Synopsis: Implicit

I was in this weight control/therapy group a while back that introduced me to a concept in psychology called implicit and explicit thoughts. It's a more recently popularized theory that there are certain precognitive, old, overlearned, automatic, or unconscious thoughts that you simply can't change because they are in a part of the brain that is inaccessible to you.

In theory, when we treat these thoughts like we do our explicit thoughts, or things you understand, insight, and intellectualized thoughts, we get nowhere because one thing can be changed and the other can't. It's not about syncing the two types of thoughts or even understanding the implicit thoughts, but understanding how they impact you and how to manage their influence on the rest of thinking.

I will be writing a series of memoir vignettes about those implicit things for me, if i can figure out what they are. Sometimes in the cases of spirituality and sexuality, I would never want to change or attempt to change how I am. But in the cases of things like dichotomous thinking and impulsiveness, especially around food, it's about how one tries to change the behavior even in spite of never really being able to change the underlying thinking.