“Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless in facing them.” – Rabindranath Tagore
I have been thinking a lot about avoidance. Our culture provides so many different options for avoidance of our thoughts, emotions, and selves. My favorite of these options is playing games on my phone.
Some amount of avoidance is probably okay and healthy. But when we become disconnected from ourselves on a daily basis, we do ourselves a disservice. There is no shelter from our inner demons. We can spend a lifetime running and hiding from them, or we can sit with them in loving kindness and work towards resolution.
So, I have given up using my phone as anything but a phone and an alarm clock for the next 15 weeks. This exercise is part of a training I’m taking in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. I am on day 3 and I feel like my life has been turned upside down – or maybe more accurately, gone backwards in time. I had no idea how dependent I had become on my phone for everything (entertainment, directions, scheduling, etc.) until I no longer had access to it.
The most difficult adjustment, however, has been the significant increase in time each day that I spend silently with myself. I can no longer ‘put off’ facing my inner demons and their king, Self Doubt. Do I want to face them? Not at all. But will doing so be better for my emotional and spiritual and mental health? Absolutely.
How do you escape and avoid the dangers of introspection? If you had to give up one distractor for 15 weeks, what would it be? Comment below or e-mail me at rebeccaaogle@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you.
Have a mindful Monday.
-Rebecca