Take a few moments to think about which of the four moods are particularly troublesome for you. We list them briefly below. Note the one(s) most relevant to your thoughts and impulses.
Does one stand out as a major issue for you? If so, focus on that one alone for this week. If not, you can work on more than one, or even on all four. Note down the one(s) you want to work with.
This week you’ll attempt to catch impressions and impulses involving these particular issues, then counter them with a phrase you will plan to say to yourself that resonates with you. You can use implementation intentions to help plan this out. For example, Maitê, whom we met at the start of this chapter, has people-pleasing tendencies. This indicates that her biggest problem is likely insincere thoughts and actions. So Maitê could use the following implementation intention to help her remember to counter these impressions and impulses over the course of the week: “Whenever I feel the urge to please someone, I’ll pause and say to myself: This is a people-pleasing impulse. I won’t act on it.”
Come up with your own implementation intentions for the moods you’ve chosen to counter this week.
You may find it useful to keep a tally for this exercise using an app, notepad, or scrap of paper. Each time you catch the mood and counter it, tally it. This will help you keep track of how aware you are of your thoughts and impulses, as well as how successful you’ve been at tackling them.
It’s fair to conclude that the four moods Marcus mentions were difficult for him to manage, as he focuses on them in his own journal. Though they were specific to his personal challenges, they are common to many people, and so are a good starting point for narrowing the focus of your own practice of the Discipline of Assent to specific pernicious thoughts and impulses, as you attempt to counter them. As you gain experience in catching and examining your own impressions, you may find other moods that are relevant to you that Marcus didn’t mention. Consider these four as an excellent place to start.
Did you find it easier to catch thoughts and impulses when focusing more narrowly on specific moods this week? Did you happen to catch any themes in your own thoughts and actions not covered by Marcus that you would like to work on in the future? If you used a tally, was it helpful? Take a few moments to write your thoughts about this practice.
The past few weeks have focused on thoughts that pop up automatically in the mind. Next week we’ll shift the focus a bit; instead of reacting to thoughts, you’ll proactively generate and rehearse some in the hope that they’ll become more automatic with practice.