Emotions Miniseries #13

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The Natural Enemy to Procrastination
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I have a question for you…

Have you been using your emotions?

Or have you been controlled by them?

Most people I talk to feel like emotions are a wild roller coaster ride in life. Or feelings that are to be wallowed in and felt differently.

What if it was different? What if instead of being pushed around and controlled by them, you could harness them and use them to your benefit?

What if your emotions were an elemental force, like electricity…?

If we don’t understand it, it’s dangerous, destructive, and deadly. But used properly, it makes our lives much better.

That’s exactly what emotions are and why we’ve spent so much time on them.

In the last couple of editions of the Emotions Miniseries, I’ve emphasized that emotions are not only the indicators of our alignment, but are necessary for each stage of Creation – they are the fuel that powers each Law.

Whatever desires we have, the bottom line is we have the desire because we believe in some way that the fulfillment will make us happier. Emotions drive our desires and not only fuel our Intention, but create it.

Emotions are the fuel for our Attraction, powering our broadcasts, and both Attracting and Repelling the right people, events, information, circumstances, and situations into/from our lives.

But what about Motion? How do emotions fit into that?

Emotions provide the energy and motivation to do what is needed in order to get what we want.

Which leads us to the Proper Use of Emotion.

One question I get often from members of the Practical LOA family is how to overcome procrastination.

Procrastination is an act or habit of delaying tasks. They can be delayed in favor of less urgent tasks. They can be delayed in favor of more pleasurable tasks. They can even be delayed in favor of doing absolutely nothing or a leisure activity.

Procrastination hits all of us at some point; it’s one of those roadblocks that pops up anytime we try to change.

What determines the speed at which we Create our Intention is how quickly we overcome procrastination when we encounter it.

Most people try to stave off procrastination with logic: I need to do it. The deadline is almost here. This is really important…

Some of us graduate to logical consequence: people will be mad, I might get fired, I’ll get bad grades…

That’s closer, but without experiencing the actual emotions behind those consequences, it won’t work.

Recall that emotions provide the energy and motivation to do what is needed in order to get what we want.

So when it comes to Motion, the proper use of emotion is motivation.

Emotion is the drive – the urgency – behind each action we take. So the next time you encounter procrastination, demolish it with emotion.

One of the best tools we have for this is imagination and visualization.

The most motivating emotions are fear of pain and anticipation of pleasure. Most of the population is more motivated by fear of pain, but we are all motivated by both of them to some degree.

So here’s the exercise:
1) Ask yourself, “If I don’t get this done, what pain will I suffer?

Now this is where most people stop when they try to overcome procrastination. Stopping right here will almost guarantee that procrastination will win.

2) Close your eyes and imagine suffering that pain. Visualize. Get a clear picture of your boss yelling at you, of being embarrassed in front of clients, of looking incompetent. FEEL the feelings of shame, disappointment in yourself, embarrassment, etc.

This may be enough for you to get started, but DON’T get started yet.

3) Ask yourself, “What pleasure will I feel if I get this done right now?”

4) Close your eyes and imagine enjoying that pleasure. Visualize. Get a clear picture of you praising yourself, others being impressed with your work, seeing your Intention get one step closer. Feel the feelings of pride, accomplishment, happiness, etc.

5) Now charged with both the fear of pain and anticipation of pleasure, set of and complete your task.

There are a couple of reasons not to stop at step 2, even if you already have enough emotion. First, we never want to end on a negative note.

Second, we want to train ourselves to be motivated by anticipation of pleasure more so than fear of pain. If your Creation was built on a foundation of fear, it will be difficult to truly enjoy it when you have it; there will always be an underlying fear that you will lose it.

That’s it for today. Now you know how to harness your emotions and use them constructively.

Now, go get that thing you’ve been procrastinating on done!

Kane