This is a simple, concrete example that is best understood as a material analogy for what happens in a FIML discussion or query.
I wanted some fresh local yogurt and we also needed some cheese. The place that sells the yogurt I like has only a few kinds of very expensive cheese.
My partner and I discussed the merits of going to the yogurt store and paying extra for cheese versus driving to a different store that has a better cheese selection but does not have the fresh yogurt.
Since the yogurt store was on the way to the cheese store, we stopped in but found that they were out of yogurt and also had no cheese.
Oh well. We went to the cheese store and got the cheese and a couple of other items we needed.
In the car we noticed that our having stopped to look for the yogurt in the yogurt store made it possible for us to dismiss that option completely from out minds. Had we not stopped, we might have wondered if we had missed a chance to get the fresh yogurt and probably would have wondered about it.
Our ability to dismiss the yogurt option and not have it be a small shadow in our minds was gained only because we had actually stopped at the yogurt store. If we had not stopped and gone only to the cheese store, we would not have known that the yogurt store didn’t even have any yogurt.
Like I said this is a very simple example.
Now, consider that instead of yogurt or cheese we are working with emotions and human perceptions. A FIML query works in a way that is analogous to stopping at the yogurt store.
Yes, it cost us some energy to stop at the store, but it saved us the energy of thinking that the yogurt was a possibility.
If instead of yogurt, I am wondering if my partner disapproves of something I said, I can ask her (stopping at the yogurt store) or refrain from asking her (not stopping).
If I ask her, it costs us both some energy, but saves me some worry and possible defensive behavior which will likely snowball and cost us even more energy.
Please put in your own emotions or concerns into this example. Isn’t it better to ask about them than not ask?
When we have many small things in our minds that we never ask anyone (including our partner), we begin living in a fantasy world or a world that is simplified to conform to simple standards made up by other people.
FIML clears up problems by catching them when they start. The FIML technique is designed to facilitate quick interventions so snowballing never gets started.
It’s not hard to do FIML if you understand what its purpose is. The hard part about doing FIML is it goes against a great deal of normal human training. Rather than ask, most of us will skip going to the yogurt store.
When we do that hundreds of times with someone, small divisions get larger and larger. When they get really big it is very hard to analyze them and we become their victims.
From a Buddhist point of view, FIML can be understood as partnered-mindfulness. As such, it helps partners not slide into solipsism but to accurately bring objective information into their subjective worlds.
American Buddhist Net 