Have you ever really taken a close look at how you spend your time? If you have not, then this activity can be rather enlightening. It can be sobering to realize how much of our time is wasted doing things that add little value to our lives.
For this activity you will need a weekly planner. It does not need to be fancy, so if you do not already own one, you can use the template on page 57 of this book to create one of your own.
Task: Try to keep track of how you spend every minute of your day and night for one entire week. In addition to recording the time you spend at school or work, try to record the time you spend in the shower, the time you spend shopping for and preparing meals, the time you spend watching television, and the time you spend, on the phone or in person, with family and friends.
Assessment: Count up the number of hours in your week that you were not busy. Do you have three hours of free time for every academic unit you plan to take?
If you do not have enough hours to study for your course(s) without compromising the things you need to do to stay healthy, try this. Divide the activities on your weekly planner into three categories: those you could easily eliminate from your life, those you could possibly eliminate or reduce but it would be a struggle, and those you need to do in order to survive.
Challenge: As you contemplate eliminating activities from your life, write down any feelings that arise. If you are experiencing any elevation of fear or anxiety, this could be an indicator that you have belief systems in place that govern how you are using your time. Before you are able to find adequate time in your schedule to insure your academic success, you will need to clear any beliefs that limit the time you feel comfortable devoting to your academic success.
As you explore your feelings, try to be aware of any effort you are making to block or suppress them. Many people have learned that it is not appropriate to feel anything other than happiness. As a result, they devote a tremendous amount of energy to suppressing any other feelings that might arise.
The problem with suppressing feelings is that doing so depletes energy. Energy that is constantly being used to block feelings is not available for other purposes, including learning and creating.
If you are aware of being uncomfortable with your feelings as they arise, if you recognize yourself as someone who works hard to suppress your true feelings, remember this: feelings always change. No feeling lasts forever.
There are many exercises you can do to learn to be comfortable with your feelings. For instance, you can try to view each of your feelings as a gentle wave. Imagine you are in a very secure boat riding on the crest of each wave of feeling. Can you see the shore from the crest of the wave? You will get there, and when you do, the momentary discomfort of the current feeling will subside.
If the thought of riding the waves of your feelings makes you anxious or nervous, know that EFT can help. As you will read in the next chapter, you can use EFT to rapidly reduce the intensity of your feelings as they arise.