In order not to experience painful feelings of hunger and thirst, it is necessary to immerse themselves in a drowsy state, concentrate relaxed attention to the mental picture of those foods and drinks that would like to eat and drink, using, for example, those compounds of formula of auto-suggestion: “to food and water is indifferent … Absolutely indifferent … Food and water are absolutely indifferent … Complete peace of mind … Feeling good … ” The same principle can be used to combat addictions. Suppose you decide to quit smoking. It is known that the process of withdrawing from tobacco, many tolerate quite difficult. To relieve this condition will help such formulas: “The smell of smoke is unpleasant … The taste in the mouth is nasty … Tobacco becomes unnecessary … It is to me completely indifferent … Every day my aversion to smoking is growing … ” Such formulas can be easily compiled to unlearn, for example, nail biting, head twitching, etc. Mental images that arise in connection with mental desensitization formulas give rise to what is needed – at first indifferent , and then the negative – attitude to one or another irritant, phenomenon, object, or desire (for example, the desire to eat or smoke a lot). And after that, the need for satisfying unnecessary, harmful, hampering habits disappears. 

“Divide and conquer!” This motto of the ancient Roman conquerors, oddly enough, is applicable in the practice of modern life. In what sense?

In June 1989, after the final match of the USSR Cup, a match that caused a lot of controversy and criticism of the judges, both the senior coaches of the rival teams, Moscow Torpedo and Dnipropetrovsk Dnipro, ended up in the hospital. Due to nervous strain. A few years before, the former head coach of Dnipro, V.A. Emets , who had already worked with another team, having learned that his players did not get a few points to a very necessary result, died right in the locker room from myocardial infarction. 

What is the reason for such sad and, alas, not so rare events? Its roots lie in the psychophysical organization that nature has endowed people with. She made us so that the vast majority of thoughts and feelings are connected, as they say, tightly. We think about something exciting, unpleasant – and the heart begins to beat more often, breathing unwittingly deepens; There are a number of changes in the body associated with increasing the tone of the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system. The strength of this connection between the world of thoughts and the world of feelings sometimes becomes very dangerous. Moreover, deadly! For, figuratively speaking, the energy of an unpleasant thought, which flared brightly in the brain, can from there, like lightning, strike the internal organs. First of all – on the heart and vessels. The result – an attack of angina, hypertensive crisis,stroke and myocardial infarction, affecting people after strong and deep experiences. But not only the cardiovascular system suffers. The group of psychogenic diseases (those most often caused by mental causes) also includes ulcerative lesions of the stomach and duodenum, bronchial asthma, diabetes, eczema, and a number of other equally unpleasant ones. How to prevent their development?

The answer is unequivocal: it is necessary to learn how to break the connection between the world of thoughts and the world of feelings. In other words, one must be able, being in a difficult, exciting situation, to maintain emotional impassivity and at the same time – the ability to think calmly, soberly, clearly, correctly. Only after a conscious and purposeful separation of the intellectual and emotional beginnings will it be possible to rule over our feelings and thoughts and thus bring ourselves out of the danger zone in which we can expect possible psychogenic diseases.

What causes this to happen? The thought of trouble, a possible disaster automatically includes various emotional reactions that sometimes become so strong that somehow change a person’s behavior and harm his health. I foresee an objection: do not the doctors say that it is better to somehow react to the outbreak of emotions than to contain them in yourself? Indeed, in order to preserve health, it is better to throw out the surging feelings. But it’s not always and everywhere that one can violently express one’s emotions. There are many situations in which you just need to restrain yourself – no matter what! And here there is no better way for self-rescue than the conscious separation of the world of thoughts and feelings. Separation for the sake of expedient management, both first and second. How to master such a skill?

And here comes the method of role-playing behavior. Those who want to learn to rule themselves should do the following. After mastering the possibilities of mental self-regulation (for example, using the method of psychic-muscular training, which allows you to dive in a very calm, even drowsy (“screen”) state) in a few seconds, you need to mentally imagine some very exciting situation see yourself in her keeping absolute calm. That is, it is necessary to learn to play the role of a calm person who knows how to maintain life-saving impassivity even in a traumatic distress situation.

At first, as a rule, nothing happens: a mental representation of something very exciting immediately causes a corresponding activation of the activity of the cardiovascular, respiratory and other systems of the body. But do not despair, because in the solution of this task should be guided by the principle of “a drop of stone hammer”. Therefore, maintaining faith in the ultimate success, it is necessary to engage in daily role-playing behavior – the more often, the better, but not more than 5-10 minutes in a row. And then (from whom in a month, from whom – in two or three) the desired goal will be achieved – it all depends on the complexity of the task, the characteristics of a person’s personality and, of course, on his perseverance in achieving the intended goal. Goals, it can be said, are vital, so do not spare time for its achievement.