First strategy: Observation
Taking a mental note every time I am drawn to swear. I start to keep tic marks. Only the cursing is so frequent and the tic marks are so many, it is too much a task. I can’t count that high!
Second strategy: Replace the f-word with firetruck
Firetruck! Frowny funny firetruck! I notice that just because it is a different word, the energy behind the word is the same. It is violent, angry, and always being said out of frustration. Words — sounds, are hollow and meaningless without the vital supply of intention and will that energizes their expression. I want to change, redirect, or transform the violent energy of frustration that supplies the automatic reaction. Where does the energy go? What does the energy change into?
Third Strategy: Replace firetruck with breathe
‘Breathe’ carries the opposite energy and it is a soft reminder of what I am forgetting to do in my frustrated moment. However, my swearing reaction is so engrained and so entrenched within my personality now that remembering to say ‘breathe’ instead of cursing seems near impossible. Often, the reaction rises to my lips before I can remember in time. Breathe, breathe, breathe, forget firetruck sakes breathe! With continued practice, the swearing reaction lessens it’s grip however painfully slow. I start to notice the impulse to swear begins to stay in the mind rather than making its way to the lips. This practice will take me a whole lifetime!
Fourth Strategy: Mantra repetition
Whether so ham or a personal mantra, I found it only effective if it was continuous and nonstop throughout the day. The mind has to be preoccupied with the mantra before getting frustrated. This means having a concentrated effort and steady focus in the background of activity. It means practice and practice and practice. Gradually though, I notice my swearing reactions lessening. Progress. However, I still have the reaction. Instead of rising to the lips, if the mantra is in the mind, the reaction is limited to the mind.
Fifth Strategy: Listen to prayers daily
Listening to prayers, sanskrit in particular, carries subtle impressions to the mind in the form of melody and rhyme that are pleasant and calming for the spirit. If the melody is singing in my mind before my frustration arises, the swearing becomes nullified. Infused with positive energy, these melodies create new grooves for the mind to flow into whenever it becomes preoccupied or frustrated at the task at hand, rather than moving into the habitual violent space and reacting.
Trade work — working with raw materials by its nature is frustrating as nature is ever changing. No problem is ever the same and Murphy’s Law often resides in Nature’s court. ‘Why’ something happens can only be met with the appropriate response of ‘for fucks sake.’ Because there is no answer other than to get dirty and fix it no matter how busy your schedule is or how tired and underpaid you might be. You just do what needs to be done. Nature is fickle and frustrating — the price for working with Her.
My swearing habit is a result of 8 years in the culture, a culture of hands on labor dependent upon the raw materials of Nature and our own ingenuity to use and bend them to our will. God willing or not!
