Diet Trap by Jason Lillis

Author:Jason Lillis
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781608827114
Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
Published: 2013-12-10T05:00:00+00:00

Stepping Out of the Struggle

Letting go of an avoidance agenda can be liberating. What if you had woken up today and didn’t have to manage your feelings? You’re done with that. Whatever you feel, that’s what you feel, knowing that you’ve had these emotions your whole life and understanding that you can live with them. After all, you already have for a long time. More importantly, what if you no longer had to choose what you were going to do based on how it might make you feel? What might you choose to do today? What are some things that have been off-limits for you?

This is your one and only life, your one chance to do what matters and what you care about, to connect with people and touch their lives, to seek knowledge, to grow, to laugh, to face challenges. You can do all of this, each and every day, by acting with willingness. That’s the key to stepping out of struggle with emotions.

Willingness simply means receiving what’s offered by life. When you take action in your life with willingness, you allow yourself to feel whatever you feel while doing what matters to you. You will experience emotions—sometimes pleasant, sometimes unpleasant, sometimes neutral. They will change—sometimes fading quickly and sometimes lingering.

Acting with willingness, which requires you to be a little more comfortable being uncomfortable, is a choice that will help you move forward in your life. And you get to make that choice thousands upon thousands of times. The goal is not to be perfectly willing at all times, but to act with willingness when you want to do something that’s really important to you. You can act with willingness to adopt a healthier lifestyle and to pursue growth and vitality. To begin, simply make the choice to act with willingness more often than you do now. Let’s try a small step in that direction.

Extended Practice Exercise: Welcoming Emotions as Old Friends

Read through this exercise in its entirety before doing it.

Begin by closing your eyes and practicing mindfulness of your breath for two to three minutes to get centered. Next, bring to mind an emotion you tend to struggle with. See if you can act with willingness just for the duration of this exercise. During this exercise, it’s okay for you to feel whatever you feel. Think of different situations in your life when this emotion has shown up. Picture a few of these situations, see yourself in them, then and there, and notice what’s happening in these situations. Spend a few moments recalling these memories. Next, see if you can locate where you feel this emotion in your body. Perhaps you feel it in your head or stomach, or as tension in your neck. Gently focus your attention on how this emotion feels and where you feel it. Notice how familiar it feels. You’ve experienced this emotion many times in your life, and you know it well. See if you can just allow it to be however it is for the duration of this exercise, without trying to change it or make it go away.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.