EFT For Procrastination
The following is a chapter from EFT For Procrastination, by Gloria Arenson
The Waiting Game
We all seem busier than ever these days, living life in a fast lane. We have turned into a nation of multi-taskers. We have also turned into a procrastination nation since, for many of us, there isn’t enough time to catch up. A little procrastination won’t ruin your life, but sometimes it becomes a problem and keeps you from having the life you were meant to have. This book will show you an easy way to come to terms with the stresses of procrastination and overcome this common problem.
Putting things off or not finishing are behaviors that many of us adopt to avoid uncomfortable feelings of pain, guilt, shame, anxiety or fear. Procrastinators come in all sizes and shapes, young and old, all colors, denominations, from all walks of life and many cultures. Procrastinators are not stupid, weak, or bad.
Procrastination is not a disease although procrastinators rarely seem to be able to recover from it. If you Google the word procrastination, you will discover that we tend to view procrastination as a horrendous condition, impossible to conquer. It is so daunting that, according to experts on many different websites, we should seek to: avoid it, trick it, manage it, get around it, learn to live with it, structure it, control it, reduce it or push past it. As a psychotherapist with over twenty-five years experience, I know that it is possible to put an end to this behavior.
It’s a Compulsion
Telling a procrastinator to buy a Blackberry or Day Planner to keep track of her life is like telling someone with depression to just think happy thoughts. It is more than a bad habit. It’s not about using Willpower. Procrastination is a compulsion. One of my specialties is treating people who suffer from compulsive behaviors, especially compulsive overeating, binge purging, spending, debting, smoking, and Internet addiction to chat rooms and porn sites.
My definition of compulsion is: If you cannot control when you start or when you stop a substance or behavior, you have a compulsion. Technically, we might say that compulsion is self-induced changes in neurotransmission that result in problem behaviors. That means that our behavior affects our brain, which then affects our behavior. Then it turns into what looks
like a bad habit.
I view procrastination as a compulsion because it is a behavior that people cannot control. It is a compulsion to not do. Putting things off is also a solution to other problems. Once I understood that dynamic, I decided to apply the same approach with procrastinators that I use with other compulsive clients. The unstoppable urge to overeat compulsively, spend compulsively, or engage in other activities without being able to control it is usually triggered by a kind of stress that results from feeling powerless and angry because of a situation or relationship that you can’t change. I call this Super Stress.
All compulsive people, including procrastinators, are looking for a way out of the discomfort of Super Stress. Addicts use pleasure to medicate their pain while procrastinators use avoidance. Avoidance takes many forms. As a procrastinator, you may also turn to overeating, spending, drinking, etc as a distraction that keeps you away from the project that you should be working on. It is also easy to get lost in a book, hobby, TV show, the internet, DVDs, CDs, podcasts or phone calls rather than buckle down to the job you are putting off. Some of my clients have even escaped into sleep.
$14.95 Trade Paperback
Receive News & Articles
Gloria Arenson is a Southern California based psychotherapist with a private therapy practice in Santa Barbara. She helps people to recover successfully from eating disorders, compulsive spending, anxiety, fears, phobias, PTSD, panic disorder and other problems. Gloria is a licensed hypnotherapist and is trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Psychosynthesis, and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). She specializes in cutting edge energy therapies such as Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), an acupressure based therapy method, Thought Field Therapy (TFT), and Tapas Acupressure Technique (TAT).
Sitemap | Privacy | Legal | Web Design By EMS 
| Data Feed Management By Vertical Rail | © 2010 Gloria Arenson