We can use our stress as a navigational tool to help guide our lives
We develop all kinds of learned associations through Imprinting and conditioning that fail to actually address the core problem of wanting to feel better when we are stressed. We generally struggle to examine and criticize our own neural programs, and instead of examining the root of the problem, we tend to just reinforce our subjective biases, prompted by past conditioning and imprinting: “Oh, maybe i just need one more bite, and then i will feel better.” Eventually when we have tried everything, including overdosing, we become despondent. Beating the dead horse only makes things worse. Unnerved and feeling lost, we know longer know where to look or turn. Stopping and examining our subjective biases and habits that we have been carrying around may help us see what has been weighing us down and getting us more lost.
A useful analogy to help put this is into practice is to think of a map and compass. When learning how to use a map, we must figure out how to orient it correctly, otherwise the map is useless. A map can only be used if paired with a compass to tell us where north is. Only then can we navigate through the wild. Similarly, if we are carrying around feelings of disease and we lack a compass help orient us towards its source, the disconnection can lead to quite a bit of stress. We may fumble around and even take extreme measures in order to shake the feelings of frustration and disease.
But what if, instead of trying to shake it or beat it, what if we joined it? In other words, what if we used our feelings of stress and dis-ease themselves as our compass? The goal here is not to add more stress into our lives (we have plenty of that!), but to use the stress we already experience as a navigational tool. If suffering is avoidable, we should strive to remove it rather than endure it. If we can clearly align our selves north (toward stress), and south (away from stress), we can use that alignment to help guide our lives. As if we are lost while hiking in the wilderness, we must stop, take a deep breath, and pull out our map and compass. Only when we are reoriented and have a clear sense of direction should we start moving again. Tools for accomplishing this include non-forcing and mindfulness: mindfulness can allow us to see through our subjective biases.
References
- Brewer, Judson. (2017). The Craving Mind Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits Chapter 1. Introduction (Location 410). Yale University Press. New Haven, CT.
Metadata
Type:🔴 Tags: Psychology / Philosophy Status:☀️