Relaxing into our discomfort

In this article: What do we do when circumstances turn toxic or the environment hostile?

Our first priority when facing any complex, overwhelming or threatening context, is to clam down. The more psychologically contracted or flooded with emotions we are, the less clear, more fundamental and less rational our thinking and behaviour becomes.

Many of us use those feelings of discomfort and the heightened emotional states to drive participation, but the quality of that participation is then compromised, even to the point of being self-destructive.

But calmness alone is not enough to solve the problem or create a solution representative of a more noble purpose. What we need is purpose, intelligence, more proven research and less myth, new skills and the least amount of toxic psychological baggage possible -- Specific strategies and tactics with the ability to execute.

The thing with strategies and tactics though, is that they are not independent of the psychological and personality processes and logic that developed them.

Before anything... lies our developed capacity to deeply relax into and not contract away from, the source of our discomfort and anxiety. It is the heart of personal mastery.