In his remarkable book, "Man's Search for Meaning," Viktor Frankl advises readers to do a little technique that seems very small, but can have enormously positive impacts on your life.
He suggests that, when you approach a situation that may otherwise "cause" you to act in a habitually counter-productive, unaware or simply harmful way, that you simply tell yourself that this is actually not the first time you're encountering this situation (whatever it is), but the second time -- and this is your chance to not make the same mistake you did the first time.
What this little technique does -- with surprising simplicity and effectiveness -- is bring space into your life -- between you and the situations that you face. By pausing to view a situation "as if you were doing it for the second time, but this time, will not make the same mistake again," you bring awareness into what you're doing. You separate yourself from the mood, compulsion or emotion that is driving you towards an unconscious act. And by that separation -- that space that emerges between the REAL you (the one that acts) and UNREAL you (the one that REacts), you can very often --if not always -- choose the action that is in harmony with your true self: the one that is authentic and essentially joyous and inspired.
Try it and let me know how it works for you!
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