Conversion

Transform Yourself So You Can Transform The World

Grow from having isolated identities of “me” (a person without a care for a neighborhood, for example); to collective identities of “we” (people caring for a particular neighborhood, for example) to “it” in its singular, individual aspect (your own behavior, for example); and to “its” or “us all” in its plural, communal aspect (people caring for everyone and every neighborhood or the enveloping environment).

Here are two ways to cope with life’s challenges: 1) you can solve problems by breaking them done into steps, developing a plan of action, putting aside distractions, and obtaining trusted advice; and 2) you can overcome negative emotions by expressing how the negative situation caused you pain, by mentally compartmentalizing that which causes negative emotions from the rest of your life, by finding the meaning of events, by noting how much you have grown from the negative event, and by noting how much, if any, your relationships have grown as a result of the trauma.

Follow the ABCDE’s of pessimistic thought disputation:

Adversity (write down something about the nature of your adversity);

Beliefs (identify what negative beliefs are triggered by the adverse event);

Consequences (write down the consequences of your adversity and beliefs on your feelings and actions);

Dispute (challenge the negative belief, looking for other reasons for the adversity); and

Energy (energetically boost your hopefulness by replacing anxiety-producing pessimistic thoughts with the identification of optimistic reasons for the adversity).

EartHearts cultivate body, mind, and spirit (a person’s range of depth) in Self, culture, and Nature (a person’s individual and collective breadth). Along with working on themselves, eartHearts work with others (across the width of the community) to take their Self, culture, and Nature to increasingly higher, wider, and deeper modes of being. In this way, eartHearts help others develop the wherewithal and perspective to improve themselves so they can then, in turn, improve their neighborhood (or bioregion, or planet).

One initial way to transform yourself is to increase your coping skills. Everyone eventually faces severe trauma. But these huge life event are not the only time to apply coping skills. Expected and normal daily challenges also produce low ebbs in your enthusiasm. Here are two ways to cope: 1) you can solve problems by breaking them down into steps, developing a plan of action, putting aside distractions, and obtaining trusted advice; and 2) you can overcome negative emotions by expressing how the negative situation caused you pain, by mentally compartmentalizing that which causes negative emotions from the rest of your life, by finding the meaning of events, by noting how much you have grown from the negative event, and by noting how much, if any, your relationships have grown as a result of the trauma.

One can also cope with stress, trauma, and hardship by disputing or challenging one’s own pessimistic thoughts. A good technique for how to do so is included in the following activity, adapted from one of author Sonja Lyubomirsky’s coping strategies (p. 167).

To Quell The Downers…

HumaNatureConnect Activity

Coping By Dispelling Pessimistic Thoughts

For this activity, follow the ABCDE’s of pessimistic thought disputation: “A” is for Adversity. Write down something about the nature of your adversity. “B” is for Beliefs. Identify what negative beliefs are triggered by the adverse event. “C” is for Consequences.