Distracting yourself when you practice stepping toward discomfort prevents you from learning what’s important for you to learn. For example, if you distract yourself from your anxious response, you might believe you couldn’t have handled it if you had remained fully with it. Similarly, anything you do subtle or not so subtle to lessen your anxious response detracts from
the full benefit of the practice. Sitting in a seat at the end of a row in the theater, with an eye on the exit, is not a fully engaged practice.

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