When you make the choice to disconnect or distract from your feelings, you opt for the fleeting relief that comes from distancing yourself from an uncomfortable situation or experience.

The ways you keep yourself from being well attuned and connected to yourself – in essence, how you sabotage or undermine your emotional strength – is what we will be focusing on in the coming weeks. When you make the choice to disconnect or distract from your feelings, you opt for the fleeting relief that comes from distancing yourself from an uncomfortable situation or experience.

Unfortunately, over time, those momentary conscious and unconscious decisions may extract a high price. When you distract by consistently avoiding your truth—what you think, feel, sense, observe, or know—you open the door to an array of challenges.

Distraction can be identified via such behaviors as denying, discounting, doubting, questioning, and any type of compulsive or addictive behavior (alcohol or drug use, overeating, and compulsive shopping are the most obvious) or any other thinking pattern or behavior that allows one to check out. The degree to which you stay distracted and the length of time you’ve been doing it (months, years) influences the types of challenges you may face, which may include genuine body aches and complaints, anxiety, feeling emotionally numb, or becoming soulfully depressed.

The key is to identify the distractions in which you tend to engage so you can make the choice to stay connected to your moment-to-moment experience.

When you make that choice, you become more aware about what you know. Instead of ignoring or tamping down unpleasant thoughts and feelings, you acknowledge their presence. You face and then feel them. That gives you an opportunity to think about and make sense of what you just experienced. Awareness of and connection to your experience are the first building blocks of emotional strength.

This level of awareness opens the space for you to make decisions, express yourself, and take action – all factors that lead to increased confidence, which can lead to you living a life that you love!

Next week, I’ll talk about ‘Losing Control: Learning To Not Shut Down’.

This weeks questions:

What are your questions for me based on all you have read this far on this series?

How has my book series impacted you thus far?

How have you applied this information in your life?

What results have you experienced?

I’d love for you to respond on my facebook group if you feel comfortable!!

Join my group on Facebook LOVE MY LIFE and let me know. Also, November 11th, I’ll be going live to talk about ‘Avoiding Pitfalls by Identifying and Overcoming Distractions’.  Please join me!

 

To A Life You Love,

Dr. Joan Rosenberg