05/16/2011 18:25
Slow It Down—Breathe, Breathe
Phil McGraw describes it as "fast forward thinking." It's that time when we let emotions and feelings get the better of our judgement. It's when we may impulsively say things we later regret...
...or when we may start to eat before we even realize what we are doing.
Whatever the outcome, fast forward thinking invariably leads to regret.
The key is in identifying it, and doing an internal intervention on it. Many times, because the fast forward thinking has led to our saying and doing things that hurt others, or hurt our standing with others, we may have learned to bite our tongue. Tongue-biting though, leads to unexpressed hurt or anger, so we turn it inward. We may have saved others' feelings, but we didn't save our own.
Instead of lashing out, we end up lashing in. We get caught up in the belief that that what we are feeling requires immediate action. We eat.
To break that habit, it is necessary to break that cycle. When thoughts start speeding up, telling us to take immediate action of some sort, that is the time to STOP.
Breathe deeply and slowly. It's time to NOT take any action of any sort. It's not time to strike out, and it's not time to eat or take any other action we will regret later.
Breathe. Just breathe. Concentrate on the breath, and be calm. Slow it down. Breathe.