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June 26th

TRY THE OPPOSITE

“What assistance can we find in the fight against habit? Try the

opposite!”

—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 1.27.4

iktor Frankl, the brilliant psychologist and Holocaust survivor, cured
patients suffering from phobias or neurotic habits using a method he
called “paradoxical intention.” Let’s say a patient couldn’t sleep. The
standard therapy would have been something obvious, like relaxation
techniques. Frankl instead encouraged the patient to try not to fall asleep.
He found that shifting focus off the problem deflected the patient’s
obsessive attention away from it and allowed them to eventually sleep
normally.
Fans of the TV show Seinfeld might remember an episode called “The
Opposite” where George Costanza magically improves his life by doing the
opposite of whatever he’d normally do. “If every instinct you have is
wrong,” Jerry says to him, “then the opposite would have to be right.” The
larger point is that sometimes our instincts or habits get stuck in a bad
pattern that pushes us further from our natural, healthy selves.
Now you shouldn’t immediately toss out everything in your life—some
stuff is working (you’re reading this book!). But what if you explored
opposites today? What if you broke the pattern?