If you'd like to try an exercise I made up last evening as I was falling to sleep , I'll share it here.
Think of someone you upmostly respect and care about deeply. Someone who you admire. Someone who gives you hope. Someone who inspires you. It could be someone you know. It could be someone as close to you as a family member or as distant as a favorite writer. It could be an imaginary person. It could be someone of any age or gender. Just think of that person and all their commendable, great traits. See them clearly , what they are doing, what they are wearing, where they are, who they are interacting with. Do you honor them? why? Do you care about them? why?
Now see them having some problem in their life. Any problem large or small. Start to care about that person that you admire and have compassion. Notice how you feel when they decide to go to an online gambling site or walk into a casino for the first time looking for something. fun, escape, connection? Make up the story. See that person continue to be the person you admire, doing all the things they usually do. Also see that person starting to do what you did when you began gambling. Starting to get out of control. Notice how you feel. Oh no! not that person. That person is too good to be involved with this. Do you want to help them? Why? Do you believe that this person is capable to recovering from compulsive gambling? Do you know deep inside with the right help they can resume their lives and get back to living and being their best selves again? Of coarse they can! A person like that does not deserve to suffer so much. A person like that has much to offer the world just by being themselves.
Now see that this person is older and has been involved in what you have been involved with/ type of gambling for a number of years. See that their live has changed. They look different. Some of their friends have left. Make up the story of how gambling has taken the qualities of what you admired and clouded them profusely. How do you feel about and for this person.
Now see that this person is you! This great person that you feel so much compassion for and want to help is YOU. And you can have the same compassion for yourself. YOu can have the same admiration for the person you know that you are , still are. You can / we can get outselves up and out of this hole that we have dug. tara2
Nice post Tara!
I guess we always have more compassion and care for others rather than ourselves. Putting this excersice into practice can benefit in finding self love & care for sure!
We matter...we matter a lot because that's where good (& bad) begins...within
Thank you for sharing!
This is a really lovely and inspiring post. Thank you, I will do this every night as I think it will really help 🙂
🙂 Glad that you liked it hopeful.
This is a great mental exercise .. really encouraging. It really worked for me. Thankyou!.
not_so_lucky_21 wrote:
This is a great mental exercise .. really encouraging. It really worked for me. Thankyou!.
Thank you for your post will try it
I'm new here so not sure if I'm posting ok
I had forgotten about this post. Yet, I think that this is a powerful exercise. You could imagine your child gambling instead of you, or your spouse instead of you, or a teacher that your respect... how about your counselor ( the one who helps you), or can you imagine perhaps mother theresa or the dali lama sitting at a slot machine? Can you imagine anyone who you respect and love/honor being a compulsive gambler who is in need of dire help? Of coarse you can. Because that someone is probably you ! and YOU deserve your own love, respect and honor. We deserve self love, hope, a new lease on life. We are okay underneath it all. Good people. And if you strive to be a better human, great. We are not talking perfection. We ARE talking compassion and lots of little one day at a time steps that add up. 🙂 Let's take good care of ourselves no matter what. If you/we need some dusting off after a fall; just do that, get up and dust yourself off and then do something good for yourself as an incentive to stay on the path. okay? tara2
tara2 wrote:
If you'd like to try an exercise I made up last evening as I was falling to sleep , I'll share it here.
Think of someone you upmostly respect and care about deeply. Someone who you admire. Someone who gives you hope. Someone who inspires you. It could be someone you know. It could be someone as close to you as a family member or as distant as a favorite writer. It could be an imaginary person. It could be someone of any age or gender. Just think of that person and all their commendable, great traits. See them clearly , what they are doing, what they are wearing, where they are, who they are interacting with. Do you honor them? why? Do you care about them? why?
Now see them having some problem in their life. Any problem large or small. Start to care about that person that you admire and have compassion. Notice how you feel when they decide to go to an online gambling site or walk into a casino for the first time looking for something. fun, escape, connection? Make up the story. See that person continue to be the person you admire, doing all the things they usually do. Also see that person starting to do what you did when you began gambling. Starting to get out of control. Notice how you feel. Oh no! not that person. That person is too good to be involved with this. Do you want to help them? Why? Do you believe that this person is capable to recovering from compulsive gambling? Do you know deep inside with the right help they can resume their lives and get back to living and being their best selves again? Of coarse they can! A person like that does not deserve to suffer so much. A person like that has much to offer the world just by being themselves.
Now see that this person is older and has been involved in what you have been involved with/ type of gambling for a number of years. See that their live has changed. They look different. Some of their friends have left. Make up the story of how gambling has taken the qualities of what you admired and clouded them profusely. How do you feel about and for this person.
Now see that this person is you! This great person that you feel so much compassion for and want to help is YOU. And you can have the same compassion for yourself. YOu can have the same admiration for the person you know that you are , still are. You can / we can get outselves up and out of this hole that we have dug. tara2
Very impressed. Thank you xx
I am moved by revisiting this post thaat I made a while back. Sometimes I have this wisdom which I forget along the way. I have come to some very sober and inspiring places over the last many years only to be taken down again by cg and get back up. I see this exercise that I posted as remarkably effective on a deep psycho emotional level. I'm taking my own suggestion and doing this exercise today. tara2
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