i_Small.jpg
theaspirationalmind.com

When Challenges Happen

Final Backup Options

There may be times when nothing seems to work. When your habit seems to be overwhelmingly compulsive and you have devoted so much energy to resisting, distracting, ignoring, imploring, and so on that you are becoming even more distressed.
Before you give in, I have three further suggestions.

Name your discomfort

What are you feeling that is at the heart of your distress?
Is it boredom? Is it anger? Is it depression? Is it anxiety? Is it exhaustion? Is it some form of physical pain (back-ache, belly-ache, body-ache)? Is it fear? Is it indescribable?
Whatever it is, think of it as something generated by your own Automatic Mind. This makes it just another temptation, but one that does not respond so well to the 'No Temptation' self-care method. One trick with these strong feelings of discomfort is to modify 'No Temptation' to name your own particular discomfort. Say 'No Boredom', or 'No Depression', or 'No Pain', or 'No Anxiety', or whatever your discomfort is. You can even use 'No Discomfort' when you don't have the words to identify the particular feelings that you are experiencing.
Repeat your statement (eg. 'No Discomfort') strongly 10 times and wait a few minutes. If nothing else, this can help to re-establish your sence of purpose.

Firm determination

Firm determination is a last resort but also an effetive way to reach your target. Determination trumps temptation though should be reserved for the times when it is really needed.
To make deternination most effective allow yourself to get angry with your own Automatic Mind for the discomfort that your Automatic Mind has been giving you along with the temptations. Your Automatic Mind has been acting against your own best interests and needs to be trained to support you rather than mislead you. Your Automatic Mind needs to 'get it' that you are absolutely determined to change you habit. For your Automatic Mind to get it then it needs to be true, that you are utterly and completely determined to change your habit.
You will know that you are winning when you 'feel' a shift. Your discomfort eases a little and your confidence grows.
Build your determination by being firm when you need to be but don't forget that this is a last resort. Once you are back in touch with your confidence then turn your focus back to saying 'No Temptation' again.

Threshold

Our mind works through the many-varied actions and reactions of our brain cells. I'm no neuroscientist but so far as I understand it our neurons can have cut-off or threshold effects. A particular neuron may require a number of activating inputs before it starts to produce outputs. These threshold effects may mean that we are able to respond predictably to general challenges for some time before we swap into a different state of mind, and then that changed state of mind may continue for some time before we swap back to our original state again.
Personally, I find that my 'natural' timing can mean that in periods of stress, for example, I may be achieving my aims for a period of typically ten to fourteen days and then I can find life seems much more challenging and uncomfortable for a period of maybe four to five days. These changes from one state to another can seem relatively sudden, relatively unpredictable, and strong. Simply recognising that there is some process going on internally that is characterised by sudden changes helps me to go-with-the-flow and accept what is going on. Each time this happens I get a learning opportunity and possibly a way to pick an approach helps me recover. Typically approaches that work include distractions, interacting with those around me, sleeping, walking, and so on.
If nothing else, I can remember that I am not 'stuck', I am not 'lost' nor 'doomed', I am just experiencing a temporary form of burnout that can pass as quickly as it arrived.