The Stanalytical Guide
Principles & Practices for Conscious Living in the Modern Era of Fear, Distraction, and Burnout
“Ask not what therapy can do for you—ask what you can do for therapy.”
Being in therapy ≠ Working in therapy
I get it: although we technically live in the safest and most advanced era of human history, it sure doesn’t feel like it a lot of the time. With a historically unprecedented amount of access to food, medicine, information, and entertainment, you’d think we’d be thriving… But instead, we’re more overwhelmed, anxious, dissatisfied, and stuck than ever! So why do we feel so bad all the time? Well… Society and technology have outpaced what our minds were built to handle—and because no one really gives us a manual on how our mind works, our attention has been hijacked, our emotions are overloaded, and the protective wiring that once kept us alive now keeps us reactive, avoidant, and exhausted. Sure, we now have endless access to quick and potent ways to numb all of this, but that usually just prolongs our suffering in the long-run!
Naturally, many turn to therapy but “just attending” therapy does nothing meaningful without outside integration and practice. There’s limited benefit to just venting and talking about things: we must personally experience “the work” of regularly applying different perspectives, choices, and experiences in our daily life. If we keep waiting to feel motivated or for things to get bad enough to start doing the work, we will remain the same or get worse. Sometimes we just need to start with more information while we become more aware of certain things. This guide is a distillation of my perspective on psychological wellness and resilience. These concepts and tools are here to help you slow down, understand why your mind does what it does, and ultimately shift the way you respond to your inner and outer world.
*The guide is currently being updated and expanded through March - May 2025!
Section I: Why We Struggle
Recognizing Patterns & ConnectionS
(Self-Examination Model)
How thinking (and the way we view, notice, or engage with our thinking) influences how we feel and act in life. This breaks down the parts of our personal patterns, how those parts are connected, and how these patterns are connected to [or influence and contribute to] other patterns and problems.
MISMATCH OF MODERN LIFE
(Evolutionary Mismatch & Lifestyle Alignment)
How the modern world and life clashes with our ancient biology and psychology—leading to stress, disconnection, and burnout—and what we can do to realign our habits, environments, and mindsets with how humans are actually built to thrive.
When Coping is the Problem
(Emotional Avoidance & Maladaptive Coping)
How coping can become excessive, rigid, or unworkable in a world full of emotional quick fixes. This explores how instinctive coping and modern comfort and avoidance (paired with the modern world’s endless options for “numbing”) can quietly trap us in survival mode and disconnection.
Section II: Understanding the Mind
The Mind Is A Co-Pilot (Not You)
(Cognitive Defusion/Distancing, “Observing Self”)
How to understand “thoughts and thinking” in a different, more functional and flexible way instead of continually struggling with or getting caught up in everything our mind is telling us. This page explains how we are not our mind (our thoughts, feelings, urges) and reframes the mind as a co-pilot and thoughts/feelings more like signals and guides (not actual demands you must follow).
DISTORTED THINKING PATTERNS
(Cognitive Distortions)
How to recognize the mind’s tendency to negatively bias and distort aspects of reality to urge self-preservation and protection.
MANAGING THE MIND
(Reframing/Reappraisal of Thoughts)
How to modify and adjust thoughts to be more realistic and helpful, transforming how you feel and how you respond.
DIGGING DEEPER
(Core Beliefs)
How to find the underlying meaning and purpose of thoughts rather than unproductively getting caught up in what is “true/right/enough”.
(*Pages on emotion and feelings will be here soon)
Section III: Presence, Willingness, & Direction
GROUNDING ANCHORS
(Mindfulness/Grounding)
How to stay grounded, anchored, and centered during tough moments (rather than letting our thoughts, feelings, and urges get the best of us).
(*Pages on acceptance and values will be here soon)
Section IV: Insight to Impact
COMMITTED ACTION PLAN
(Goal Setting and Mindset for Behavioral Activation & Exposure, Pacing)
How to stop procrastinating and avoiding by setting better goals, working at them efficiently, and positioning yourself and environment to be less distracted to get more done.
SLEEP PLAN
(Sleep Hygiene for Insomnia)
How to stop disturbing sleep quality and architecture and more naturally get back to better sleep.
MONITORING PATTERNS
(Self-Monitoring, Mental Health Log)
How to journal and reflect in order to reinforce self-awareness, effective mental/behavioral habits, and how we need to act in order to live in accordance to our true values & needs
(*Pages on communication/boundaries and technology' & mental health will be here soon)