with effectively, each individual can be clear and honest about their real needs and reasons for staying in a relationship, or if need be, leaving to pursue their own happiness.
This actually allows ailing relationships to recover too as each person is there through a sincere choice, so even bridges rebuilt can last.
CONSCIOUSNESS
THE HARD PROBLEM of CONSCIOUSNESS
__________________
The process of examining the question of consciousness covers a spectrum of almost innumerable hypotheses.
From the panpsychism to the materialistic perspective.
The reality is that no one knows exactly what consciousness is.
Not yet or we may never know. So far consciousness remains the biggest mystery.
However, we can say that we all possess consciousness.
So there is an even more important inquiry than understanding what consciousness is.
This important inquiry consists in examining what are the contents of consciousness, both personal and collective, because whatever consciousness is, it is made of its own contents.
In this examination it is of primary importance to find out whether it is us (as qualia, or minds) examining the contents of consciousness, or whether it is these contents to be what conducts such an examination instead, (in the sense that in such observation and inquiry, consciousness becomes aware of itself).
The problem of consciousness concerns the disparity that exists between the state of carefully observing the movements of our consciousness, i.e. our desires, impulses, drives, beliefs, ambitions, dreams and so on, and the state in which consciousness gets lighted up and becomes aware of itself during such observation instead.
This dilemma represents a big and omnipresent problem also historically speaking since in the vast majority of cases the observation of our consciousness is not a metacognitive act, but rather it is merely an intellectual process in which the contents of our consciousness simply observe themselves and therefore an actual in-depth and objective understanding ... cannot come into being.
Testimonials
The metacognisance approach is truly transformative and vital for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of cognitive and emotional programming and processing. Tracy has greatly supported and assisted me in developing deeper awareness and resilience in meeting the challenges of modern life.
Julia McLaughlin
Belfast N Ireland
Tracy James
Tracy originates from Northern Ireland. She graduated with an honours degree in Law from Trinity College Dublin in 1997 and has since worked and travelled extensively in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia, predominantly with the British Council.
Postgraduate training and teaching experience have enabled her to hone skills and gain expertise through the fields of education, human rights and psychology.
She currently offers one-to-one and group teaching sessions based on a unique blend of traditional psychotherapy practices, modern holistic approaches and advanced coaching techniques. In person sessions are available in the Belfast practice, monthly in London or alternatively online.
Diego Fontanive
Diego was born in Venice, Italy, in 1973. He is a tutor, author, and speaker focusing on various fields including metacognition, applied critical thinking, consciousness, thinking, education and cognitive biases. He has a background in Political Science, Sociology and Analytical Philosophy.
Diego has lived in many places, mostly in Indonesia, Singapore, India, and various countries in Europe.
His main focus is on inquiring into topics such as beliefs, dogmatic thinking, cognitive fallacies, and anything that can reduce our ability to think accurately, which so often results in irrational psychosocial suffering, conflicting proclivities, illusions, dogmas and confusion.
Diego accompanies people in observing and decoding their thought processes without telling them what to think.
He has proposed numerous articles and speeches for the Psychological, Philosophical & Social Science community, analogous institutions and social science conferences, including UN events.
