The First Pillar

Tonight around 8-9pm or so on a Sunday (seems to be my most vulnerable day of the week) I decided to look into a program I acquired called "The Linden Method". Some claim this is "95% effective" to battling anxiety (I suppose depression as well) so I thought it wouldn't hurt to try.

I actually got this program a while back but haven't paid much attention to it. Every time I "feel better" I just forget about it and move on with my days but after tonight I felt I needed to train my subconscious to listen to me a little more, God willing.

After an introduction by Charles Linden, I read on and got to the "First Pillar" of the Nine Pillars. To familiarize the reader with how the program starts out, you have nine "pillars" to 'overcome' (<--- the way i see it) and you read 1 pillar each day accompanied by the "Nine Pillars" audio visualization. Sounds like one of those hypnosis things doesn't it? Well before you discard the program I have to say that I was afraid of that myself after listening to the first piece of audio. I mean, "visualization" already gives you the impression something crazy is going on, but is more 'normal' than you think. Then again, the way our mind works is considered far from 'normal.'

Moving on.. The program is starting to pull me in a little more than I thought it would back when I was listening to a listening exercise here and there. The process of "conquering a pillar, one day at a time" is far more appealing to me than "reading a book and getting well".

Here's a summary of the First Pillar:

    
• Thoughts are like trying to "unlearn" how to drive a car. After 3 months it may feel a little odd but you can still hop in the car and drive. If someone tells you to drive a forklift for a year and avoid cars completely it might be a lot weirder to get back in and drive for many. Same with thoughts, you need to actively practice "distracting" yourself from debilitating (bringing you down) types of thoughts.
    
• Actively try to surpress thoughts that make you anxious or depressed. One way quoted as doing this is by 'listening to loud music, singing along, talking to a friend on the phone but NOT MENTIONING ANXIETY'

So I am hoping to try this starting now and throughout tomorrow before reading about the Second Pillar..

Easy does it... *breathe in 4 seconds, breathe out 6 seconds*