Page 31 - ALIVE CODE

DARE TO BE A.L.I.V.E. - DON’T BE A D.A.S.H.

Illogical LFT Belief: i t’s awful that I have to get to work so early every day!

Dispute : “In what way is it awful?

Answer : “In no way. It’s annoying and inconvenient. But it’s hardly 100% or 10!
% inconvenient. And it will be more inconvenient if I keep coming late and
get red…

When you feel these things, your body is talking to you. Listen to your body.
The physical tension related to frustration can lead to serious health

problems, such as high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, and muscle
strain.

It is important for you to be aware of your tension level and know what
activities help you to reduce your tension. Exercise, sports, walking, aerobics,
hiking, progressive relaxation, meditation, or a hobby like music or art can
help reduce the muscle tension associated with frustration.

While these are temporary distractions because they treat the symptoms
and not the cause or source of your LIT, they are healthy diversions. Healthy
diversions are more advantageous than unhealthy diversions, such as
excessive drinking or eating or use of drugs, smoking, too much sleeping,
and similar distractions.

The second and most important way you can increase your frustration
tolerance is to change your self-talk and beliefs. For example, tell yourself, “If I
want to reach my goal, doing this hard and annoying thing is part of the
price I am willing to pay.” You will bene t from focusing on the good results
you will get from really dif cult, jumbo size jobs.

Or you can break them into several smaller jobs. Or you can build some
immediate grati cation into doing them. Nothing is worth getting overly
uptight and upset about— because these feelings don’t help you reduce
your frustration or live with it. The world is not making you uptight. You are
doing it largely to yourself.

ALIVE CODE
Page 30