“There is no reality, only perception”
Look at the stressful situations you experience in life. Do you find at those times that you’re reaching for comfort food? It’s so common and easy to justify eating at times of anxiety. However, in truth, no event, no person, no stressful situation can make you eat a whole packet of biscuits. What initiates stress and anxiety is your response to the stressful situation. Remember you respond not to what happens in the world but instead to your interpretation of those events. In other words, it is what you think about and how you evaluate an event that determines how you feel, as well as what you do in response.
Suppose, for example, that you apply for a job that you really wanted, but you are not hired. That is an external event to which you had some internal reaction. It is our internal reaction to not being hired that impacts your emotions not the actual event Let’s say your internal reaction is “OK, I don’t like getting turned down. But I know in my
heart I am a talented, capable and competent employee and I will apply for another job.” You are being rational, realistic and you are not likely to get upset and suffer a huge blow to your self-worth.
On the other hand, maybe your internal reaction is, “I’m such a loser. I blew the interview, it was so humiliating and I got what I deserved. That job was too good for me, and I’m really not good enough to even apply for it. They knew I was out of my depth.” It’s no wonder that you end up turning to food for comfort.
What happens in the wake of that kind of thinking is a feeling of stress or maybe some other emotion like depression. You believe that not getting the job made you upset, when in fact it was your thinking about the situation that hurt you. Not getting the job isn’t what upset you, it is the thoughts you have about the situation that are causing the emotional pain.
Whatever the situation, you can choose your reaction. No matter what the circumstances, your interpretation of those events is of your own choosing. The events in your daily life have only the meaning you assign to them.
If your response is counterproductive, test your perceptions more often and become more accountable for how you react to the stress and problems in your life. Stop being overly sensitive to the negatives while filtering out the positives. Maintain an active, ongoing awareness of your reactions, and recognise where your outlook is distorted
so that you can make adjustments.
Please be aware, I am not suggesting that you should interpret everything that happens to you in a Pollyanna fashion. Obviously that would not always be a rational reaction, for example during times of death or divorce. However you do have a choice about whether that event will be your absolute undoing, or whether it becomes something you deal with in a constructive manner. The latter choice means that you will create meaning and purpose out of your suffering.
Next Month: Step Two - Resolve, rather than react to, life’s problems.
Home Fitness Tips by Paula Blackwood