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doing the exact opposite of how you feel It can be a surprising truth that you have the freedom to choose to do something, even if you don't feel you want to.

doing the exact opposite of how you feel It can be a surprising truth that you have the freedom to choose to do something, even if you don't feel you want to. Your agency is not enslaved to your emotions. Another tack is to approach the activity as an experiment or exploration. Not I must do this, or even if I do this it will help, but: I wonder if it will help, or even I bet it won't, let's see who's right!

proverbialbunny 6y ago
I see even when people can rationalize it correctly, that is see the long term gains from doing it, tend to still be enslaved to their present feelings if those feelings are strong enough. This is the struggle of depression. I find for situations like that, the blastoff technique works well. When you find you need to do something, instead of thinking about it, start counting backwards from 5, like you're a rocket getting ready to blastoff. It takes 4-5 seconds for the other part of the mind to come in and override the action, so as long as you jump out of bed before that timer hits zero, it's easy. This way you can do whatever it is you need to get done regardless how you feel. You can always think about how to do it once you've gotten started. It sounds silly but it works very well and is super easy to do. A zen teacher once told me, "Don't think. Do." to mean basically the same thing.
- cutemonster 6y ago
  > it takes 4-5 seconds for the other part of the mind to come in and override the action, so as long as ... before that Meaning, for the stone age feelings parts of the brain, to realize that "but I want to stay in bed"? If one acts faster than that part of the brain, then it's harder for it to mess things up? (Like, feeling sad, worrying, doing nothing)
  - proverbialbunny 6y ago
    Basically.
    - cutemonster 6y ago
      Ok I'll try this :-) Work is fun though and getting up in the morning too, but ... Well there are a bunch of other things I've postponed for months now soon

proverbialbunny 6y ago

I see even when people can rationalize it correctly, that is see the long term gains from doing it, tend to still be enslaved to their present feelings if those feelings are strong enough. This is the struggle of depression. I find for situations like that, the blastoff technique works well. When you find you need to do something, instead of thinking about it, start counting backwards from 5, like you're a rocket getting ready to blastoff. It takes 4-5 seconds for the other part of the mind to come in and override the action, so as long as you jump out of bed before that timer hits zero, it's easy. This way you can do whatever it is you need to get done regardless how you feel. You can always think about how to do it once you've gotten started. It sounds silly but it works very well and is super easy to do. A zen teacher once told me, "Don't think. Do." to mean basically the same thing.

cutemonster 6y ago
> it takes 4-5 seconds for the other part of the mind to come in and override the action, so as long as ... before that Meaning, for the stone age feelings parts of the brain, to realize that "but I want to stay in bed"? If one acts faster than that part of the brain, then it's harder for it to mess things up? (Like, feeling sad, worrying, doing nothing)
- proverbialbunny 6y ago
  Basically.
  - cutemonster 6y ago
    Ok I'll try this :-) Work is fun though and getting up in the morning too, but ... Well there are a bunch of other things I've postponed for months now soon