Coping Mechanisms

Buddhist Boot Camp Podcast

Timber Hawkeye

Spirituality, Buddhism, Awareness, Calm, Society & Culture, Meditation, Mindful, Buddhist, Philosophy, Awake, Minimalist, Innerpeace, Selfhelp, Spiritual, Education, Aware, Mindfulness, Self-improvement

4.8 • 907 Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2022

⏱️ 5 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Does the way you cope with one challenge cause another problem down the line, sometimes even bigger than the initial difficulty with which your coping mechanism was designed to help? It's important to have multiple tools so we don't try to solve everything with food, for example, which would be like trying to build with only a hammer.

Transcript

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0:17.0	Welcome to the Buddhist Boot Camp Podcast. Our intention is to awaken, enlighten, enrich, and inspire a simple and uncomplicated life. Discover the benefits of mindful living with your host, Timber Hawkeye. I used to eat when I was bored and eat when I was stressed. I ate when I was celebrating and I ate when I was sad.
0:35.1	Eating was the only coping mechanism I had to deal with whatever I was feeling.
0:39.8	It's a habit I picked up in childhood when food was always the answer, but rarely the solution.
0:45.4	For different people, coping mechanisms range from over-indulgence in food or alcohol,
0:51.3	smoking, emotional shopping, compulsive sex or masturbation, hoarding, obsessive
0:56.7	scrolling, overworking, fasting, bent watching, and so on.
1:01.2	Again, we may think of these habits as answers to a problem, but they are not a
1:05.5	solution. In fact, many of our patterns cause bigger challenges for us to overcome down the
1:10.8	road than the difficulties we try to avoid when we reinforce these self-destructive
1:15.5	routines.
1:16.5	Having said that, we cannot be blamed today for previously applying the only coping mechanisms
1:21.9	we had at the time, and it is downright cruel to guilt or
1:25.4	shame anyone for using the only tools they have.
1:28.9	As I often say, we are all mangoes on the same tree, but we do not all ripen at the same time.
1:34.8	In order to grow, we need all the right elements to come together,
1:38.4	including exposure to light in a nurturing environment and sometimes protection against harsh conditions and predators.
1:45.4	The good news is that we can learn to only eat when we are hungry, go on a hike when we are bored,
1:50.6	meditate when we are stressed, be of service when we feel blessed, and ask certain people for help
1:55.8	when we get overwhelmed.
1:57.4	I used to try to fix every problem with the only tool I had, but now I have an ever growing inventory of coping mechanisms that don't make bad situations worse.
2:07.0	Slowly but surely, I am also learning to discern which of my friends to ask for help when I need it.
2:13.0	Because the people in your circle are not always in your corner.
	...

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