PROCESSES
SITEMAP
CLUSTERS
ARCHIVED
DISCUSSIONS
LINKSPAGE
LEARN-INS
GUESTBOOK
Low Frustration Tolerance
View the Low Frustration Tolerance Mini Learn-In
Steve MensingThe king of all the blocks has got to be Low Frustration Tolerance. Only dissociation and not having your unconscious behind your growth goals rivals it.
I want to state that Low Frustration Tolerance beliefs are basically unsupportable by evidence. Human beings can stand anything if they just stay there. Low Frustration Tolerance is a hypnotic trance that many believe, but seldom test.
Let's take a closer look at Low Frustration Tolerance.
Low Frustration Tolerance is our not tolerating discomfort, difficulties, frustration, and painful emotion. Here our thoughts hypnotically focus on the idea that our situation is too difficult, too much, or unbearable. Cues may include: Agitation, tension, poor attention, and leaving situations we really could stand.
Low Frustration Tolerance, called impatience or discomfort anxiety, is created by distorted views of a situation and our ability to put up with it. Here are some typical Low Frustration Tolerance beliefs:
*I need comfort all the time.
*I can't stand it.
*I can't bear it.
*I can't live without it.
*I can't tolerate it.
*It's too much.
*It's too heavy.
*It's overwhelming.
*Will this ever end?
*My life should be easy and comfortable.
*This is driving me out of my mind.
Staying with the feelings generated by these superficial beliefs will allow the person who's running them to see that it's their belief about the situation that is creating most of their profound discomfort and not the actual situation. LFT, if believed, tends to really intensify aversive feelings. It's a negative magnifying lens on a situation. It's like boredom in that it is a belief we add to the situation and make the situation uncomfortable.
Where do we see a lot of LFT? Panic. Addictions. Compulsions. Worry. Rage and anger. Severe trauma reactions. Really strong LFT hints that trauma may be involved.
Acceptance, patience, and tolerance are arrived at through direct feeling, taking action in the face of LFT, and clearing LFT directly.
LFT can be wilted and mashed by learning to stand there and do what we better do. A "Call to Action" would be useful here. If we have severe anxiety it is always best to feel those feelings and do what better be done. This greatly deflates LFT. Nothing beats direct doing because it shows us very clearly that we can stand an activity, frustration, or extremely painful emotion. We can stand a great deal. In truth we can stand something until we die. When we believe we can't stand something we make that moment extremely uncomfortable. Through experimenting we will discover we possess the ability to stay in there, to keep with it. Without patience and tolerance we will face massive roadblocks to our aspirations and to life. With LFT we bail out at the first signs of discomfort and struggle.
LFT exaggerates feelings as well as leads to lethargy; a lack of discipline; helplessness; hopelessness; a focus on short-term discomfort rather than on long-term goals and rewards; and the building up of complaining and self-pity. Further LFT blocks our awareness of our ability to complete tasks and leads to awfulizing about our inability to control our emotions. LFT can also lead to us hating uncertainty and focusing on other's negative behavior.
LFT must be ruthlessly hunted down and murdered by direct action! Kill. Kill again! Leave no LFT standing--ever. It is the enemy of the people! Okay, okay you'll probably have an easier go of it if you accept it and feel it, yet take direct action in the face of LFT. I count LFT as one of the first targets to go after if you find it gumming up your life. It slows growth so it better be addressed.
Here's a tech for the old tech page:
THE LOW FRUSTRATION TOLERANCE DESTROYER
Find a worthwhile situation you deem "too much" or "you can't stand". Fully feel those Low Frustration Tolerance feelings with no intention of getting rid of them or keeping them. When you have fully experienced them, you are to label them: "Energy" and thank them for assisting in any way that they did. Now simply carry that activity through to its conclusion. You will note how you survived and stood it. If you happened to notice any parts of the activity that you enjoyed, note them by writing them down. Here are the steps to the "LFT Destroyer"
(1) Name the activity you believe "too much" or "couldn't stand":_________________________.
(2) Set a time to do this activity and follow through on it no matter how overwhelmed you initially feel.
(3) Recognize the long-term rewards for "standing it". My long-term rewards for standing this exercise will be:_____________________.
(4) Now begin the exercise by fully feeling your LFT feelings with no intention of getting rid of them or keeping them. Really allow yourself to feel those feelings.
(5) Experience those LFT Feelings as "Energy. Thank them for what good things they might've done for you.
(6) Now regardless of how you're feeling, just get up and do the activity from start to finish.
(7) Notice how the intensity went down when you completed the task. Notice too that you stood it and survived. The more you practice this, the weaker LFT gets. It may blow out on the first run through.
Quick tips on handling LFT:
*LFT feelings can be targets for clearing.
*Active Feeling can be applied to LFT.
*The Accept This, Love That Exercise can be useful for LFT.
*Running a gauntlet on your LFT beliefs can weaken them. Ask your LFT feelings these questions:
*Could you stand it? Have you stood it before?
*Have you coped with a similar situation?
*Could you stand it for 2 million dollars or some other highly valued awards? If you can--you just proved you could stand it.
*If your brain is not malformed--can you really go crazy or just get upset?
*Have you ever lived without it?
*Where's the evidence that it's really too much? Is your evidence based on just your belief?
*Why might LFT beliefs be labeled as anti-empirical statements?
*Can you stand it two minutes at a time?
*George Bernard Shaw noted two tragedies of life: "Not getting your heart's desire and getting your heart's desire."
*View your task as simple steps and not as an overwhelming whole.
*Say you looked back on your completed task from 3 years in the future, what good feelings would you have about completing it? How did you first notice that you accepted it. When did it feel doable? What did you think about the successful task?
*Feelings change--they never remain the same. Stay with doing a task and your feelings change.
*Give your attention to your task. I can't stand it-itis loses its punch as you pay fuller attention to your task.
*Meaning and purpose can be found in even small tasks.
"Let us run with patience the race that is set before us." (Heb 12:1)
"Be of good courage and do it" (Ezra 10:4) (Nike 7:11)
"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." (Heb. 12:11)
Do it, Steve