Woman claims 'naming your brain' helps shut down bad thoughts: 'Becky, I can’t be doing that today'

Everyone has moments when they repeatedly face uncontrolled thoughts. From writing the day off as a bad one before it's even begun to fixating on a random thought throughout the day — it can make you go wild. Scooting her way through life in London's brightest days, Faye Plunkett (@faye_plunkett) shared a unique way of slowing down racing thoughts in one of her Instagram videos. Naming your brain, she says, is the trick to peace.

Plunkett, 27, called it the wildest piece of advice: “This actually works, I promise you, name your brain.” It could sound absurd at the beginning, but recognizing and addressing your thoughts as a third person, and softly telling them to change, works, said Faye, who credited her words to the remarkable thinker Mo Gawdat. “My brain is called Becky. And, I have nothing against Beckies. But when I have a dark thought, I simply say to my brain, Becky,  not today," she said in the video. 

"Girl, I can’t be doing that today. Or if I wake up in the morning and have a feeling that it's going to be a bad day, I literally say to myself, Becky, I love you, but we absolutely can’t be doing that today, and that is unfair to say before we even get out of bed,” she continued in the video. Her strong and stern voice, swooshing through the road, signaled that the minute one starts talking to their intrusive thoughts, everything will change.

Plunkett first shared this content on TikTok. Upon its virality in a day, and hundreds of requests from people asking it to share on Instagram as well, she did and captioned, "WHAT A 24 HOURS - so many gorgeous requests to post this on Instagram too, so here it is."  “Trust me on this one - Becky and I have a love-hate relationship,” Plunkett continued in the captioned video. The concept has been picked up from the book ‘That Little Voice in Your Head: Adjust the Code that Runs Your Brain' by Gawdar.

A psychologist at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital, Fairlee Fabrett, PhD, stated that these thought patterns as racing thoughts, and the most common cause is anxiety. "People who struggle with racing thoughts are constantly worried about what needs to be done, what hasn't been done, and what is next," says Fabrett. "Or they obsess about past, present, or future situations,” he continued.

Though by breaking the cycle of anxiety and racing thoughts, one can definitely get a hold and be mindful of what the next steps to take are. Gawdat’s book also highlights the importance of being mindful: “To fix a machine, first you need to find out what’s wrong with it. To fix unhappiness, you need to find out what causes it,” stated the book. People were warm with their words for Plunkett and shared, "I would take advice from any woman who can drive a scooter with one hand while stably holding a selfie stick in the other and talking sense. Thank you, " wrote @ kfironitta.

"I saw this video a while back. And I loved the idea, so I have been doing it. And it helps keep Dexter in check when he starts giving me unwanted thoughts," shared @chiro_tay. "It doesn’t get better than advice like this, especially when riding the scooter looks like you’re riding a horse," commented @lindseyholland_." I think Becky is pretty smart! Look at you multitasking, talking sense, and giving Becky credit! Becky is amazing! ;)," said @beckyjkoenig.

You can follow Faye Plunkett (@faye_plunkett on Instagram) for more wholesome life advice.

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