I've had a bit of a spiritual down turn

[buzzcock]

I'm drinking all day, over eating, and searching for porn on the internet. My family is far away. I just don't know. I want to tidy my house but I can't force myself to start.

[susan]

Buzzcock, can you think back to a time in the past when you felt good about yourself, even proud of yourself? Why was that? Had you overcome a challenge? Done an unexpected good deed for someone?completed something that had to be done but you hadn't wanted to?
Get that feeling back inside you and start looking at the world differently. See yourself as a wonderful person who doesn't realy appreciate how wonderful you can be .
All I ask is you spend just five minutes minimum pondering over this question before reading other replies looking for a reply that resonates with you.

[IA56]

I'm drinking all day, over eating, and searching for porn on the internet. My family is far away. I just don't know. I want to tidy my house but I can't force myself to start.

It is a good start to own and be open about this problem, it is the half way done, now you only need to acknowledge why you are afraid to succeed, and are abusing yourself. You are Worth the best of the best....so be kind to yourself.

Love
ia

[buzzcock]

Thank you very much for your replies.

[DerFürst]

I'm drinking all day, over eating, and searching for porn on the internet. My family is far away. I just don't know. I want to tidy my house but I can't force myself to start.

From experience, escaping problems through overindulgence and allowing oneself to be strung along by bad habits makes one feel even worse, and is not a solution at all.

Try awareness meditation. In this meditation, your goal is to become aware of being aware. This is not emotionally charged at all and non-verbal. Awareness meditation (known as Vipassana) is commonly done by focusing on an anchor, which is to say picking any area or sensation and becoming intently focused on it and only it. When people say "focus on your breathing," what they really mean is focus on one aspect of breathing, such as the sensation of the stomach rising and falling or the tingling of the nostrils as air comes in and out. Thoughts will come up and you'll see that these thoughts are occurring automatically and unintentionally, and will be trying to compete for your focus. Stay focused on your anchor and note the thoughts that come up (non-verbally and without extra thought), and by itself the thoughts will begin to disappear.

There are many benefits to this kind of meditation from a practical perspective. One good awareness meditation session can equalize one's emotions, putting one in stable and serene state of consciousness. If there was something bothering you up to that point, this kind of meditation will help remove yourself from the emotional discomfort caused by it, and allow you to think objectively. One would also notice that awareness meditation increases the quality of every moment of life. Time will seem to go slower, observations will be acute, thoughts will be more intentional, negative thoughts will rarely come up, and willpower to deny habits becomes stronger. This kind of meditation promotes peacefulness and self mastery, and is precisely the kind of practice that can get you out of slumps and back into optimal efficiency. However, it requires discipline and time, but don't worry it builds discipline over time. Length of time is not the goal, but quality. 5 minutes of a good meditation beats 30 minutes of a bad one. I hope this helped.