The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:
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Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.
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Updates to let us know how you are doing. This provides valuable feedback on past advice / encouragement and will hopefully make people feel a little more motivated to follow through. If you want to be reminded to post your update, see the post titled 'update reminders', below.
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Advice. This can be in response to a request for advice or just something that you think could be generally useful for many people here.
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Encouragement. Probably best directed at specific users, but if you feel like just encouraging people in general I don't think anyone is going to object. I don't think I really need to say this, but just to be clear; encouragement should have a generally positive tone and not shame people (if people feel that shame might be an effective tool for motivating people, please discuss this so we can form a group consensus on how to use it rather than just trying it).
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
I want to slightly push back on the anti-Scientology thread below by sharing a basic method of thinking which I derived while reading Hubbard's books, specifically The Way to Happiness. It isn't strictly Scientology as far as I know, just something that I thought of.
In Scientology, there's an idea of exteriorization. The simplest description that I know is "Be 3 feet back of your head." Basically, people are too close to their own problems. If one could see one's body from the outside, one would be able to see himself more clearly and then handle his problems. To quote Hubbard in that book: "It sometimes does not occur to some individuals- as they do not have to spend their days looking at themselves- that they form part of the scenery and appearance of others."
The technique is simple enough that it has probably been talked about or used in other settings, but I've found that it works and I have Hubbard to thank for it.
The Technique
Imagine another person. Give that person some single trait, like a hair colour, to make imagining him or her easier. Put that person in a similar situation to the one you want to think about. Then ask yourself what you think that person should do, or how he should think about it.
I've found that it has a high workability in all kinds of situations involving action, including when I can't stop myself from doing something. It works for planning for the future, or for things like thinking through what you want to say to someone else, or are wondering what you should have done in a past incident, etc.
For example, if you can't stop eating potato chips, give yourself this prompt: There is another person. He has red hair. He has been eating potato chips for the past few hours and can't stop. How should he think about this, or what should he do?
Usually, I think through the issue with clarity, and the behaviour stops, at least for now.
(I am not a Scientologist, or at least have never been audited and probably never will be.)
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