Change Your Focus

Distraction is my mother's favorite Truth Tool to use. (Did I tell you she fell last week and broke her sternum and had to have five stitches in her hand. She had barely gotten back to normal from when she fell last year and broke eleven ribs and her clavicle!) She is a trooper! She is 86 years old and is spry and feisty. She is amazing. I just hope to be as courageous and valiant as she is when I get her age--if I do.

While distraction can be a great Truth Tool there are two cautions. Distraction can be a problem at times like when you are driving a car. The other problem is that when using it we need to be sure we aren't avoiding a problem. The way to tell is that distraction is momentary--a way to clear your mind so you can deal with whatever is vexing you. Avoidance is seeking after pleasure in order to avoid the problem completely.

When using distraction to combat vexation you pay close attention to vexation and as soon as you feel it instead of dwelling on it and making things worse, you change your focus from the thing that is distressing you to something else. You do something that takes your mind off the vexation,but as soon as you've relaxed you go back to the problem and solve it. Go read a book, take a walk, call a friend, write a letter, do whatever you LIKE that will keep your mind off what is vexing you.

It is surprising that often even fifteen or thirty minutes of distraction can give you a new perspective, and make you feel better.

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.

A Report of Day Two

While being radiated yesterday, I listened to Vivaldi and I went to Galilee. I listened to the Sermon on the Mount and then watched as the Savior mingled with the people. I love the beautiful paintings of the Savior among the people, but I’ve always been disappointed that there has never been a picture of Him laughing and seldom is He even smiling. I know He laughs and smiles because when the Spirit is with me smiling and chuckling are the natural way of being.

But that is the advantage of traveling in your imagination. You can make it happen. Listening to the Sermon was wonderful, but the best part was afterward when I watched the Savior tousle the hair of a young boy, and chuckle as another young boy delighted in a bug crawling on a low-hanging, tree branch. I watched Him smile as he saw a young mother tenderly cradle her sleeping child as the father protectively guided her through the crowd. But then something strange happened. Without me directing the thoughts, I was suddenly in Nauvoo and Joseph Smith was pulling stick with a large farm hand while a crowd of young boys cheered them on. Joseph won the stick pull and then he grabbed a young boy playfully and tousled his hair. They laughed and the others laughed too.

At that point I was disappointed that the session was over. What seemed like five minutes had been an hour. They let me out of the cage and we drove to the Timpanogos temple. After I got dressed for the temple session, I happened to pass a mirror and noticed that my face still had the imprint of the mesh cage. I looked like I’d been pressed in a waffle iron—like a character you’d find in a Dr. Suess book! I’m still laughing as I wonder what anyone who saw me thought!

A New Tool--Distraction

As soon as we finished the radiologist appointment on Friday we went to St George for a funeral. A very good friend (whom I can’t thank enough) let us use her home in St George so we stayed over the weekend. It was a much needed get-away. The past week drained us both physically and emotionally. The trip gave us time to think—time to regroup and relax, time to get energized and meditate and pray to be ready for whatever is in front of us.

During this time I noticed several things that happened. First, on the trip down just observing the beauty of this wonderful world was rejuvenating. It invigorated and kept me positive. Turning my thoughts from me to the world filled me with gratitude and wonder. Certainly if God can create and run this amazing world, He can take care of me! Another thing that I noticed was that a change in environment helped me forget about myself and my problems. I didn’t realize how much things around my own house remind me of the predicament I’m in, but in a different house with no associations, I forgot all about my problems and relaxed and enjoyed. The third thing I realized is that of all the tools we’ve talked about for helping us Live in Truth I’ve never realized how much of a tool a simple thing like distraction can be. Distraction gives us a little distance, which gives us a new perspective. Whether we take a walk, a trip, read a book, watch a good movie sometimes all we need is a little distraction to help us keep positive and walk in Light and Truth.

So add Distraction to the tools. Take a break from your problems and come back to them with new perspective!