Oct 19 2003
2. Avoid stressful situations. We're like
waiters in a busy restaurant: we can only carry so many plates of stress at a
time. A chronic health condition is a big platter all by itself. So
eliminate stressful people from your life. Do whatever you do in the least stressful
way. Before you say yes to any request, ask how stressful it will be for you
to follow through. 3. Understand that worry is a luxury you can't afford.
A worry is just a very bad way for a problem to come to your attention. But
you've been a problem solver all your life. The key is to do something when a
problem comes into your mind, anything, no matter what, as fast as possible.
You don't have to solve a problem to kill a worry. The part of you that's
prone to worry is just afraid that you're not going to show up for yourself. As
long as act, as long as you do something rather than nothing, the worry part
of you will relax. The more you act, the less likely you are to worry because
your mind trusts you to take care of your life. You don't have to do
something great, you just have to do something. 4. Understand that your life now is
all about your emotional energy. So think about every part of your life,
everything you do. Do an emotional energy audit. What gives you emotional
energy? What drains it? Then add more of the things that give you emotional energy
and stop doing some of the things that drain it. Just by knowing that you
can control your emotional energy in spite of your chronic illness, you'll give
yourself more emotional energy.Mary: You talk about having things to look forward to as being a good way to help generate emotional energy. But this can often be difficult for people facing chronic illness, who feel that there's not much to look forward to. Do you have any suggestions?
Mira: Even the condemned man gets to look forward to his last meal. So everyone can have things in their life to look forward to. They just may not necessarily be the things you wanted to look forward to. Maybe you'll never be able to hike the Appalachian Trail. But you can look forward to getting in the mail a series of videotapes about great hikes through nature throughout America. Having something to look forward to just means making an appointment for pleasure. It's not the size of the pleasure but the definiteness of the appointment that gives you emotional energy. The point is to have thinks you like -- and who doesn't have things they like! -- and then structure your life so that you can do them.
Mary: Weight loss is a topic that is near and dear to many thyroid patients, myself included. Can you tell us a little bit about the link between emotional energy and weight loss?
Mira: Weight loss is a big problem for all of us thyroid patients. I can tell you that personally. Menopause and hypothyroidism have combined to make it extremely difficult for me to lose weight. But I've lost 26 pounds in the last year. I did it by using what I call The Emotional Energy Diet which I include in The Emotional Energy Factor. This is based on the fact that most hunger and cravings come from emotional not physical hunger. We eat because we're lonely, bored, frustrated, angry, jealous, stressed, discouraged, etc. But all the food in the world will never satisfy an emotional hunger. So what you have to do (and I know this isn't easy but if it worked for me, it can work for anyone) is try to be half as good at identifying your emotional hungers as you are at identifying your specific cravings for food. Then use any of the 25 emotional energy boosters to satisfy your emotional hunger. The food part will take care of itself. But there's another aspect to The Emotional Energy Diet. The truth is that there are lots of weight loss plans that work. The plan that will work best for you is the plan that feels right to you, and that means that it's the plan that gives you the most emotional energy, because of what it allows you to eat, and when, and how.
Mary: I personally find that I get quite a bit of emotional energy from laughter. Can you tell us why you've included laughter as one of your key "secrets?"
Mira: Because it works! Here's why I think it works. Melodrama is all about making small problems big. Just watch any soap opera. Comedy is all about making big problems small. So laughter is a problem shrinker. Not only that, it makes you feel bigger in relation to your problem, and this gives you a lot of emotional energy, both the fact that your problems are smaller and that you yourself have made them smaller.
