Listening to music, having a hot drink, taking deep breaths, looking out of the window, stretching, smiling, walking around the block, eating, cleaning.
Archives: FAQs
Exercise:
Think of a typical day and make a note of at least three activities that make you feel more energised and alert. Next, make a note of three things that make you more relaxed and calm.
Changing How We feel…
Have you ever been driving somewhere, preoccupied by some worry or other when a song you love comes on the radio? Did you smile, turn up the dial and shift instantly into a different state? Have you been struggling through the morning feeling dissatisfied or tired when your break comes around? In the moment that […]
Choosing a Friend
Thinking about the quality of your internal chatter, does the voice speak like a friend and the kind of person you would want to hang out with? Does it comfort and soothe you like a good companion? Does it energise and inspire you? Or is it critical, negative or hopeless? We know that we can […]
Example:
Returning to our first examples when you fear that your joke has missed the mark, does your chatter ring with the quality of the voices of mocking peers? In the meeting when you dare to speak your idea and felt an internal criticism, is there a critical teacher still speaking to you now? When you […]
Now let’s return to that internal chatter
Having made a list of the messages you have received from others as a child about yourself, how many of these messages are still internally impacting on your life and holding you back in some way?
Notice
You may notice that your descriptions change depending on the situation in which you picture yourself. The you that you are in your workplace might differ greatly from the you that your friends and family see. You may feel and act differently with one group of friends than with another. If this is true for you, you are certainly […]
Examples:
When we accept that we all have this mental commentary inside our heads, the next question is who are we talking to? The answer is, of course, that we are talking to ourselves. As transpersonal psychologists, we believe that there are two distinct parts to our inner self. The ego self is what we normally […]
Exercise:
Think back to your childhood and write down some of the messages or comments you received regularly from people who were close to you. Include favourite family stories where you featured and what they implied about who you were. Review also how your peers and the wider community described or talked about you. Now let’s […]
Who am I listening to?
When we accept that we all have this mental commentary inside our heads, the next question is who are we talking to? The answer is, of course, that we are talking to ourselves. As transpersonal psychologists, we believe that there are two distinct parts to our inner self. The ego self is what we normally […]