Truth Tool - Distraction

One of the simplest of the Truth Tools is Distraction. When the negative feelings are being caused by something in the environment or some situation you are writing a story about, do something to distract yourself from the problem.

The day after I spoke at a Women’s Conference on Living in Truth a woman sent me an email with her story. The day after the conference she had gone to a fireside with her husband and the speaker was chewing gum while he talked. It was very annoying and the woman found herself sinking in the Pit of Illusion. “Didn’t his mother teach him any manners?” and “This is so repulsive. He shouldn’t be chewing gum while he talks,” and a number of other negative stories filled her head and spewed their negative poison into her heart. But she remembered what we had talked about the day before and decided to distract herself from the problem by looking up at the ceiling instead of at the speaker.

As she distracted herself from the gum chewing, she suddenly became aware that up to that point she had not heard one single thing he had said. Her mind was so full of mental chatter about the gum that she had missed everything. But now while watching the ceiling and listening she began to realize the speaker had some wonderful things to say. She was very grateful she had come back to the Realm of Truth and been able to learn from what was being taught.

Taking a walk in the woods, or jumping in a warm shower, playing your favorite music on an instrument, pulling weeds in the garden, cleaning out a cupboard, cooking something wonderful, woodworking, scrapbooking, or mowing the lawn are just a few of the things that you can do to distract yourself from the negative feelings. But in most situations, the key here is to decide ahead of time what you will do. For example, “Next time I start to worry about the budget, I’m going to clean out a cupboard.” Pick out something you like to do and then when the negative feelings begin do it. If you wait until the moment you are filled with worry and then try to decide what to do, you will have a difficult time. The negative emotion makes it hard to make a decision and nothing will sound good.

So pick out a distraction ahead of time and then Distract yourself when you need to.