John's Example
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| About a month ago, I sat down to dinner at the eating disorders recovery home where I reside. On my plate was what appeared to be a gargantuan piece of cheese. I realized that if I didn't eat the cheese (and the rest of my food), I would be discharged from the facility. That’s when I began to work myself up. I began to have racing thoughts: "I can't eat this. I’ll blow up like a huge balloon and die. Cheese is gross and fatty, and I can't put it in my mouth." I had palpitations, air hunger and perspiration. I also began to cry, which is when I began to spot. I spotted that my imagination on fire was average and that I was having temper toward the recovery home. I spotted I could excuse rather than accuse the facility. I also spotted that eating the cheese was trivial compared to my mental health, and I spotted "gargantuan" as temperamental lingo. Before Recovery, I would have left the table and accepted a discharge. I would have eaten nothing, yelled, starved myself later, and raged at the home's staff. I would have turned a simple triviality into a loud, destructive scene. Further Spotting! Helen— John said that before his Recovery training he would have left the table. This time he controlled his muscles to remain at the table and used spotting to look through his temperamental reaction. Betty— It was good that John spotted his temperamental lingo. A simple piece of cheese can be eaten by an average person. If it were gargantuan, it would look exceptional to anyone. Ann— It's important for John to endorse himself. His example shows that he used a lot of effort to control his thoughts and muscles. That kind of effort is hard! What does that mean? temper— The concept of temper is basic to the Recovery method. We talk about temper in terms of the judgment of right and wrong as they apply to everyday trivialities. There are two types of temper: 1) fearful temper, which is the idea that I am wrong (and often appears as self-disgust, self-pity, guilt, shame, etc.); and 2) angry temper, in which someone else is wrong or has done me wrong (and may come in the form of hatred, resentment, loathing, etc.)
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