5 Steps To Turn Frustration into Fascination
Part of my job is traveling to many places in Asia Pacific to meet clients and my business partners.
I remembered the time I was in the taxi on the way to the airport and my plane was leaving in 45 minutes.
The traffic is not moving an inch, it was very hot day in the summer and taxi has no air-conditioning.
And I feel… Frustration ==> FASCINATION
Your hot button is being pressed…Do want to turn that into fascinating?
There are the 5 steps I follow to be fascination all the time.
1) Watch the play: Go Meta, disassociate. See yourself in the experience from 3rd person perspective.
“So, I see myself in the taxi, sweating, traffic jam and 45 minute to plane taking off”
2) Confirm feeling: This step is very easy to do, but what I need you to notice is whether are there any mix feeling beside frustration that you can leverage on. (E.g. frustration with ambition)
“I can feel the frustration is begin to build up inside me, with curiosity about flight timing in that location”
3) Get more info: About situation, people, place, who else is involved, when, how and positive intention behind, etc.
“So, I enquire from taxi driver about traffic report, airline system, telephone number, alternative flight, and alternative transportation mode. I also think of what type of work I can do at the airport to make myself more productive during waiting time, if I were really miss the flight, or who should I call to delay my appointment”
4) What’s my outcome: not the result you want, but determine the feeling you want to feel.
“Of course I really want to feel fascination or at least feel good about what’s going to happen”
5) Find common ground or solution.
“So, I come out with solution for all scenarios it might turn out.”
BUT I can tell you it doesn’t work every time.
This would tackle around 85-90% of your day-to-day frustration.
How about the rest of 10-15%? That’s the great challenge. The other 10-15% can due using separate 3 steps. In fact, these 3 steps can resolve 100% of day-to-day frustration. It involves Sati, and that requires practice. That’s would be my next following post.
I really enjoyed this post. It’s easy to forget how powerful our physical reactions are! I like your approach here. Especially reminding the reader that we are not always ready for change — though we think we are! I agree that the real failure is letting fear stop us. Thanks for posting this!
Hi Julie,
Thank you for your kind words. I am glad it was helpful! “Coping with Stress” is a part of a series of articles on Stress that I have written, hopefully Life Coaches Blog will be posting the rest. So keep in touch!
Kindest regards,
Karen
This is a great article. I especially like the list of symptoms… some of which a lot of people may not recognize as a sign of stress.
It’s also important to continue with your stress managment activities even when there are no signs or symptoms of stress. Doing this will help you become stressed less often and ward off stress before it even begins.
Hi Jill,
Absolutely, it should be a way of life! Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts.
Kindest regards,
Karen
Hi,
Great site!!!!! Good health is very important with the high cost of medical coverage. We need to have a healther lifestyle by taking care of our health eating and exercising. I am a cancer survivor and I know. Our health is our greatest asset. Keep up the Good Work!!!!!
The physical body does not differentiate between happy stress and overwhelm. Stress is stress. We need to develop coping mechanisms in our daily life to avoid the harmful, physiological effects of stress.