When he's traveling, it's always toughest on Ivan when he gets back to the hotel after a long day. His Rebel subpersonality says, "You're free! All of the usual responsibilities and obligations that tie you down--your wife and family, responsibilities at work--you can forget about those here! You're your own man now! Nothing's holding you back!
Planning for Success
Right before he went on his latest business trip, Ivan read this post on how to harness our imagination in loving ways as an antidote to porn. Instead of simply vowing to do better, Ivan leveraged his imagination to plan ahead.
He got online to see if he could find something wholesome he could enjoy in the area. Sure enough, he found a beachside pier within a half hour of the finance convention he was there to attend. Instead of waiting for hunter-gatherer to lock onto porn, he had busied it anticipating an agenda for the day that included some enjoyment. "It helped that I'd researched it before. It gave me something to look forward to."
Fantastic Follow Through
He took it even further later. Looking through the shops along the pier, he thought about each one of his kids, their personalities, and what little gift they might like. In the end he got a star chart for his son in junior high who loves science and a book for his younger daughter who just started reading chapter books.
Then he started thinking about his parents. Although he didn't buy them anything, he ended up texting them later that evening about a family reunion they'd been planning. His dad phoned back and after they talked about the reunion they shared with each other this year's plans for their yards and gardens.
Imagination: the Door to a Better Reality
The role Ivan's imagination played in his success on this trip reminded me of this quote from Oscar Wilde:
"Love is fed by the imagination, by which we become wiser than we know, better than we feel, nobler than we are: by which we can see Life as a whole: by which, and by which alone, we can understand others in their real as in their ideal relations."
How have you used your imagination in your recovery? Leave a comment below and tell us the story of how it helped.
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