Up: [[Difficult Times]] Created: 2022-11-22 Updated: 2026-01-10 This example is from Martha Beck’s book about weight loss, called *The 4 Day Win* (p. 78) But it could be any two opposing characters for any issue. Imagine a character in each hand ### Dictator A 2” tall version of yourself in uniform, a whip in one hand, gun in other, stomping around demanding that you lose weight and hurling personal insults at you. Trying to keep you from being unhealthy and fat. ### Wild Child A 2” you desperately looking for a way to escape the Dictator’s control. Wants to avoid captivity and starvation. Each perspective is doing their best for you. Offer them both the mantra “May you be well, may you be happy, may you be free from suffering” over and over until you feel compassion for both sides of yourself. The idea is to realize that the only possible way to offer kindness to both sides is to understand that you are neither of them. You are the Watcher, the one who is neither rigidly controlled, nor totally out of control.