Being active in choosing your attitudes requires some rewiring of your thought processes. And as you begin to experience the world differently, you’ll likely feel awkward initially. It takes daily practice, but it will get easier over time.
Facing up with self-compassion, truthfulness, and courage is especially helpful because it promotes a deepening sense of self-acceptance. You’ll learn to celebrate your strengths and accept your faults and failings as you practise them. You may even find ways to respect the things you actively dislike.
And remember, this is all new, and there is no single path to success, so don’t be hard on yourself if you feel you could have handled something differently. Remember, practice makes progress.
So, pause before you respond if you find yourself in a triggering situation. Find a bit of breathing space between the triggerTriggers are situations and circumstances that lead to triggering thoughts around drinking. More and the action; say to yourself, “If I am being [brave]/[true]/[kind], I’d…”; often, a reset is enough to give you the strength to surf the urgeUrges are that overwhelming feeling of needing or wanting a drink. They can happen after a craving or a trigger. More.
And if things don’t go according to plan, there‘s always the next time. “I’ve been thinking about what happened, and I wondered if…” is a simple acknowledgement of adopting a different attitude in future.
Over the coming days, begin to pay attention to your current attitudes. Practice Facing up to them with self-compassion, truthfulness and courage. And see if the new attitudes make a difference for you
Check-in
At the end of each Preparation and Action Pep, we invite you to record a specific moment that was meaningful for you in the last 24 hours.
If you haven’t done that today, why not consider doing it now? Otherwise, hit Complete Pep.