Module 4: Health

“The body is what we use to experience the world. It is our emotion-driven machine and how we process and create the life of our dreams.”

Buffering and Addiction
Buffering is our relationship with our emotions.
Buffering is when we use external things to change how we feel emotionally.
When we want to avoid feeling and emotion, we will ‘buffer’ with an action.
Most buffers are addictions due to the chemical (emotional) dependency on the action.

Buffers come in all different kinds of actions.
A SHORT list of things people do to buffer:
overeating
overdrinking
overspending
using drugs
watching pornography
watching TV/movies
playing video games
over-sleeping
over-exercise (yes, even exercise)

Buffers always have a ‘net negative’ effect.
They create short-term pleasure for long-term pain.
Ironically, but not surprisingly, when we remove all buffers we experience short-term pain for long-term pleasure.

Living a life without buffers is living an authentic, human being life.
When we use buffers, we are trying to escape from the chemicals of emotions that feel uncomfortable.
It isn’t the life we are meant to live – all emotions are necessary for us to experience the fullness of life.
A healthy relationship with our emotions is both biological (animal) and psychological (human being).
Buffering interrupts The Model and returns unwanted results.

Watch the video below for more information on buffering, why people turn to buffering and how addictions are created, how desire is related to buffering, and what happens when you stop buffering.

https://vimeo.com/331629948/0305164f18

Self-Study Assignment for Module 4, Day 3

In your notebook, continue to do a thought download every day this week using a circumstance of your choice to focus on. After finishing your thought download, do a model on two thoughts from your download (two models).

In your notebook, answer the questions:

What are the ways in which you buffer?
What emotions are you attempting to avoid when you buffer?
What are the thoughts that cause each of these emotions?
To stop buffering, you’ll need to be willing to feel uncomfortable emotions and give up the false pleasure of the buffer.
Are you willing to do this? Why or why not?
What are the negative consequences of buffering in your life?
How will you manage your desires/urges (thoughts) to give in to buffering?

If there is a buffer in your life you want to stop, continue with the Self-Study.

In your notebook, write down the buffer you want to stop.
It can be anything that is creating a net negative for you.
It can be large (20+ year addiction) or small (recent habit you’ve started doing).

You are going to list 100 allowed urges.
Every time you have an urge to buffer, write down the date, time, location, and thought.
Do this in your notebook.
If you have an urge when your notebook isn’t nearby, list the allowed urge somewhere and transfer it to your notebook when you have the chance.
After 100 allowed urges, re-check for desire (thought).

The next time you buffer during your 100 allowed urges, answer the following questions in your notebook:

What did you buffer with (what did you do)?
Why did you buffer with this action? Be VERY specific.
What would have worked better?
What else could you have done?
What did you notice?
What did you learn?
How can you let this go now?
What do you want to think and how do you want to feel about this moving forward?
How will you handle this next time?