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Achieve, Heal and Discover Issue #15

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A biweekly newsletter for dreamers, builders and creators to achieve (get things done), heal (fix what’s broken) and discover (learn something new).​

If there is anything commonly shared in the human experience it is that, we will experience hardships. But in our comfort-first society we work to minimize our problems in the pursuit of stressless happy lives but end up feeling quite disappointed because stress is always there.

But I argue that our suffering isn’t something to avoid, rather suffering is a vehicle designed to create pain’s counterpart which is hope.

The process of turning suffering to hope is not linear. It is progressive. I like to think of it in terms of where we give our attention at any given moment.

4 Levels of Attention:

1. Suffering (Pain Management)
2. Perseverance (Focused Determination)
3. Character (Building Your World)
4. Hope (Rehearsing Your Why)

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I will only cover Suffering and Perseverance this week. Next issue, I’ll offer resources to develop Character and Hope OR you can skip ahead and read it all here: https://www.edvardoarcher.com/post/a-guide-to-transition-from-suffering-to-hope​
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Achieve (Get things Done)

Level 1: Suffering (Pain Management):

To address pain at this level you have to accept that: pain is relative. The reason this sucks is because chances are you remember a time in your recent or historical past where the pain you are experiencing did not exist. You cannot avoid comparing your current state of pain to a past state where the agitation did not exist.

For example, working with that difficult boss or co-worker sucks because you can remember a time where that person was not a part of your life.

So if the pain is relative to a lived experience you can address your pain by deciding how you will interpret your current experience.

Let’s use the acronym D.E.A.R. (Deafen, Endure, Act, Reframe) as our first tools for managing pain.

• Deafen- lower the amount of attention you pay to the pain
• Endure- decide to push forward despite the pain
• Act- Make a decision to address and change the source of pain
• Reframe- optimistically consider the different ways that pain benefits you or your environment

Heal (Fix What’s Broken)

Level 2: Perseverance (Focused Determination)

Perseverance is required when pain messes with your identity and routine. This is when pain nears and/or dives into a traumatic disabling impact on your life.

Examples include dealing with a toxic relationship, loss of life sustaining resources, health challenges, threat of life or wellbeing.

It now becomes imperative that you move towards ownership of your experience. In addition to the D.E.A.R. Tools listed above add two additional methods to work through this level of pain; Rest and Planning.

Rest

The essence of perseverance is long distance pacing of oneself. It requires the ability to know how to rest while working. I wrote extensively about rest in a previous newsletter you can find here. But here is the main formula to the practice of learning.

1. Review completed and uncompleted items
2. Write all new thoughts in your task list
3. Say, "I have done all I can, that is enough for now."

Planning

When fighting an enemy that seeks to subdue you, you have to know what it means to thrive and persist. To effectively persevere you must know what you are persevering towards.

Here is a guide to planning:

1. Imagine a Future You that is full of Peace, Confidence, Authenticity, and Maturity- How are they different?
2. If Future You is a 10 and the opposite is a 1, Where are you now?
3. What is the very first step to get you to the next number?

Discover (Learn Something New)

Laxative > Anesthetic

Anesthesia numbs pain.

Laxatives keep crap moving forward.

You should not focus your attention on removing your pain. You should instead work to keep it moving forward towards full healing.

The prize here is learning to gain traction from pain and avoiding stagnation. A part of this includes giving ourselves permission to not need to win, but to find contentment in the journey and overall movement of becoming.

In doing this, we are giving ourselves the ownership of the pain. We get to decide what to do with pain as opposed to the pain forcing us to run away.

In two weeks, I’ll send you some steps to move the pain from suffering to hope.

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I’m grateful for you!

Keep growing!

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Edvardo Archer

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P.S

Whenever you are ready, I created a course for you: Mood First Productivity: A System to Flow With Your Mood Into Productivity. It will help you build a system so your tasks and objectives can serve your mood and mental state. It's FREE for your first 30 days.

Check it out here: https://skl.sh/3QU9aNf​

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