How Being Self-Aware Helps Interrupt The Destructive Porn Cycle
One of the bigger challenges of pornography is being able to disrupt the debilitating porn cycle that leads to “messing up”. If you’ve ever struggled, you know exactly what I’m talking about. You have a genuine desire to move beyond the addiction, but keep finding yourself back in familiar cycles. You wake up in the morning crying out to God, “I’m so sorry! I’ll never do this again!” in a prayer that is heartfelt and real. So, what keeps you stuck then?
1 Corinthians 6:18 says, “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.”
What is it about porn that keeps drawing us back even though it’s destructive not only to others but also yourself?
Surprisingly, it’s less about porn than you think. I’m not saying the sexual ramifications aren’t real, but we can almost always identify the events that lead up to the moment we regret.
A different question may be, “How do I catch myself early enough and keep from making self-destructive decisions?”
SELF-AWARENESS IS KEY.
Learning how to become self-aware is essential for feeling empowered. When you don’t understand the “why”, it is easy to feel hopeless and out of control. On the other hand, you begin to feel more in control of your life when you understand what’s causing the internal reactions.
The problem is this: Most of us didn’t grow up in an environment that taught us how to be self-aware.
[full_size_image id=”15667″]
We didn’t hear questions like:
“What are you feeling right now?”
“Why are you feeling that way?”
“What caused you to react so aggressively?”
“Why do you feel out of control?”
“Learning self-awareness is like working out a muscle. It will feel a bit awkward at first, but the more you practice, the easier it will get.”
1. Identify your needs. We all have needs. The challenge is to find out what yours are and get them met in a healthy way. If we neglect our legitimate needs, we become reactionary.
2. When you feel a strong emotion, stop yourself and ask, “why am I feeling this way?”
3. Allow your heart to feel emotions. This may sound basic, but you’d be surprised how many people choose to stuff their emotions. It’s not hard to find distractions in today’s world. Social media, fast food, games, smoking, or porn… they’re all escapes in one form or another. You have to consciously choose to block out temporary distractions to engage your emotions. Even the “negative” ones are there for a reason, helping to alert you of something else. Don’t be afraid to work through them.
4. Find healthy outlets. When do you feel “alive” or “refreshed”? Is it when you’re outside? Spending time with friends? Painting? Journaling? Date night with your spouse? Begin to notice when you feel engaged and present. That’s an indicator that you’ve found a healthy outlet.
When we begin to identify our needs, our pinpoint triggers, give our emotions room to express themselves and find healthy outlets, we are able to identify what’s causing the tendencies for self-harming decisions.
It’s how we can “Flee from sexual sin….”
The good news is learning self-awareness will not only help you with porn but in every other area of your life!
Like anything else in life, it takes time to create habits. Give yourself grace as you learn how to identify areas of your life you may have been neglecting for a long time.
Are there other things you do to maintain self-awareness? If so, I’d love to hear them in the comments below.
This post originally appeared on Josh’s blog. Used with permission.
Josh Cearbaugh is a life consultant with a unique ability to lead people through transformation. Through a combination of consulting techniques, he helps individuals to identify, and then dismantle, the crippling cycles where the majority of us find ourselves stuck. He has a passion for connecting people to their heart and helping them create practical strategies to change their lives. Most Recently, Josh’s consulting practice has been located in Austin, Texas. He met Danielle, his wife of ten years, in Mozambique while attending Iris Harvest School. They currently have two boys an one beautiful girl.