Transcripts
Deliberately incorporating doses of discomfort into your daily life can have
Speaker:physical and mental benefits.
Speaker:Discomfort,
Speaker:when embraced with the right mindset,
Speaker:can expand your capabilities,
Speaker:fortify your resilience,
Speaker:and boost your confidence,
Speaker:willpower,
Speaker:sense of purpose,
Speaker:integrity,
Speaker:creativity,
Speaker:and self-regulation.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:discomfort may be one of life’s most abundant resources—if you know how to
Speaker:tap into it.
Speaker:Here Are Some Things To Try -
Speaker:Fasting.
Speaker:Hunger is not the end of the world.
Speaker:Not getting what you want when you want it is not the end of the world,
Speaker:either.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:occasionally embracing your hunger will teach you that having an appetite for
Speaker:something doesn’t entitle you to satisfaction of that appetite,
Speaker:nor does it pose a serious threat.
Speaker:For most of us,
Speaker:hunger is occasional and not some awful emergency that needs to be quashed as
Speaker:quickly as possible.
Speaker:Basically,
Speaker:hunger is no big deal.
Speaker:Sit with hunger for a moment and you may realize all sorts of interesting
Speaker:things.
Speaker:First,
Speaker:you may be surprised to learn that the sensation you’re experiencing is not
Speaker:even hunger in the first place!
Speaker:Could it be boredom,
Speaker:sadness,
Speaker:anxiety,
Speaker:or just plain old greed?
Speaker:Are you just eating because of a completely mindless habit—for example,
Speaker:reaching for food because it’s a certain time of day,
Speaker:or because you saw something on an ad or on T. V. ?
Speaker:Another thing that happens when you embrace and ride out hunger is that you
Speaker:teach yourself that you can actually pass through unpleasant sensations.
Speaker:Babies and children have no sense of proportion or self-discipline;
Speaker:when they feel upset,
Speaker:they react at once,
Speaker:as though their whole world is ending.
Speaker:Then their mood will flip again just as quickly.
Speaker:But as an adult,
Speaker:you can learn to see sensations,
Speaker:thoughts,
Speaker:desires,
Speaker:etc. as waves that will emerge but also subside again.
Speaker:One of the best feelings in the world is watching a craving appear and then
Speaker:watching as it fades again,
Speaker:and seeing yourself no longer care about what you were obsessed with just a few
Speaker:moments prior.
Speaker:Think about what you can do with this capacity once strengthened!
Speaker:For example,
Speaker:a fasting practice may help you one day when you’re online and just about to
Speaker:make an impulse purchase.
Speaker:You pause and look at this “hunger” for material things.
Speaker:You decide to consciously let that hunger go unmet for a while.
Speaker:Maybe you’ll buy the thing tomorrow,
Speaker:if you still want it,
Speaker:but maybe you’re okay with just leaving certain desires unsatisfied?
Speaker:“Rucking” Or Strenuous Physical Activity.
Speaker:Humans are uniquely designed to carry loads over long distances,
Speaker:which was essential for hunting and gathering in the past.
Speaker:Modern humans,
Speaker:on the other hand,
Speaker:experience few physical demands and are only minimally connected to their
Speaker:material environment.
Speaker:A few connected problems may emerge .- We may lose physical conditioning,
Speaker:gain weight,
Speaker:suffer poor posture from hunching in front of screens for hours on end,
Speaker:become self-absorbed,
Speaker:and start to believe that our only way of connecting to the world around us is
Speaker:abstractly.
Speaker:Our money is digital,
Speaker:we eat food wrapped in plastic that has followed supply chains that are
Speaker:invisible to us,
Speaker:and other people have built our houses.
Speaker:Our lifestyles may mean that entire days are lost to a purely symbolic realm;
Speaker:we are sedentary and lose a certain embodiment,
Speaker:our senses becoming dull.
Speaker:One way to counter this is to drive in an S. U. V. to an air-conditioned gym
Speaker:after work so a paid personal trainer can guide you in the use of various
Speaker:expensive machines.
Speaker:Another,
Speaker:more authentic way is simply to do what your ancestors did - carry a weighted
Speaker:backpack for long distances.
Speaker:You’ll increase your cardiac fitness and muscle tone and improve bone density.
Speaker:You could drive,
Speaker:but become conscious of the things that are lost when you do.
Speaker:The idea is to set up a direct connection between your physical effort and some
Speaker:observable results.
Speaker:Look back and see how far you’ve walked.
Speaker:Notice how you are able to carry increasingly heavy loads.
Speaker:Feel the ache in your muscles and understand that it is a direct result of you
Speaker:taking real action in the world.
Speaker:Practice this sort of activity often enough and you will find yourself feeling
Speaker:more grounded and purposeful.
Speaker:For example,
Speaker:someone who regularly pushes themselves to camp on the weekends and carry heavy
Speaker:backpacks may discover that they are far more mentally tough at work.
