Let’s take a deep breath and review the five steps of the Tuduka Method.
Step one is where you set your intentions and uncover your ultimate motivation. Following that, step two has you pre-select self-control techniques found on this blog and add them to your to-do list.
These steps are to be done at a quiet and stress-free time when your mind is fresh. Ideal times would be at the start of your day or immediately after a meal when serotonin levels are high. Post-meditation may also be a good time.
Plan your route
To understand where you are at this point in the Tuduka Method, consider how it relates to driving. Steps one and two can be compared to driving with little or no traffic, when you have plenty of space and time to think about your destination and how to react to situations. This stage represents a state of mind characterized by ease, freedom, and the ability to make decisions and change course with little effort.
Thus, you have uncovered your ultimate motivation that will strengthen your intention to be aware of your cravings (step one) and created your Tuduka to-do list (step two) in a relaxed environment, uninhibited by external pressures.
Now, we move on to step three, the topic of this blog post.
Avoid the stress
In step three, you are confronted with temptation or another form of dukkha. It may be a craving for sugar, pornography, or a cigarette — something that leads you to react impulsively despite causing substantial harm to you and maybe others as well.
To return to our driving analogy, this would be when the traffic builds, and you start to feel constrained by the other vehicles. Now you have something to deal with, and the pressure rises. You may try slowing down, changing lanes, or making other adjustments to accommodate the traffic. But in effect, you are acting to accommodate your external stressor. Consequently, you may begin to feel agitated or even angry due to the limitations imposed by the traffic around you.
However, at this stage, you as the driver can still return to stress-free driving by taking another route, be it an empty backroad or sidestreet. You still have the power to remove yourself from this tricky situation. Similarly, when you reach this stage of temptation, you can get away from what tempts you so that you do not have to rely on willpower to overcome it. If such an option is available, take it.
In other words, do not use the self-control techniques you pre-selected in step two unless to have to.
Point of no return
The final stage of “dukkha driving” is the point of no return, where the traffic has become so heavy that it is impossible to change course safely. You have committed to a particular path and have to see it through. However, without adequate preparation and a comprehensive counter-strategy that anticipates problems (what you did in step two), you will crash. In this stage, you risk akrasia, which is a failure to act following one’s better judgment, i.e., being driven by impulse or desire rather than rational thought.
But that doesn’t have to happen.
When you are armed with a counter-strategy (your Tuduka to-do list pre-filled with self-control skills), you’ll be ready to navigate any stressors that arise, prevent self-destructive behavioural patterns, and create new neural pathways and skillful responses.
For directions on how to use your Tuduka to-do list in the midst of temptation, move on to step four.