Speaker:They notice that they are able to endure criticisms,
Speaker:delays,
Speaker:or difficulties with a much more robust attitude.
Speaker:There is a direct link,
Speaker:they realize,
Speaker:between this new attitude and their growing ability to put up with sore feet
Speaker:and keep walking no matter what!
Speaker:Embracing Boredom.
Speaker:Have you ever hung around at a train station or in a restaurant on your own and
Speaker:immediately felt the urge to reach for your phone?
Speaker:Chances are,
Speaker:you had to experience a grueling twenty or thirty seconds without entertainment!
Speaker:One of our most damaging cultural habits is the tendency to overvalue amusement
Speaker:and distraction.
Speaker:We may unconsciously believe that it is something close to a human right to
Speaker:never be bored—but is it?
Speaker:Our world has become so saturated with data that we have come to expect almost
Speaker:total and constant stimulation.
Speaker:We wake up and check our phones before we have even wiped the sleep from our
Speaker:eyes.
Speaker:We sit down to eat dinner and feel that the moment is boring unless we also
Speaker:simultaneously have a T. V. show to watch.
Speaker:We make sure that children have some kind of activity scheduled for every hour
Speaker:of every day,
Speaker:and when it’s time to do chores or homework,
Speaker:we feel compelled to make this as interesting and entertaining for them as
Speaker:possible.
Speaker:But if you had the privilege of growing up in a low-stimulus environment,
Speaker:you’ll already know that boredom is a gift.
Speaker:Open space and silence give you time to process,
Speaker:rest,
Speaker:and generate your own ideas,
Speaker:rather than just consume other people’s.
Speaker:Unplugging from constant distraction and noise actually enhances your own
Speaker:productivity and creativity in the long run.
Speaker:This is because the brain is forced into a more active and generative role
Speaker:rather than just sitting there and waiting to passively receive information
Speaker:from the outside.
Speaker:This is why so many people experience “shower thoughts” - profound or
Speaker:creative ideas and flashes of insight during a shower.
Speaker:For that brief moment in the shower,
Speaker:their brains are not being flooded with external information.
Speaker:Rather,
Speaker:it can contemplate things freely,
Speaker:making its own connections,
Speaker:coming to its own realizations,
Speaker:and generating its own theories,
Speaker:solutions,
Speaker:and questions.
Speaker:To embrace boredom,
Speaker:simply make sure you’re not always giving yourself something to do.
Speaker:If you’re waiting in the doctor’s office,
Speaker:just sit quietly rather than frantically looking for something to read.
Speaker:Give yourself twenty minutes every day where you just ...do nothing.
Speaker:There’s no need to try to turn it into some effortful meditation exercise,
Speaker:either.
Speaker:Just imagine turning the engine off in your brain and stopping for a while.
Speaker:You will develop patience,
Speaker:serenity,
Speaker:and better self-regulation if you are perfectly comfortable to just be who you
Speaker:are,
Speaker:in the moment as it is,
Speaker:without distraction.
Speaker:Some other exercises you can try to make conscious use of discomfort are -
Speaker:172 00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:24,880 •“Temporary poverty”—spend a period of time consuming very little.
Speaker:Go without.
Speaker:That may mean dressing very humbly,
Speaker:eating little,
Speaker:or repairing something old rather than buying new.
Speaker:It’s not about punishment,
Speaker:and it’s not a competition.
Speaker:Rather,
Speaker:it’s about learning to master your own sensual desires,
Speaker:your fears,
Speaker:and your strengths.
Speaker:184 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:43,320
Speaker:•Choose uncomfortable situations where a comfortable one would be easy and
Speaker:convenient.
Speaker:For example,
Speaker:take a cold or very short shower.
Speaker:Wear clothes that leave you feeling a little cold.
Speaker:Sleep on the floor or force yourself to walk somewhere even though you have a
Speaker:car.
Speaker:193 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:04,080
Speaker:•Forego a pleasure that you might have been taking for granted.
Speaker:Decide not to drink,
Speaker:have a candy bar,
Speaker:or sleep in on the weekend.
Speaker:199 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:11,920
Speaker:•Do things yourself.
Speaker:Wash your laundry by hand,
Speaker:write your notes out with pen and paper rather than on a P. C. ,
Speaker:cook from scratch,
Speaker:or figure out how to fix something without help.
Speaker:While you do all these things,
Speaker:remember not to become a martyr or get distracted by how miserable you
Speaker:are—that’s not the point.
Speaker:Rather,
Speaker:ask if the discomfort you’re experiencing is as bad as you thought.
Speaker:Ask if discomfort,
Speaker:even if it is great,
Speaker:truly stops you from doing what you need and want to do.
Speaker:Finally,
Speaker:pay attention to the fact that you can endure it,
Speaker:even learn from it.
Speaker:What else can you apply these lessons to?
